The Glade 4.0

Well it is finally almost over, If you didn't know I have been getting prank calls for about a month and knew it was a student. Mostly, because they mentioned my first name and my son's name on the phone. " This is your best friend, this is your best friend" was some of the other stuff I was getting. Also, this is "ED." So I filed an incident report and of course the cops don't get back to me for a month, until I call the lieutenant of the detectives and then I only get a phone call, because they have homicides to deal with iwhich are more important. I explained to the cop that I understand bigger crimes are going on but all i wanted was the number and name of the person calling me, which I got. Of course my hunch being right that it is a student I get the info to confront her tomorrow at school. However, I am concerned because I think this girl has an obsession with me. She was the student who petitioned the kids to save my job last year and she always tries to friend me on facebook, but of course I ignore them because she is a minor. Now she is calling my house? What the Hell? Now my principal, her mother, guidance counselor, her and myself have to have a meeting tomorrow. I want a cop there tomorrow too.

...

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"None is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people safe as they are the
ultimate guardians of their own liberty."- Thomas Jefferson

"Yeah, I'm rehearsing my poker face. I don't handle stupid well. *sigh*" - Farsky

What kind of prank calls?

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She would call the house and upon our answer, there would be nothing on the line. After a few hellos and
a "Who is this?" we would get "It's your best friend" or "It's Ed." When Oonagh would tell them to stop calling because you are waking up my sleeping child, the next call would seemingly sound apologetic asking if they had actually woken him up and referencing him by name.

This went on for several days and Oonagh had the calls traced through the phone company who released the information to law enforcement.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

That is seriously creepy. I'd want a cop there too.

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Take a second Oonagh and think about this. I know you're scared and the kid could have issues, but do you really want to have a cop there?
I'm not sure how old she is, so the classes you normally teach area in the early middle school area, so I'm going to guess 13-16ish? They are old enough to know better but still young enough to be totally stupid.
I know you want to instill this idea into her of what she’s doing is not right, and that she may need psychiatric help, but is having the cop there really the best way to go about this?
Putting the shoe on the other foot, one day your child may do something really stupid just because they are kids, would you want a cop to be there when you discuss this issue with the teacher?
I can’t say I understand completely what you’ve just gone through. But considering it was nothing physical, she has good intentions and just overly obsessive, maybe the first talking could be without law enforcements?
Just my 2c.

You could just try chatting with whoever calls you. Eventually they'd get bored. That's what I would do. I'd put them on speaker phone as I browse the Internet and watch tv.

Since it is one of Oonagh's student's, she needs to act in as professional a manner as possible. The presence of the officer will have a moderating affect, as well as putting a little fear into the kid and drive home how serious this is to the parent. People will be more careful about what they say and how they say it.

At this point she isn't asking for the kid to be thrown in jail, just be made aware of how serious her prank is in these days of stalking, hate crimes, and terror. If no charges need to be filed, the kid just gets made aware, if this is something more serious, having the cop there is good planning.

I think Oonagh is making the right call, uhm, that really wasn't intentional.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Oh, that's a good point. I forgot it was a student.

On a side note, out of genuine curiosity, is this a school rule or a Facebook rule? I ask because my niece is a minor and she has a Facebook, and am wondering if she shouldn't have it.

On topic, I think confronting her with the line up you mentioned is a good idea (as Mike said) to drive home the seriousness of it.

That's just a school rule.

Yeah that is just a school rule or a good rule of thumb for teachers. I have minors as my friends but they are family.

Lydiaa: I understand what you are saying , but Micheal hits the point correctly. I need the officer there to make the point clear about how serious this situation is. I have spoke to another teacher today, who taught the girl with me last year and she says that she came back to her during the summer school program to ask for my phone number and address from her. Of course my co-worker said" No." To me that sends up red flags about obsession and stalking. I work with many children and no children, whether they like me or not, has ever crossed the boundary for calling a teacher at home numerous times as she has. To me this makes me worry and i do not want my request taken lightly by my district about my concern. Look at Columbine and many other strange shootings in schools. The other reason I worry and I know this sounds bad, but nobody ever does anything about mental illness until it is too late. I should know, no one thought my brother could commit suicide until the cry for help was too late.

Please don't think of me as being rude, but I am glad you are looking out for her concern, my concern is the safety and well being of myself and my family.

_________________
"None is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people safe as they are the
ultimate guardians of their own liberty."- Thomas Jefferson

"Yeah, I'm rehearsing my poker face. I don't handle stupid well. *sigh*" - Farsky

As it is a student, you should definitely CYA.

If for any reason this doesn't work, I have a Plan B:

1) Buy an air horn.
2) Answer the phone.
3) ???
4) Profit!

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

You don't need a cop there unless you're going to press charges. Cops aren't paid to stand around and be intimidating. If you want to express how serious it is, say "this is serious." Let her know the next step involves cops.

Intimidation is a peripheral issue. This is a student (and a minor), and she has a screw loose. Any confrontation needs to have a disinterested and unrelated 3rd-party witness, preferably someone with "authority" so that when batshitcrazy Susy starts making up all sorts of weird **** about how it all went down, Oonagh's (and the district's) *** is covered.

Maybe it's stupid, but what can you do? Public education systems breed ridiculous liability-based policies. Most school districts (at least here in Texas) have at least one SRO (studen resource officer) more or less "on-staff". My district had one for each high school, but then, they were all 5A. It shouldn't pose a problem for the district to bring in the SRO if a school-related situation is crossing over into criminal activity.

_________________
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

As paranoid as people have become about their kids, yeah I can see this. It also curbs accusations of favoritism.

Oh no, I understand completely where you're coming from Oonagh. It's just that I was a stupid kid not too long ago. I guess it's different in that we don't really have guns here.
I think i'ts more important to get people involved where they could help the kid, then scare them. If she really does have a mental problem, scaring would possibly have a negative effect.
Is there anyway to get her into a mandatory Counselling program?

Not to derail the thread, but it boggles the mind that Australia, of all places, "do[es]n't really have guns [there]" -- you've got ten thousand things that can kill you just for stepping outside, and no guns? What!!?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Frakin' platypi.

_________________
Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

Kaffis - the government of Australia scammed the citizens with a 'think of the children' ploy after a particularly brutal child murder. Took away almost all of their handguns. I think hunting rifles can be bought and licensed if you have enough money, but its rare.

Lydiaa could tell us more.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

It's probably a good thing. It's a less dangerous world when there is a nearly 0 chance of a bullet whizzing by you.

If only reality bore that statement out, there might be a case for taking away people's guns. The bans/restrictions made little to no difference.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

This is a good point. However, it's being banned on an entire island (yes I know it's also a continent), so it would be harder for people to illegally acquire firearms. I am pretty sure that they aren't too prevalent in Great Britain, although there is a black market.

And yet, it's made little to no difference.

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"Dress cops up as soldiers, give them military equipment, train them in military tactics, tell them they’re fighting a ‘war,’ and the consequences are predictable." —Radley Balko

Ok, I just looked up stats on Great Britain, and I think you're right.

Update: Principal, school police , me, and student. Student lied of course denied everything.
Called cell phone right there on desk. Told her about the real police, still lied. suspended out of school three days.
Comes back yesterday with new story and friend helped her. Two more days out for lieing about crime and got other kid to come and tell story with 5 days out of school also. As far as i know she is scared of me now and will not be calling my house again. I could press charges, but decided to wait on superintendant's advice.

_________________
"None is more important, none more legitimate, than that of rendering the people safe as they are the
ultimate guardians of their own liberty."- Thomas Jefferson

"Yeah, I'm rehearsing my poker face. I don't handle stupid well. *sigh*" - Farsky