Kindergarten teacher calls father 'selfish' for sending his sick child to school. AITA?
"AITA for calling one of my kindergarten students father 'selfish' for sending their child to school when they have the flu?"
I (F26), have been teaching kindergarten for three years but has been working with children (outside of my home) since I was 16. I've had my fair share of rude and distasteful students and parents, but I have never been in this situation before.
Anyways, today was the first day back to school after winter break, I honestly missed my students so I have planned for today to he a very chill day. We would be doing some activities before lunch but then after I decided to put on a movie.
Maybe 20 minutes after the bell rang for class to start a student of mine, let's just call her A, came up to me complaining about not feeling good. Since class had just started, I told her she could put her head down for a few minutes and then I would see if I had to call her dad.
Now, here's something to know, A has divorced parents so one week she's with her mom and the other week she's with dad. This week, she's at her father's home. After getting my other students started on their work which maybe took 15 minutes, I went to check on her. She told me, she was still feeling very awful. I felt her head and she was completely burning up, like she shouldn't have came to school at all burning up.
Lucky, she was sitting at my desk, so I am the only person at risk of getting sick. I ended up calling her dad, and while the phone was ringing she confessed that two days ago, her father had taken her to the doctor and it was told that she had the flu. Now, I was very furious.
What parents sends their sick baby to school? I asked if their was a reason, and this poor baby told me that her step-mother forced her to go because she didn't want her little sister getting sick. Now A, is one of my best students and I really wanted to give this baby a hug, but I didn't wanna pass it down to other kids.
Her father finally answered after the 2nd call, and I explained the situation and he just said that he knew and that A should stay at school because he didn't want his other kids getting sick.
At this point, I was beyond pissed off, and I asked "instead of taking care of your sick daughter like any other parent would do, you send them to school so they can get other children sick, just to protect your other children?" He was about to answer but I ended up telling him how selfish he was and told him I would call her mother.
A's mother was furious when I told her that A was at school. She demanded that A stay home once she was told she was sick, but I guess dad and step-mom didn't care.
After that situation was over, and A was safely with her mother, I ended up reporting it. When I came home and told my mother what happened she kind of lectured me, and claimed she would've done the same if her step-kid was sick. AITA?
Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:
AnakinSkywalkerisfav said:
NTA, she's sick and her crappy dad and stepmom forced her to go to school. Not only was she sick, but it was extreme enough that her dad took her to the doctor. You did the right thing informing her mother and reporting this. Don't listen to your mom.
Sea_Firefighter_4598 said:
NTA, I guess "selfish" was the best you could do and keep your job. Your mother is beyond wrong though.
PsychologicalBit5422 said:
NTA poor little girl. I hope her mother is cuddling her. You and the child's mother are the only decent people in this story. What a shame if her stepmother gets sick.
ninjastarkid said:
NTA, the parent could’ve easily prevented the other kids from being sick with a little bit of cleaning skills and making sure they slept, spent time in different rooms.
NickelPickle2018 said:
NTA this is just crappy parenting. If your kid is sick, keep them at home.
Salty_Idealist said:
NTA. He sent her to school sick and, dare I guess, without ANY medicine? Not only is he an AH for sending his little girl to school so she can give everyone and their families influenza, but a neglectful turd for putting her into a situation where she could get worse and/or contract ANOTHER illness. He should lose custody. Maybe get charged for deliberately sending a sick kid to school.