Returning to my blog with a bang!!!

Had a great morning, breakfast and relaxing conversation with a friend.  On my way home I receive a call from my daughter's school asking me to come in because she fell down the stairs.  I get to the school and was walking through the front yard where they usually have recess and was immediately headed off by one of the aides for my daughter's class. She asked if I was there just spur of the moment. I said that I was called by the school because she fell down the stairs.  She said, " Oh you know she asked to go to the bathroom during lunch and we let her go.  We know she is not one of those children that wanders around so we weren't worried." I then go into the school where there is no aide at the front desk.  (I am talking about the aides that make you sign in when you enter the school, sign out when you leave, give you the third degree as to why you are there and guard the principal like she is President Obama).

I see two teachers who tell me that they just saw my daughter walking with tears in her eyes to her classroom.  I am now in the school for at least 5 minutes and I haven't seen my daughter nor have I spoken to anyone regarding what happened to her.  There was no one there waiting for me or to explain what happened.  The only two people I saw were two people who had nothing to do with the incident other than seeing her pass by.  My daughter finally surfaces out of her classroom jacket and schoolbag in hand, teary eyed, blotchy faced and limping.  She sees me and immediately starts shaking and crying.  A substitute aide now surfaces out of nowhere and states that I need to sign her out.  I said, "I'm not signing her out, I'm going to see the nurse." I walk into the nurse's office and there she is very nonchalant and says, "Oh hi, I thought it was good that you come."  (How nice of her to think that way.) I asked my daughter where she was hurt and I looked at her body.  She was badly bruised on her shin and her stomach was extremely red and slightly bruised.  She was shaking and crying hysterically, begging me not to take her to the emergency room.  The nurse continued to act nonchalant and did absolutely nothing.  After asking her for one she finally gave me an ice pack.  The entire time I was in her office the only thing she did do was tell me over and over in a very placating manner, that I should just take her home.

What did I find out afterward and what are my thoughts?

1.  They let a 7 year old child go to the bathroom two flights away from her class unescorted.
2.  There was no aide anywhere to be found on the entire 1st floor (where the bathroom is located).
3.  Did the aides who allowed her to go to the bathroom wonder where she was all the time she was gone?
4. After lunch her class was taken out for recess without her.  Did anyone even look for her, did they know she wasn't with the class, did they think she was still in the bathroom and if so shouldn't someone have tried to find out why she was in there for so long?
5.  After she fell down the stairs she was screaming and no one came to help her, finally a substitute aide heard her screams and came running then helped her to the nurses office.
6.  After being brought to the nurses office, the nurse called me, did not check my daughter, then proceded to send my injured, crying, black and blue, limping daughter unescorted to her classroom where there was no teacher and no aide in the hall to get her things to go home.  My daughter was not checked out by the nurse, did she hit her head, have a concussion, did she have a broken bone, broken ribs, etc.? If that was the case she could have passed out on her way to class, she could have lost her balance and fallen.  She could have hurt herself even more. You don't send an injured child anywhere alone!!!
7.  Why were there excuses made as soon as I arrived at the school? Hmm maybe guilt???? and knowledge that you were not doing your job?????????????

After all was said and done I brought my daughter home, assessed her and although she was badly bruised, she was going to be alright.  I laid her down and nursed her wounds with ice packs.  She is doing much better now, very sore but better. 
The nurse called me about an hour after I got home and asked how she was doing?  She "reassured me" that "the school had absolutely no problem if I take her to the emergency room." "That's why the school has insurance, we'll pay for whatever your healthcare provider won't, take what you can get, you know what I mean." How nice of her to give me permission to take my daughter to the E.R.  She also proceded to tell me that she tried to examine my daughter but my daughter wouldn't let her.  My daughter said that was not true and that she didn't even attempt to examine her. 

I also found out from my daughter once she calmed down that while she was hysterical, and still in shock and pain from her fall that the nurse told her, "don't worry we're calling your mom and she'll come take you to the E.R." ( Precisely what you tell a scared, injured, hysterically crying child to calm her nerves).  Which is why when she saw me she started shaking more, because she thought I was taking her to the hospital right away.

My husband and I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the principal and the school nurse....

Well I was just telling my friend this morning that I wanted to get back into my blog what better way to begin..................