School Rants

We're going to dinner at Girl Crush's house tonight. You haven't heard that name in forever, huh?

She pretty much became BFF with the third friend, and once I got my job I just couldn't keep up with being friends. I get easily overwhelmed and am a pretty sucky friend in general. But we ran into each other and she asked us to dinner, and even though I'm really not in the mood to go just because I'm feeling pretty anti-social, I know I'll have fun once I get there and I really do want friends. So we're going.

In other news, I noticed bruises on Big Kid's neck and he says that Hudson grabbed him around the neck and squeezed because Hudson says Santa isn't real and Big Kid says he's wrong. BRUISES ON HIS NECK. Supposedly Hudson got time out and on warning watch, but guess who is getting a stern talking-to from Library Mom on Monday? He's lucky I don't grab him around his little punk neck. No wonder Santa doesn't go to Hudson's house.

Speaking of school, something happened a couple of weeks ago that is still irking me. I went to pick Big Kid up and another student's mom approached me.

"I just thought you should know that I came to the school to have lunch with J today. We took Big Kid with us out onto the patio to eat, and when he opened his lunch box, there was only 2 pretzel sticks in a bag and a melted chocolate coin," she said.

"What??," I asked, "He was supposed to buy his lunch today! He always buys lunch on Friday. He didn't have homework last night and we must have forgotten to take his lunch box out of his bag! So what did he do?"

"He just kept saying 'I can't believe dey forgot to pack my lunch" and "I can't even eat my chocolate because it is melted!" You know how Big Kid is, very serious and dramatic about it! Poor kid!"

"So he didn't eat lunch?"

"No! He didn't have any!"

Um...why the fuck didn't you approach an adult with some common sense and let them know that there was a problem? I mean, if it was me, I would immediately take your child and buy him a lunch. If I had no money, I'd check his lunch account for money. If it had no money, I'd tell a cafeteria worker that this kindergarten student had no lunch. If they wouldn't help, I'd be splitting our lunch with him.

I wouldn't just sit there letting him go on and on about how all he had was a melted chocolate. :-(

I wouldn't assume that you had packed two pretzel sticks and a melted chocolate.

I'm a little pissed about it. Big Kid's teacher approached mid-conversation and was upset that he had no lunch and said she wished he had told her (or maybe the adult with him could have told her??) I don't know what this lady was thinking. Not the end of the world, but a WTF moment that has stuck with me.

I'm not that thrilled with school in general these days. We got a notice home the other day that informed us that our district wasn't meeting the standards set forth in the No Child Left Behind Act, and hadn't been in years. Well...why not? What's the problem here? Where is the proposed solution?

Thanks for the notice that you're totally sucking ass when it comes to educating my child, but now what?

Big Kid's teacher is great and he seems to be learning a lot, but it is only Kindergarten. Our problems are just beginning. No way I can afford private school. No way can I home school now that I'm working. No way can I move to a different state.

Also, remember how before he got into school I agonized about "institutionalizing" him? Oh, have I ever.

The other day we stayed after school to do some extra-curricular fund raising thing in the cafeteria. The afterschool program was in there too. So the cafeteria was completely full, with the front half being in this program and the back of the room doing a really fun fundraiser. There was some noise, naturally. Not yelling, not shrieking, just hundreds of people in a room talking.

The lady in the afterschool program's last nerve had left the building hours ago. She was on this bullhorn yelling this little saying they have, over and over because she could not maintain complete quiet.

They have this mantra they say. The adult yells something similar to, "Perfection is..." then claps twice and everyone yells "EXPECTED" back. Okay, whatever, a good focusing tool or behavioral reminder.

But with this being screamed over a bullhorn every three minutes by someone who is ready to lose her mind, and all of these little kids (including the ones in the fundraiser, who didn't have to listen to this lady at all but are just trained to respond to this call) chanting back over and over again...it was like some bizarre Nazi bootcamp. It was very stressful and irritating.

I felt bad for the kids in the afterschool program. They had no activity they were supposed to be doing, they appeared to be waiting for something. They had just finished a long day at school and were sitting at tables talking. Nothing out of hand was going on. They were just at the mercy of a stressed out adult at the end of her day.

I'm not really cool with someone screaming at my kid for no good reason because they've had a bad day though. I'm the only one allowed to do that.

The Librarian also gets on their case all of the time for not whispering. No speaking voices allowed, only whispers. Kindergartners just can't whisper. I take four kids at a time and if they are speaking in low, conversational tones, not all at once, while sitting at a table, we're doing pretty freaking amazing. Her coming over to bark at them every few minutes, every time two children accidentally speak at once, doesn't lend itself to a quiet, peaceful atmosphere anymore than their talking does.

I get that everyone that works at a school has to control the chaos before it reaches that level, but the thought of my kid being barked at all day by stressed out adults really annoys me. Also, I think reasonable expectations need to be set. We are training them for the real world. In the real world, even the meanest Librarian will let you speak in a quiet speaking voice. Even the strictest boss will allow you to make conversation with your co-workers during down time.

Alrighty, this has turned into an epic rant. LOL. I could have folded the entire laundry couch in the time that it took to type this. It's time to go get ready for dinner at Girl Crush's. Just know that I'm frustrated with school, especially now that they apparently aren't even accomplishing their mission as an institution.