We have a library here in Frankfort, Kansas, that is almost devoid of useful information, but chock full of racism and unlawful behavior. Heartland Works is a program funded by the Department of Labor that provides work opportunities for high school students in need of paid work experience. Heartland Works; Alice Jones, the director of the library; and Tom Schroeder, the guidance counselor of Frankfort High; work together to gain labor for the library at no cost to the City of Frankfort. Well and good, as long as no class time is lost to the students involved, and Miss Alice and Mr. Tom account for the students during every minute of the school day, and remember that recreational drugs and underage drinking are against the law.
It recently came to my attention, via conversations with one of my daughters, who had been involved in the Heartland Works program, that another child working at the library under the same auspices was often drunk at work, and occasionally engaged in uses of recreational drugs. In an attempt to verify this information with Alice Jones, the ultimate eyewitness here, I was stunned when she affirmed every word my daughter said, and offered in her own defense, "I knew ____ was violating the law, but God told me not to report it, and to give her "another chance". When I asked how many "other chances" were given, a concrete number was not determined. So there it was: despite the fact that Frankfort High is a public school, beholden to the same federal laws as all other public schools in the United States of America, Tom Schroeder and Alice Jones took it upon themselves to betray my trust in the public school where I sent all six of my children. Also, I had not realized how unexposed my daughter was, prior to her Heartland Works experience, to drugs and drunkenness, but she shared with me that this was the first occasion in her life to actually witness pathological drinking and drug use in person.
Aside from the obvious violations of the law, which is designed to protect my children from Frankfort's alcohol and drug abusing children at school, another disturbing portion of this entire situation is the fact that a silly-assed library director not only thought her own opinion and ideas could and would override my country's law, but justified her deliberate errors by explaining to me that "God" told her to do it! In essence, she exposed my child, who was supposed to gain exposure to employment experience, to underage drinking, drugs obtained via black market sources, and to the wonderful world of enabling and functioning as an accessory after the fact! Those are things I would not ask my daughter to do for me, or for anyone in her family, and they are NOT things that any child should learn at school! Can anyone blame me for my outrage at the public school in Frankfort Kansas, or at USD 380?
Teaching my daughter to depart from everything I have taught her about drugs, alcoholism, following the law, and communicating with me when she became aware of problems with those things was inexcusable in every way. My daughter came from a culture that loves children and encourages communication between generations, and when Tom Schroeder and Alice Jones taught my daughter to hide those things from me, they damaged the sacred trust between mother and daughter, and took grave chances on severing her from her family and her Ancestors; and also took a grave chance of ruining her life. I should also mention that if my daughter had not been asked to hide the situation from me, it would have provided our family an opportunity to teach her more about the functions of friendship, and about sharing information with her workmate about regaining her health. But this, somehow, was not a desire of Frankfort High or Heartland Works. Be that as it may, it is one of the functions of this family, and now that my eyes are open to the subtle attacks of a Christian community, it will not happen as easily to this family again. Frankfort is going to have to fight from now on, if it wants to ruin the lives of my other children.
If Alice Jones really thought "God" was talking to her, a claim made much more often by delusional mental patients than by educated people, she got away with damaging the lives of both children, my daughter and the child she enabled, in the name of her Christian religion. If "God" really spoke inside of Alice's head, would he have told her that respect for the Laws of the Land was only for "other people" and not for her? Or would he have told her that there are reasons for the laws, and that she had a responsibility to keep them, especially when children are involved, even if she did not understand how all of the legislation over the years have contributed to current laws? If "God" really spoke inside of Alice's head, would he have told he to enable an alcoholic teenager, or would he have told her to remove the child from the Heartland Works program until she completed alcohol treatment? An opportunity to offer that child real help was lost. Shame on you, Frankfort. If "God" was really speaking inside of Alice's head, would he have told her to send the message that showing up drunk for work is acceptable? If so, can anyone blame me for hating Christians, Christianity, and God?
It recently came to my attention, via conversations with one of my daughters, who had been involved in the Heartland Works program, that another child working at the library under the same auspices was often drunk at work, and occasionally engaged in uses of recreational drugs. In an attempt to verify this information with Alice Jones, the ultimate eyewitness here, I was stunned when she affirmed every word my daughter said, and offered in her own defense, "I knew ____ was violating the law, but God told me not to report it, and to give her "another chance". When I asked how many "other chances" were given, a concrete number was not determined. So there it was: despite the fact that Frankfort High is a public school, beholden to the same federal laws as all other public schools in the United States of America, Tom Schroeder and Alice Jones took it upon themselves to betray my trust in the public school where I sent all six of my children. Also, I had not realized how unexposed my daughter was, prior to her Heartland Works experience, to drugs and drunkenness, but she shared with me that this was the first occasion in her life to actually witness pathological drinking and drug use in person.
Aside from the obvious violations of the law, which is designed to protect my children from Frankfort's alcohol and drug abusing children at school, another disturbing portion of this entire situation is the fact that a silly-assed library director not only thought her own opinion and ideas could and would override my country's law, but justified her deliberate errors by explaining to me that "God" told her to do it! In essence, she exposed my child, who was supposed to gain exposure to employment experience, to underage drinking, drugs obtained via black market sources, and to the wonderful world of enabling and functioning as an accessory after the fact! Those are things I would not ask my daughter to do for me, or for anyone in her family, and they are NOT things that any child should learn at school! Can anyone blame me for my outrage at the public school in Frankfort Kansas, or at USD 380?
This is how Kansas Christians in close knit communities show their respect for other cultures.
Teaching my daughter to depart from everything I have taught her about drugs, alcoholism, following the law, and communicating with me when she became aware of problems with those things was inexcusable in every way. My daughter came from a culture that loves children and encourages communication between generations, and when Tom Schroeder and Alice Jones taught my daughter to hide those things from me, they damaged the sacred trust between mother and daughter, and took grave chances on severing her from her family and her Ancestors; and also took a grave chance of ruining her life. I should also mention that if my daughter had not been asked to hide the situation from me, it would have provided our family an opportunity to teach her more about the functions of friendship, and about sharing information with her workmate about regaining her health. But this, somehow, was not a desire of Frankfort High or Heartland Works. Be that as it may, it is one of the functions of this family, and now that my eyes are open to the subtle attacks of a Christian community, it will not happen as easily to this family again. Frankfort is going to have to fight from now on, if it wants to ruin the lives of my other children.
If Alice Jones really thought "God" was talking to her, a claim made much more often by delusional mental patients than by educated people, she got away with damaging the lives of both children, my daughter and the child she enabled, in the name of her Christian religion. If "God" really spoke inside of Alice's head, would he have told her that respect for the Laws of the Land was only for "other people" and not for her? Or would he have told her that there are reasons for the laws, and that she had a responsibility to keep them, especially when children are involved, even if she did not understand how all of the legislation over the years have contributed to current laws? If "God" really spoke inside of Alice's head, would he have told he to enable an alcoholic teenager, or would he have told her to remove the child from the Heartland Works program until she completed alcohol treatment? An opportunity to offer that child real help was lost. Shame on you, Frankfort. If "God" was really speaking inside of Alice's head, would he have told her to send the message that showing up drunk for work is acceptable? If so, can anyone blame me for hating Christians, Christianity, and God?
7 comments:
Considering who your neighbors are, it seems unlikely that was her first exposure.
That may well be. Deanis Dalinghaus assured me that none of the parents around here or the kids have alcohol or other addictive problems, and that my child was safe at school, and safe everywhere else here. He was either lying, or wrong. I really do not think it is appropriate to pinpoint one neighbor here, or another there; it is rather universal. Some people simply have a free pass around here that others do not. Also, my daughter was younger back then, and we were newer to this area.......formerly, we had not had much to do with drinkers and dopers, so it is possible that my post truly does describe her first exposure. If you are singling out one person, or one family in your comment, please don't do it again. And at the same time, my rage at finding that my daughter had been rather openly and knowingly exposed to those things does not rest with the child who needed help, but with the adult, Alice Jones, who enabled her instead of going to Tom Schroeder and saying, "Look; you have a child who needs medical help, not a job. Bring her back when she's not engaging in habits that can ruin her health." But Alice didn't feel like it, and no one felt like telling me what was going on in my daughter's life. It'll take me awhile to get over that.
I was the neighbor. So, I don't feel upset about singling myself out. While I'm not who you think, I'm starting to wonder if I'm not also the girl you are referring to from the program. If so. I can promise you I never went to work drunk, nor did I partake in illicit activity at the library while under alice's supervisions.regardless of what others in that town have claimed.I also never drank or did drugs during school hours or activities, regardless of what dean or Tom would have people believe. Alice was more then likely aware of my activities outside of work, and did her best to help me. Without involving outside sources, which would have resulted in criminal charges, and the way marshall county does things, would have done more harm then good. I usually agree with you, but this hurt my heart. Alice is a good woman. But was ill equipped to deal with my problems. and if it is me you are referring to, which I'm sure you know who this is by now, I will apologize for any effect my behavior may have had on your daughter. I had talked to her once about it, and she expressed a view on drugs and alcohol that mirrors yours. No harm was meant but, ill be the first to admit I was a sick little girl. I've been in recovery for three years, and one of our steps in n.a. is making amends. And I've found that the list gets longer and longer the longer I'm sober. You and your daughter, and Alice are names that need to be added to that. I'm sorry for that. I feel it was a failure all around, by many adults in my life, but Alice was one of the few that tried to help me, instead or being judgemental or threatening me with the law. Or worse, enabling my behavior. Which, her allowing it to continue may be considered enabling, but her heart was in the right place. Which is more then I can say for the adults who bought me the goose or sold me the drugs. :/ Alice has a good heart. And she means well. We may disagree on our beliefs, I'm an athiest, as you know, she is not, but she never held that agianst me. She gave me the job, disregarding my criminal past, and gave me a chance when few would have. And I appreciate that. I'm not saying shes perfect, but she does her best. And it just really upset me to read this. My problems were not her fault, it was my own. And your daughters exposure was on me as well. But as far as I am aware, that exposure was limited to outside the library, at the home I was living in. Not at the library or school.
I know I can't convince you, or change your opinion. I simply respectively disagree with you over Alice. I do understand your side. Especially if this was true. And perhaps if it was handled differently, I would have turned out differently after graduation. Alice discussed it with my mother, but by then, I was out of her supervision, my moms. And forcing me to get help instead of letting me stay employed, may have helped. Or it may have made it worse. Regardless. You have given me a lot the thing about it. And made me very curious of how many people my addiction may have effected I never really thought about. And I thank you for that.
As for dean. We all know he lives under a rock. All students are perfect that attend fhs. As long as they are students he likes. The others he ignores and simply pushes through the system as fast a possible. You will find no defense of him, or Tom shroeder, or fhs here.
Also. I'm on my phone, so I apology for any typos or incoherent sentences. It won't let me scroll up after I type, so I'm having issues editing my mistakes.
And also. I don't know if Alice very discussed it with Tom, but. It was my understanding Tom gets money for every child on the program. I'm not sure of the accuracy of that, because I don't remember who told me, and its been a very long time since I signed up, but he didn't seem to be bothers by people leaving school early to go to work, and not actually going, or people doing other things not age appropriate or even strictly legal work. It was my understanding it was for at risk and low income families, so honestly. They should have been better eqqiupped to deal with problems at risk children may get involved in. And Tom was not. I had went to him with other issues, and he was completely unhelpful. As was he with helping me prepare for college, although he seemed to be able help other students just fine. :/
I am glad you are in recovery. My daughter was actually worried about you. I wondered if the comment came from you, simply because your IP# was not one of the ones Melissa Kennedy harasses me from when she calls me names for voting Democrat, or the one the Hortons harass me from because I do not like being lied to about what went on in their house when my daughters were over there!
Alice appears innocent on the outside, because she does not wear make-up and is a bit frumpy. I was fooled. Did you know I was in the library the other day, talking about a petition Rhiannon drew up and took from place to place, and tom Schroeder happened to see me through the window, and came in, pointed at me, called me a liar, hollered at me to "stop spreading lies", and left, trying to slam the door, but it would not slam for him. He also yelled that there was no such thing as enrolling in a different school district from one's home in Kansas......direct contradiction to what Deanis said, what Flores said, and what the parents of a couple of football players at Marysville High said! If Rhiannon were a boy and played football, she'd have gotton to go to Marysville! Anyway, after he left, she complained to the mayor that all of the commotion was caused by me! She didn't even mention that Shroeder came in just to verbally assault me, and that he apparently had no other business there at the time! Several of my own kids were in there at that moment, and I have cell phone video of at least part of that encounter. Alice Jones is a liar. No two ways about it. And no male has EVER behaved the way Schroeder behaves toward me without sex, or the desire thereof, playing a role, somehow. He is acting like a rejected male, not like a dignified guidance counselor, and I am embarrassed to know him well enough to recognize him. I am in love with my husband, and my husband only. I want Tom to leave me alone. Frumpiness and the ability to conform do not a good heart make, and Alice has nothing to offer children.
Children do not necessarily have to come from low income families to be "at risk". A certain county attorney of great renown here in these parts has a child who used to drive without a license and hit mailboxes, (info curtesy of another child in his acquaintance) and has some serious emotional problems. His parents refused to get him help because they did not want him "labeled". Now he is almost an adult, and is also "at risk", because his "high income" parents wanted to hide his problems, rather than face them and get help. Yet they prey on other parents and children who do not know how to find legal counsel or how to stand up for themselves.
While I agree that Marshall County had nothing to offer you, I still think that Tom and Alice have a responsibility to remember that ALL students have to be protected, and that when a student comes through their doors needing medical attention (and you certainly DID, if you are who I think you are) rather than a job, they need to address that first. When Deanis encouraged a couple of bullies to break John's glasses then threatened to call SRS on me when I did not have money to replace them immediately, he pretended to claim the high ground and said he was only "putting a child's medical needs first"! Why didn't he do that with you?? Oh yeah.......the school would have lost money and had to admit to certain problems if he had done that with you. Nonetheless, and I mean no offense by this, when I send a child to public school, I expect guns, drugs, alcohol, and abusers of the same NOT to be where they can have any influence. Just like my East Coast Southern accent was considered a horrible influence along with my religion and the fact that I grew up in Washington DC, it kinda sorta seems like the competent teachers would think of unabated addiction as a bad influence. Deanis, Tom, and Alice don't. And at the very least, Alice owes me an apology for being a liar the other day. But lets face it, we all do what we get paid to do, and she gets "paid" for being unkind to me. It's the way these Christians (ya gotta wonder how many first degree relatives and ancestors they have in Germany that fought on Hitler's side) apparently behave. I hope I never actually see Tom or Alice again, but I am not likely to be that lucky.
I am glad you take responsibility, but if you were my daughter or my student, I would have tried harder to do more for you. I still think the school deliberately overlooked a share of the responsibility, and while I believe Deanis was simply lying, I can see where Tom might be deluded enough to actually think he does not need to know any places to refer children with addiction problems. Frankfort has three Xian churches, right? They all need to pull their heads out of their anal passages and come out of the State of Denial. Alice too. After what she pulled with me the other day, I do not think it is even possible that her heart was ever in the right place. Information about addiction is available to everyone, and unless she is experienced in some way with it, she owed it to my daughter to resist the urge to set an example of enabling. Now my daughter is dating a young man with very serious denial and addiction problems, and I partly blame Alice, for teaching my daughter to compromise. Alice's heart is NOT in the right place, and her head needs to come out of her anal passage, as well.
Sobering up probably would, and probably has prepared you for college better than anything Tom could do. You were always very bright. I don't think that has changed
I fervently hope that my daughter does all the driving in the romantic relationship she is in, right now. The lessons she got from Alice about how to compromise, make excuses for the misdeeds of others, and how to enable could ruin her life, or worse. I don't know how Alice sleeps at night.
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