[Prudence]

Clearly some people have never learned the utility of the "mommy note." For example, in jr. high we were only allowed to eat during lunch -- no food or drink at any other time of day. I'm slightly hypoglycemic and have to eat small snacks more regularly throughout the day or I get dizzy spells and pass out. A note from mom was all it took for me to be allowed to nibble some crackers and cheese at my locker between classes. In high school, we weren't permitted to use the bathroom at all between classes. I wasn't a big fan of using those bathrooms at ALL anyhow, and I was in honors classes where the teachers assumed that we were responsible and if we said we needed to go then we actually needed to go and weren't fooling around. But I carried a note from mom anyhow. Oh, and a note that I was allowed to have Advil whenever I wanted.

You'd think that a note from mom in this case, planned in advance, could handle things. If it were me, I would have talked to the principal in advance, let him know I was being deployed and that I knew of the school policy, but that I would have to take phone call opportunities whenever they arose.

Or maybe my school administrators were just afraid of my mom. That's entirely possible.