Sign of the times

A Kansas City girl who skipped school Thursday received an unusual punishment from her father.

When Don Wesselman found out his daughter, Samantha, had skipped her freshman classes at Bonner Springs High School to hang out with friends, he gave her two choices.

"I told her she could either get disciplinary actions at home, or she could go up the street and hold a sign for 30 minutes," Wesselman told KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo.

She chose told hold up the sign, which read: "I skipped school so I don't have to learn so my Dad made me this sign so I can be ready for the future. God Bless."

Motorists and passers-by saw her holding up the sign.

The girl received some sympathetic looks, but others cheered the father's discipline.

"Outstanding -- that's the only thing I can say about that," a bystander said.

"I feel the parents don't do enough of that. I'm raised the old world way, and kids have got to learn there are rules and regulations," a passer-by said.

"I bet she won't do it again because that's embarrassing. I guarantee you that daughter won't do that again -- to see everybody knowing that you skipped school -- she won't do that again," a witness said.

"I think I put my foot down and she isn't going to do it again," Wesselman said.

After her 30 minutes were up, Samantha handed over the sign to her father, who said they'd be having a conversation later over why she skipped school.

Wesselman said he got the idea for the sign from another parent in New York who did something similar a few years ago.