Recently I posted what became a controversial post on my business Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MacKidShreveport.Bossier/posts/505803159494164?comment_id=3545458&offset=0&total_comments=103¬if_t=feed_comment
This became a huge thing with comments on both sides but surprisingly many comments disagreeing with me. Those who know me personally know that I have a heart that wants to help people, when I see people hurting I try to go out of my way to do or say something nice to them. But when I became a parent something happened, I became what seems to be labeled as a "bitch". I will fiercely protect my child to the death and if I feel something is not right I will speak up--even if I am proven wrong.
I spoke up about this man because I am concerned. Yes, I know the staff of the school will do everything they can to protect the kids but should they be put in this place when it can be prevented?
Our school is an open campus, as many Louisiana schools are, with adjacent buildings that are outside and the kids must go outside to enter other classes. When I go to take my child lunch they send her OUTSIDE to the office ALONE because I can not go to her room. Yet they allow this man to walk around the campus.
I was told that he's harmless, he brings school supplies, this and that, but isn't that how most abusers are? They don't come in saying they are abusers. Now I am not saying this man is dangerous, I am saying that we can't take that risk. He has NO business on a school campus or playground during school hours. If the neighborhood is okay with him that's fine, invite him to your home, but he doesn't belong at my kids school.
A few years ago I worked at a non-profit for homeless families and one of the families, a Mom with 2 boys, was featured in a news story. The next day I received a phone call from a man who wanted to sponsor one of the boys. It was very nice and we we're appreciative, then he started asking for the boy to come to his home, to go shopping with him, this and that. He became angry when I refused.
Our children are NOT for sale! Because someone does something nice it does not give them free reign on our lives and especially not our children's lives. We as parents are responsible, whether it's the popular decision or not, to protect our kids.
This morning I found out even more disturbing news which you will read about in the letter that I am posting below from a fellow parent at the school. This is not an attack on this man, it is an attack on the choices made at the school by whomever may have made it, that this man is okay to come around out kids. It is about putting our children at risk while doing what seems to be keeping parents at an arms length.
Please read the letter below as it is from a Dad, which makes me know even more that I am right and not just being emotional.
Feel free to comment with your thoughts.
I would like to respond to all the criticism that Macaroni
Kid-Shreveport has received for being concerned about a man that roams the
campus at ________ Elementary. I
personally have two children that attend school there and find it disgraceful
that so many parents would stick up for a stranger over their children. The safety of my little girls comes above and
beyond my concern for any other person on this earth. I don’t care one bit if an individual has a
mental disorder when the protection of my children is the topic. That gives them no pass to be on school
campus when parents themselves aren’t even allowed without a legitimate reason
and a visitor pass any more. Safety was
such a concern last year but it would seem that the only people who were
limited in their interaction with the school are the parents. We had parents that were being told they
couldn’t even cross the street to get their children after school let out. They would have to wait for their children to
cross to them. Now I learn that this
rule is a pick-and-choose situation.
What a letdown. I also found out last
night he sits at the park where our children play during recess. It clearly states at every entrance that the
park is closed to the public during school hours. I guess we should just turn a blind eye to
this too? Are parents so quick to
dismiss that the world our children are growing up in is a scary place? The predation of our children has reached
heights that should scare EVERY single parent.
Just two years ago there was a man driving around the Broadmoor area
trying to get children into his car. I
thank God that nobody in the neighborhood had to deal with that potential
tragedy. Let’s not even get into the
fact that pedophiles consistently stalk Facebook and game Apps for kids. How quickly our memories are washed away by political
correctness and empathy for a person that should, AT THE VERY LEAST, come
second to our children. His intentions
may be perfectly innocent but are you, as a parent, willing to take that
chance? Are your children worth
sacrificing for the sake of political correctness? Go volunteer at our local shelters. Keep your kids safety detached from your
philanthropic ideals. Everybody wanted
to state that this man is just a little off and he should be helped. I completely agree. However, this is completely separate from allowing
him around our children without a legitimate reason. Please keep the following in mind the next
time you want to defend a person with potential mental disabilities against
your kids. A study conducted by a joint
medical team in Europe found that all impulse control disordered sexual
offenders and 93% of paraphiliacs have one or more lifetime mental or
personality disorders. This is not to
say that every person with a mental disorder is a danger to children. I would never agree with that. It does point out that mental disorders are a
precursor; that every sex offender has some sort of mental disorder. To argue against this would be to say that a
sexual predator is somehow normal. Is
the innocence and purity of your child worth risking for the sake of leniency?
Brandon Gerig
