It’s disheartening to watch your child have their personal property stolen from them at school and you can’t do anything about it. Has your child ever had items stolen from them in school?
My children are now in Middle School and High School in the Rochester Community Schools district. Although Rochester is well known for being a fantastic community, I do realize that not everyone can be trusted and there will always be “bad apples.”
That said, I was surprised to hear from my daughter about a couple instances that occurred at her Middle School. My daughter is now in 7th grade and has had a favorite possession of hers stolen while at school, on two separate occasions.
Last year she bought a Pusheen pencil case with her own money. The pencil case cost more than $15, but she is a huge Pusheen fan so it was worth it for her. She put all her favorite pens in there and took it to school. I see nothing wrong with this. It’s basically school supplies and it’s not like she bought a Gucci case. Well, while in choir class, the students were instructed to get up from their seats and move to certain groups. When she returned to her desk, her pencil case was gone. She was extremely upset.
And, just today, it happened again. My kids told me about the latest craze – the Fidget Cube – and how it relieves stress. They said many kids at school have been using them. They asked if they could each have one. These gadgets have nothing electronic about them so I was an instant fan and purchased one for each of them in their favorite color. They literally cost less than $5. They took forever to come in the mail as the shipment was coming from China. My daughter finally got to take hers to school today. While in gym class, the students were asked to put their stuff down and move to the auxiliary gym to work on a poster. When she returned to her belongings, her books were still there but the fidget cube was gone. Again, she was very upset that she only had it for one day and it was already gone.
I’m not one to over-coddle my children, but this really set me off. Neither of these scenarios was an instance where she could have done something different…was she expected to leave the class and take her things to her locker because the teacher wanted them to get up and move for a moment? So, in this situation, I gave my daughter a hug and told her how sorry I was that this happened. I truly felt for her and was incredibly angry that someone else’s child felt it was ok to take what is not theirs. My biggest complaint is that my daughter has to build up a sense of mistrust at an early age and realize that she is going to school with thieves.
Sure, it wasn’t like someone broke into her locker and stole her gold necklace during gym class. But, it’s still theft. We paid for those items and they belonged to my daughter. Small, simple items that she enjoyed having…only to have someone steal them from her while in an environment that works hard to protect our children.
The saddest part about this is that when something like this happens, you’re basically just out of luck. I phoned the administration to voice my concern, but have no confidence that anything will get resolved. We’re left to buy the items again to replace the stolen ones. No, I’m not spoiling my child by doing this. Had she lost the items, I would not replace them and it would be a lesson learned. But, this is different. She deserves to have those items back, even if I have to pay for them again.
Has anything like this happened to your child?
