The reply...

Här kommer det lama svaret jag fick av rektorn dagen efter mitt mailutbrott.

Det som är gult har jag "hajlajtat" och skrivit ner noteringar med rött efter, bara för att komma ihåg vart jag vill komma med diskussionen som jag faktiskt hade med rektorn idag.

Hon är så bra att prata med, som tur är, så nu är allt bra igen, i alla fall mellan henne och mig. De två övriga personerna som strulade till det med telefonsamtalet vill jag helst inte se.

Hi Victoria -

Thank you for writing to me.

My apologies for my delay in writing back to you. I wanted to ensure that I had spoken personally to Mr.Clark (Grade 8 Trip Leader), Wenjing Wang (Coordinator of all WAB China Studies Trips, who is also on the Grade 8 Camp) and Kevin Rose.

Both Grant and Wenjing believe that Ludvig is doing well and is very much enjoying the camp.

Our trip procedures definitely include taking attendance of all students before we leave, and to phone parents if any students are missing, This was not done unless prior notice of their absence has been given. Unfortunately we experienced some uncharacteristic miscommunications, which prevented this procedure from working smoothly. I do not believe that there was someone at blame, but rather faulty technology, Sounds not trusworthy to me and sincere misunderstanding.

Mr. Clark did take attendance and realized that Ludgwig was not at school at 6:00 on Monday morning. Without knowing the details around attendance check, obviously the one you have now is not working good enough

In preparation for this trip, all Grade 8 students had been asked to hand in their original passports to the school by last Friday (to help ensure all went smoothly on the day of the trip) The passports were safely stored over the weekend in the Middle School vault. I would never, at any time, let my sons passport stay in a vault that I dont have access to.

As we had divided up all trip responsibilities, Mr. Rose was at the school early on Monday morning to get the passports out of the vault, and to help oversee the trip departure.

As Ludgwig had not arrived, and we did not have his passport Ludvig had the word Passport written all over him on Friday, Monday morning it was in his backpack, Mr. Clark phoned Mr. Rose to let him know of Ludvig's absence and to ask him to phone home.

Due to a poor phone line connection It happens to me too sometimes, then I just hang up and call again especially if it is as important as to check if a student is missing (mobile phones), Kevin heard Grant report that Ludvig, and his passport, were not at school. However, part of the conversation could not be heard due to the faulty connection, and Kevin believed that Grant had been in contact with home and that Ludvig was not coming on the trip. As it is not unusual for one or two students not to be able to attend a camp at the last moment, shouldnt there be a confirmation to that Kevin did not question this further until Ludvig arrived at school two hours later.

Once Ludwig arrived to school, I do believe that Kevin and the Grade 8 team did sincerely try to ensure that Ludwig could join this trip. What did they do? Your offer to have a friend drive Ludwig was greatly appreciated It cost me 2500 rmb and then many hands on deck (including Kevin, Grant, Wenjing, the travel agent as well as yourself and your friend) tried to make this happen I got their phonenumbers. After numerous phone calls, unfortunately the safest and surest meeting point was at the camp hotel. Again, due to traffic and travel times, the first group did not get to the hotel until 7 pm, although it was hoped that they could have been there earlier.

From talking with Grant, Wenjing and Kevin I do sincerely believe that this was an unfortunate case of misunderstanding. It is also my sincere belief, from talking to them, that they have worked hard to ensure that Ludvig is settled and adjusted into camp.

Grant, Wenjing and Kevin and I already have planned to meet to discuss this situation further to try to prevent this situation from happening again.

I want to ensure that we have all of your proper contact details for our communication system. If you can let us know the best email addresses to contact you through, that would be very helpful. We have been at Wab for seven years and have the same contact details all the time.

I am on Grade 6 camp on Wednesday and Grade 7 camp on Thursday. However, I am available all Friday afternoon if you would like to drop by to discuss this further. Just let me know if you would like to arrange a time to meet.

Once again, my sincere apologies for the rough start that Ludvig had to camp. I was very impressed with how maturely Ludvig handled this situation, and Grant has commented that Ludvig has continued to handle this maturely while at camp. We will also continue to monitor closely to ensure that Ludvig has a smooth camp from here.

OSV.....