Ever received a snarky note from your children’s school? Ever wanted to write one back? One US father-of-two has done just that – and his response is going viral.
Mike Rossi took his nine-year-old twins on a family trip that meant missing three days of school.
When he returned, he and his wife received a stern note from the principal of Rydal East Elementary school, Rochelle Marbury, who was less than pleased with the kids’ absence.
Mr Rossi, a part-time radio personality from Pennsylvania, was so incensed by the letter that he replied with a scathing letter enumerating the many valuable experiences his son Jack and daughter Victoria enjoyed during the trip.
In the lengthy response, Mr Rossi explained he had competed in the Boston Marathon during the trip – a moment he wanted to show his children, as he had overcome a shoulder injury to achieve that goal.
He said his family had paid tribute to the Boston Marathon bombing victims, that they had walked the Freedom Trail, and visited the graves of several signers of the Declaration of Independence during the trip.
He added that, while the family “truly love” the school, the children had “learned as much in the five days we were in Boston as they would in an entire year in school”.
“I wouldn’t hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this past week,” he concluded.
The entire letter, as published on his Facebook page, reads:
Dear Madam Principal,
While I appreciate your concern for our children’s education, I can promise you they learned as much in the five days we were in Boston as they would in an entire year in school.
Our children had a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that can’t be duplicated in a classroom or read in a book.
In the 3 days of school they missed (which consisted of standardized testing that they could take any time) they learned about dedication, commitment, love, perseverance, overcoming adversity, civic pride, patriotism, American history culinary arts and physical education.
They watched their father overcome, injury, bad weather, the death of a loved one and many other obstacles to achieve an important personal goal.
They also experienced first-hand the love and support of thousands of others cheering on people with a common goal.
At the marathon, they watched blind runners, runners with prosthetic limbs and debilitating diseases and people running to raise money for great causes run in the most prestigious and historic marathon in the world.
They also paid tribute to the victims of a senseless act of terrorism and learned that no matter what evil may occur, terrorists can not deter the American spirit.
These are things they won’t ever truly learn in the classroom.
In addition our children walked the Freedom Trail, visited the site of the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre and the graves of several signers of the Declaration of Independence.
These are things they WILL learn in school a year or more from now. So in actuality our children are ahead of the game.
They also visited an aquarium, sampled great cuisine and spent many hours of physical activity walking and swimming.
We appreciate the efforts of the wonderful teachers and staff and cherish the education they are receiving at Rydal Elementary School. We truly love our school.
But I wouldn’t hesitate to pull them out of school again for an experience like the one they had this past week.
The letter has been shared more than 32,000 times on Facebook and has made headlines across the world, with some calling the note “brilliant” and dubbing Mr Rossi “dad of the year”.
Top Comments
Where are these parents who take their kids out of school constantly for vacations, my god I never missed a day, and I HATED school! Lucky sods! I never got sick either, stupid honest twit that I was it never occurred to me to fake sickness to get a day off! My parents instilled in me the virtue of honesty, so I blame them for that too!
So all that education, I'm now working in an office, not performing brain surgery or anything where more than basic English/Math skills are required (in any case I have a calculator and PC with spell check). I recall doing very well in History but so far my detailed knowledge of Archduke Ferdinand assassination and how it led to WWI has not yet resulted in my getting employment! Haven't had to use a Bunsen burner either (which is good cause I never could figure out what the hell they were for, but somehow I passed Science).
If I had my time again I would have been a dishonest little thing and faked illness to get out of school on a regular basis, forged a few notes etc, and hell I would have taken myself away on my own damn holiday!
Watching dad run a marathon, visiting various tourist sites and eating out is a once in a lifetime event.
I think "dad" is exaggerating. It is extremely likely that dad will run another marathon and that the kids, over the course of their lives, will visit numerous tourist sites and sample lots of cuisines.
In fact, apart from the marathon, everything else could be done on weekends or scheduled holidays.
Maybe, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for dad to force his family to support his marathon running endeavours before the kids got old, cynical and rebellious?
I don't have a problem with parents taking kids out of school for a couple of days, but I object to their bullshit rationalisations. Dad wanted a cheer squad and could find a couple of possible educational benefits to justify the trip.