Chapter 8 - School records did not support Isolde
Isolde’s care file said:
Tamsin has frequent emotional episodes at school.
School records said:
Two counselor visits in eight months.
One after Mother’s Day activity.
One after a classmate talked about cancer.
Understandable.
Isolde wrote:
Tamsin struggles with transitions unless grandmother present.
Teacher Ms. Carla Benson said:
“Tamsin transitions normally most days.”
Then:
“She gets anxious on substitute-teacher days.”
Not grandmother-specific.
Isolde wrote:
Food seeking reported at school.
School nurse had one note:
Tamsin forgot lunch and asked for crackers.
That became “food seeking.”
Then cafeteria.
No concerns.
No hoarding.
No repeated hunger complaints.
Then school pickup.
Isolde had contacted school counselor three times.
Once asked:
“Does Tamsin seem distressed when Dad travels?”
Counselor refused substantive discussion beyond general policy without my consent.
Isolde later wrote:
School aware of paternal absence concern.
Technically she had contacted school.
Not the same as school concern.
Then Tamsin’s teacher told Dana:
“Gideon misses some events.”
True.
“Is he responsive when we call?”
“Yes.”
“Does he attend conferences?”
Usually.
I had missed one.
Rescheduled.
Then:
“Does Tamsin appear neglected?”
“No.”
That mattered.
Isolde had taken ordinary imperfections and inflated them.
Yet ordinary imperfections still existed.
I worked late.
I relied on Grandma.
I sometimes answered emails during homework.
The correct response was not:
None of that happened.
May you like
It was:
None of it justified a grandmother manufacturing evidence.
