My daughter comes home with a stack of unwanted but must-sign papers, not to mention the other huge stacks I received from all of my other school-age children, too. I sifted through, battling my signature onto each page until my hand ached, but this particular stack of papers contained a letter that instructed me to go to the teacher’s website, read what was on there, and only after I’d done so, could I sign and have the paper returned. Uh, okay!? I signed it anyway and handed it back to her.
This morning, my daughter hands me the paper back. “Did you go to this website yet!?”
“What? Uh, no!? Why?”
“Because I can’t hand this in until you do.”
“WHAT!?!?”
I mean, how the hell did the teacher know I hadn’t been? Until I accessed it, and realized, there was several links she wanted me to visit – policy and procedures, rules, etc. And I like the idea of looking at it online as opposed to forty-kajillion papers (savin’ trees, yo!), but then I came across a page the teacher wanted *ME* to print out from home to sign regarding my daughter’s usage of a graphic calculator in class.
Print from my home to sign to give to you? Uh, no.
Teachers, you must understand that your school’s paper your school buys in bulk, the copier ink is available cheaper than it is from our homes. And? My HP printer isn’t even friggin’ working! What about those parents without printers at all?
Miffed by this situation (and, I have to admit, a little baffled), I emailed the teacher to tell her that she should consider my email to her as my e-signing her calculator document. I mean, what was the purpose of putting this info online to save paper in the first place, if only to have the parent waste paper more expensively to print and sign from home!? What the hell?
Furthermore, this teacher than has me read all of the above, then e-sign her data-collection form online, admitting I’d read everything, planned to abide by it, all while giving her all our home address/phone/work/blood-type info. What more did this lady want? Shouldn’t that be enough?
Oh right, the paper-wasting paper she sent home to begin with, telling me to do all of this in the first place, on top of the e-signed sheet and the one I’m supposed to print and sign from home. THREE SIGNATURE SHEETS for one math class!
And the absolute kicker? I got an auto-responder email to the email I sent to her, saying it was caught in their unsolicited sender filter, and by simply replying to that email, admitting I’d truly meant to email the teacher, I’d be automatically added to her trusted sender list. More hoop jumps to go through for this math teacher.
All for one math class, for just one of my four school-age kids. Why not make it harder for us, eh? Geez!
What about you? Any ridiculous papers you’re signing for back-to-school? Or situations you’re currently embroiled in? You guys won’t believe the parent pick-up nightmare I’m currently experiencing. Saving that for another post, soon.
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