Dad Lets School Think They Lost His Daughter -- Internet Divided

The irate dad took to an anonymous Reddit forum to get some feedback after his own brother, who is an educator, said he was an a--hole.

However, while some agreed with the brother, many on the internet took the complete opposite opinion.

For the full details see below.

"My daughter is seven. I drove her to school on Monday morning, dropped her off, and then took my son to his classroom (pre-k, separate building).

"When I got back to my car my daughter was standing by it and crying. I was running late for work so I just took her to my moms. Debated calling the school but assumed they'd call me and decided to not be any later to work.

"They didn't call me. My daughter was fine (she tripped in class and broke her bottle - she cried and came to find me but forgot where her brothers class was so waited by the car). I was pissed off when I got to pick up and no one had said anything.

"My son was a happy little guy, I decided to walk up to my daughters class to ask what had happened. When the teacher saw me she bolted back inside and disappeared. I decided to head to main office instead.

"As soon as I got there the teacher rushed into an explanation of not realizing my daughter was supposed to be in today. Basic guilty stuff.

"I let her ramble and then explained where she was. The principal was called who essentially told me it was incredibly dangerous for me to not call her in and to let her staff worry.

"I think its unprofessional for them to not call home if a child just disappears. I handed her off to a member of staff so at least one person knew she was there. Anything could have happened to her - she's little and was walking out in front of cars.

"They have decided we need to have a meeting, I agree. Neither kid has been to school today. I'm probably going to switch their school.

"I spoke to my brother (a teacher) who said I was in the wrong - teachers make mistakes, the member of staff probably saw me with her and thats why she didn't tell anyone. I don't feel like I was but I can see his POV. AITA?"

Many believed OP should have walked his daughter back into class or at least have called the school to let them know what happened -- with one Redditor commenting, "No reason for you to play passive-aggressive games."

However, the post was soon flooded with comments in support of the dad, particularly after he explained, "I walked her to the door, said hi to the class assistant, transferred my daughters hand into hers. [...] I still don't know what happened but she wasn't marked absent."

As one Redditor expressed, "I was leaning Y T A until the teacher literally bolted when she saw you. NTA, switch schools. This school isn’t prioritizing your children’s safety and they're covering up issues instead of communicating them."

"NTA what if she had been kidnapped?" another noted. "From the teacher's behavior when she saw you it seems she was scared to face you. Very f'd up. That said I would have called the school when I took her, but now I wouldn’t trust the school either."

"Crazy how many people are calling OP an asshole here," a verbose Redditor summed it up. "The child was directly handed over to a TA who knew her and should have been aware that she was, at some point, in the classroom and then not - even if the teacher didn’t. So either the child was present when taking attendance and then went missing, or wasn’t present for it. In either case, this should have raised alarms for the teacher and the school should have contacted the parents. Even if just to check if the child was ill - this is typical protocol in many schools. Yeah OP could have called but the fact that they didn’t highlighted a major problem with responsibility and communication in the school. It doesn’t sound like OP caused much stress or drama by not calling since the teachers obviously weren’t bothered or aware throughout the day that a child was missing. Honestly I think it’s good that OP didn’t because now it’s highlighted this. NTA".

While one former teacher noted "our primary responsibility is knowing where the kids are at all times."

What do you think?