As long as parents roll over for it, it will continue.
I'd be sending my kid to school with a carton of chocolate milk and a note telling the school that the child is required to drink it and finish every last drop, and that I want my kid coming home with that same note signed by the teacher witnessing that my directive was carried out. Make them squirm. Make them come to me and say, "Um, Mr. IDP, what is it you're wanting us to do here?"
I had an instance a few years back where my will came up against the school district policy. We live in a good district, but it has its ridiculous policies just like they all do.
The state guidelines for school sick day protocol insist that if your child has had flu-like symptoms, or has run a fever within a 24 hour period prior to the next school day, they are forbidden to come to school. That's common sense.
One year, my older son had a few different bouts with the flu during the school year that required him according to the guidelines to miss quite a bit of school. That same year we took several smaller vacations that whittled a few days here and there from school, but the kids always arranged things in advance with their teachers, and made up their work. Our kids are A/B students, and are very good at keeping up on their studies, so when opportunities arise for vacations during the school year, we gladly pull them out knowing that they will make up the work responsibly.
After one bout with the flu, we got a note from the school principal co-signed by the district social worker saying that my older boy had fallen below the district's acceptable absentee limit, and that any further absences would necessitate a pow-wow with a district social worker, a counselor, and the school principal. My son was receiving straight A's at the time, and in fact had just received "Student of the Trimester" award. Not to mention the fact that we had another week-long vacation planned for the spring.
I verified with my boy that he was up on his studies, and then blasted the principal - first, for sending us a letter threatening pending action for "unexcused" absences when my son is among the top students in his class, and it is quite obvious by his grades and teacher comments that our home places a high value on education. Second, because most of his days absent from school were required by school sick policy, and the ones that weren't WERE excused - by US. Third, because she was too lazy to look at the student in question before signing the letter, and she looked ridiculous threatening the parents of the Student of the Trimester with social worker intervention for absenteeism.
I told her that under no circumstances would we ever be meeting with a social worker regarding this matter unless it was right there and then. I offered her a meeting based on the record as it stood, not after "one more absence." I notified her of our Spring vacation plans, and I basically said, you want a meeting with us, it's now or never. We're going on that vacation, and I don't want to hear a word about it. I even tried to close her down with alternate dates for a meeting - "You want to meet tomorrow evening, or would Wednesday work better? Why don't you get with the social worker and lemme know which works best."
Oh, no, no Mr. IDP, no need for that. It was a standard letter that we send out when a student has reached a certain number of absences, yadda-yadda. As soon as I got that concession, I blasted her some more just to drive it home, telling her that the district's cookie-cutter policy didn't serve her too well in this particular situation now, did it. Your threatening the sovereignty and sacredness of my family with intervention from social workers, based on a form-letter you now regret sending? Use your head next time, Mrs. principal.... I got profuse apology for the "misunderstanding". In return, I "promised" to make sure that for the rest of the school year, if my son was going to be absent, I'd call her personally to inform her.
Sometimes you gotta get in people's faces, make them uncomfortable. If parents would just take the initiative that God has given them, and BE the parent to their children, they'd be AMAZED at how much power they have. Send your kids to school with chocolate milk, and dare the school to challenge your authority.
