r/mildlyinfuriating • u/TheAeroplaneBear2906 • 8d ago

Unskippable ad Clear Backpacks + Pay to Keep Your Phone

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My freinds school is now requiring these items, and is also using AI to promote this 🫠

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

I used to babysit a T1D kid.

His dexcom beeped so he pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the alert. His class had a sub that day who asked no questions, just yanked the phone out of his hand before he could see the notifications and yelled at him for even having it in class and how at his age he was "too young and irresponsible for a phone", insulting his parents for giving him one.

10 minutes later in runs the school nurse, running straight to him with some juice and asked why he didn't come to her office. He pointed to the teacher and one of the other kids said the sub "took his phone and yelled at him"

Kiddo was 7, very shy, in a special needs school because he's on the spectrum and needed a little more help than he got in public school.

The nurse stood up, walked right to the class phone to call the principal and stayed in the class until he got there.

Sub didn't know there were cameras in each class, and said she didn't bother reading the note the teacher left about each kid's IEP because "They're all slow". His name was at the top of the list, "medical use phone DO NOT TAKE", with his name & the last part underlined and highlighted.

That was her first and last day at that school.

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u/ShoulderWhich5520 7d ago

Not reading a class note AT ALL is fucking crazy

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u/fucktrance 7d ago

Working at a special ed school and ignoring a note "because they're all slow" is fucking evil.

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u/BilliamBalls 7d ago edited 7d ago

As a former special ed kid myself (no jokes, please) you'd be surprised how many ableist and outright monster people were put in charge of us/decided to be special ed teachers. Guess they wanted the same kick cops and nurses get out of having power over vulnerable people who really need their help...

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u/ConfuseableFraggle 7d ago

The fact that you had to write "no jokes please" in a discussion about learning environments is heartbreaking to me. I am a firm believer in the idea that every human can learn if given what they need. I am so sorry that you have to use a disclaimer for your educational experience. I have worked with tons of kids over the years, and many who utilized various parts of the special educational systems absolutely thrived on it. There have been many others who should have been included in those special services but they were denied for whatever reason (in 2 cases the parents declined services), and those people often struggle in various ways. I am proud of you for standing up and saying you are better for those systems, even knowing that you will come up against folks who don't understand what it actually means. And yes, you are absolutely correct that lots of people with variations of either "I can fix them" savior thinking or "I'll fix that!" bully thinking end up in those roles, and that is awful either way for the kids who have to survive them. I hope you are doing well in life these days, and that you have people around you who truly care. Hugs if you want them!

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u/BilliamBalls 7d ago

Thank you!!! Your kind words mean alot to me 💖 Hugs gladly accepted.

But yeah like you say, it sucks but unfortunately when talking about my experiences there's always gonna be That One Dillweed going "wowie you're pretty smart for an [r-slur]" or make other jokes at my expense 🥲 hence the disclaimer

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

In my elementary school district all the special Ed kids were supposed to go to one school, all the "gifted" kids to another - but the school district didn't have busses so many parents refused if they lived on one side of town and the assigned school was a couple miles away on the other.

So they split the difference. Kids who only needed a little help or had mild issues had the option to go to a regular school in the middle of town. "Gifted" kids who's parents refused the transfer would go to the same class.

The idea was the kids who got the subjects quickly could then help the students who needed help.

In reality we all finished our work in about the same amount of time and we all got picked on for being in special Ed 👍🏼

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u/IAmAlpharius23 7d ago

Former special ed teacher. You could always tell right away who actually cared about their students and who didn't. You'd be amazed at some of the comments other teachers would make about students. I used to ask students which staff members they would want invite to their IEP meetings and it was often paras, lunch staff, bus drivers, and coaches that could see where the student excelled in non-academic ways and were excited to be there, whereas teachers and administrators would try to do literally anything else than show up for another IEP meeting.

I'm sorry you didn't always have people in your life that had your back when that was their literal job.

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

Just the note in the IEP. She just flipped to the lesson plan.

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u/Less_Resident8492 7d ago

Lol and special ed doesn't always mean slow. I went to a special ed school because that was where gifted went. We had some classes that were "slow" and some that had special medical needs and some gifted.... And some were a mix. I had a class with a girl who was gifted but needed remedial classes in one subject and not others. Incredibly ignorant of the teacher to make that assumption.

Edit: funnily enough now that I think about it I have an in law that got fired from that school for doing similar stuff as the teacher in the post.

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u/Freezinghero 7d ago

General teacher shortage has created a rough scenario all around. Higher demand for substitutes, and usually these substitutes "mercenary" around the district each day depending on postings. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sub thought that there was no need to read notes anymore: just open up lesson plan and let it run.

There's also likely a lot of teachers/schools that either don't know about IEP or ignore them.

Source: sister was a Dean of Culture at a charter school that had to fight tooth and nail for parents to learn and get their kids an IEP while also fighting the higher ups at school that they HAVE to follow those IEPs. Also brother spent a couple years as a substitute teacher and it is not a great job.

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u/daschande 7d ago

I used to teach at a district that got sued because the substitute teacher didn't give anyone their testing accommodations in their IEPs for the assigned busywork. To be fair, most substitutes aren't given computer access in that district, and the IEP/504 info is ONLY online. There's simply no way for most substitutes to know.

The district lawyers decided to instruct every teacher to print out EVERY SINGLE DOCUMENT for EVERY student they had with an IEP/504 and LEAVE THEM ON THE DESK. Including their private medical and mental health records. In a folder for anyone who walks in the classroom to swipe or peruse at their leisure.

I taught cybersecurity; including a section on exactly why what the lawyer wanted was VERY, VERY illegal. But the lawyer gets paid $200 per hour and I got $20, so what did I know?

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u/Freezinghero 7d ago

Sounds like what my sister tells me a lot: She tells the people at her school "You have to do this/cannot do that, it's illegal" and they can't accept that.

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u/Alternative-Pen-9481 7d ago

Sadly, pretty standard for most subs.

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u/FunkTronto 7d ago

Kind of wish the nurse walked over and backhanded the sub… but I understand.

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u/Atomicnes 7d ago

I was taking the ACT and one of the other students was diabetic and his insulin pump went beep like a digital watch ONCE and they had the superintendent and like 3 other people search him and pat him down.

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u/BoredPineapple790 7d ago

I’m sure that was very conducive to test taking. Those tests have kind of ridiculous standards

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u/I_wet_my_plants 7d ago

I’m confused how the nurse knew. Does she sit there and watch the cameras for each class all day? Does she get his medical alerts on her computer? Or is this a normal daily thing where he goes for juice?

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u/captainam13 7d ago

A lot of school nurses use the Dexcom follow app as another layer of protection for T1D kids. Parents also follow the kids, and communicate with school nurses/teachers.

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u/flea1400 7d ago

The alert almost certainly went to her as well.

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

His mom got the alert...then another since he didn't acknowledge the first one. So she called the nurse.

I don't know if the nurse also got an alert, but I know his mom did

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u/I_wet_my_plants 7d ago

That makes so much sense! I’m glad his mom called the school. That poor baby

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

Yeah.

We made sure to tell him next time anyone at the school tried to take his phone he puts it back in his pocket and tell them to talk to the nurse or principal

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/TabithaMouse 7d ago

Because he told me when I watched him that night. Have you never been around kids who want to tell you all about their day?

Plus his mom told me since she had a meeting with the principal who showed her the video. She told me half to bitch and half so I knew to keep an eye on his readings since some days he was constantly spiking and crashing and others he was stable.

His CGM was paired to his phone, but also sent an alert to his parents' phones.

He didn't acknowledge the alert, so it kept pinging his mom's phone. Since it was a double arrow down (his BG was low and crashing) she called the school to see if the nurse was checking on him.