The email

Here is the email that Matt and I sent to Cate's teacher. I had to keep telling Matt that he needed to reel it in as he was being really mean and vicious. Then he got angry with me when I would ask him not to use words like deprive, and other words that make us sound as though we are attacking her.

It really was a difficult email to write. Only because what I wanted to say, I couldn't. I really just wanted to lay into her about how she has no right to tell my daughter what she can and can't eat provided what she has is healthy. So it was very frustrating to try and compose this.

Hopefully we will get a response sometime soon. We sent it off last night around 10:00 and I was sick to my stomach after I sent it. All I can think about is the possibility of this teacher now being mean to Caitlyn because of the email. Let's hope that doesn't happen. And God help the woman if it does because Matt is horribly fired up about this whole situation.

Dear Mrs. L,
I was a little concerned when my daughter, Caitlyn Walsh, came home on
Friday, September 5th, and told me that she was not allowed to eat the
snack that my wife, Nancy, and I packed for her. She told us that she was
told she could not eat it because it was not a fruit or vegetable.
However, it was in fact a healthy snack. In case you don't remember what
it was, she had Cheerios and raisins mixed together in a baggie.

I understand that you are trying to promote a healthy lifestyle by having
the children consume fruits and vegetables, and we support that. However,
the Cheerios that we packed for her aide in lowering cholesterol and are
made of whole grains and oats and the raisins are dried fruits (grapes).
We try our hardest to provide Caitlyn with healthy food choices throughout
the day and avoid foods that are high in sugar and fat. Which is why we
thought the snack that we provided was appropriate. We read the note that
was sent home regarding the guidelines of what the students are allowed to
bring as a snack. However, we did not interpret the note to literally
mean that they were only allowed to bring in fruits and vegetables.
Rather, we thought it meant that they were allowed to bring in foods that
were healthy. Which, again, what we provided for her was a healthy snack.

What is more distressing to us, is that when she was told that she could
not eat what was provided for her, you did not replace her snack with
something else to eat. Thus, defeating the purpose of eating a snack
midday entirely. In the future, if you feel that the snack that we
provided for her is somehow inappropriate, it becomes your responsibility
to give her something that you feel is appropriate. At that point, I
expect either an email or a phone call to discuss why the snack provided by us
was inappropriate.

Please know that we are not the type of parents who typically complain
about how a teacher runs their classroom. In fact, my wife and I are also
both teachers. We just feel that this situation was handled poorly and
the only person to suffer because of that was Caitlyn. She was teary eyed
when she told us that we had packed a snack for her that she couldn't have
and was quite angry about it. Please realize that we have also included
Mrs. Ortiz in this email because we wanted her to be aware of our concerns.

If you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to reply to
this email or call me on my cell phone listed in the signature line of
this email. We appreciate your attention to this email.