Common Mom

Let the games begin! I’ve been trying to prepare myself for life dealing with the public school system. We live in a great school district, so I’m not at all worried about the education my kids will receive. What I do worry about is ME dealing with those that are supposedly “in charge.” I know I know . . . I have to just let it go and be prepared for a gazillion snow days, other random days off, and late starts for my son’s class so his teachers can help the 3-5 grade teachers with their “new grading standards” - no I’m not kidding - we actually got that letter in the mail on Tuesday. The K-2 kids will lose 2 entire days of school for Friday late starts throughout the year so their teachers can help the older kids’ teachers with new grades . . . apparently changing from A, B, and C to Excellent, Good, and Average is hard work.

But back to orientation! I called last spring to see if we could tour the school. They said no. School was already closed for summer, but hey, we’ve got this great ice cream social planned for the Thursday before school starts, so you can come in, get a tour, meet your child’s teacher, and get acquainted with the school.

So yesterday I leave work early and head home so we can all go to this awesome ice cream social. We get there and not only is there no ice cream (the horror!), but there is no tour. In fact, there IS NO TEACHER! Yup - you heard me right . . . no teacher. We found my son’s classroom by looking at the lists on all the 2nd grade doors. Very exciting stuff (really, I’m not trying to be sarcastic here). But, we notice that the room is void of an adult. Then we notice that the name plate on the door is void of a name! All the other rooms had adults in them - presumably the teachers, whose names were neatly printed on the name plate outside the classroom. So we look across the row of my son’s name and see that there is another classroom number and a teachers name for his TT Room. So we head down there. It’s a 5th grade room. Hmmmmmmmm. I’m thinking he’s accidentally been assigned to 5th grade . . . which is OK cuz that would be easy to fix . . . tell the admin. and he gets assigned to a second grade class. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The 5th grade teacher is his Thunder Time teacher - apparently this is the public school’s version of circle time in the morning. It’s actually a cool idea. So we meet his TT teacher and head back to the 2nd grade classrooms. We walk in to one with a teacher in it and start asking questions. The exchange went something like this . . .

Me: Do you know where the teacher for that classroom is?
Teacher: Um, no I don’t. But let me get an administrator to help you.
Me: Thank You.

Administrator of some sort joins us - she looks about 18! But she is very nice and helpful.
Me: We were just wondering where the teacher for my son’s room across the hall is.
Admin: Um, there isn’t one.
Insert crooked face weird look from Mommy here
M: There isn’t a teacher? Is she coming later?
A: No. There isn’t a teacher. They just created that new classroom 30 minutes ago. We’re going to hire a teacher tomorrow. Then we’ll set up some time for everyone to meet the new teacher.
M: But school starts MONDAY.
A: I know - it’s frustrating isn’t it.
M: Um YA!
A: Actually, let me go get someone to stand in that room for the other parents that have questions, too. Do you want to go walk around and meet me back in that room?
M: Sure. Thanks.

So we head out to the cafetorium that is filled with parents and students who have done this before - they’re all standing in line to get the required PE uniform (actually fairly stylish - nothing like the late 70’s early 80’s attire I was required to wear), their kids’ schedules, put money in the lunch accounts. We buy Jason’s student planner and then head to the Literacy table to sign him up for a testing time next week so they can see that yes indeed he can read. But of course, there is no sheet for his class because there is no teacher! The literacy lady tells me that they have to wait until they hire a teacher and then figure out how said teacher wants to do the testing. Well, let ME tell you how said teacher wants to do the testing . . . just like every other friggin’ elementary teacher in the school, there will be two pieces of paper with 1 hour time slots throughout next Thursday and Friday. We will write our kid’s name on one line and bring him to school on the appointed day at the appointed time so he can take a standardized reading test.

Back to his classroom, where we meet a VERY nice lady . . . Mrs. Mary (yes she has a last name, but I wouldn’t put it here even if I did remember it.). She is a TAG teacher and VERY helpful. She explained how this was indeed a nightmare for them, too, and she is sorry there isn’t a teacher, but explains that last year they did this new classroom thing 2 weeks in to the school year, which was much worse . . . I explain that I do understand why they did it, but we just need to make our little due (and MOMMY!) a little more comfy. Afterall, we’ll put him on the bus Monday morning and wave goodbye. Where does the bus drop him off? Where does he go when he gets here? We assumed his classroom, but were informed that is wrong - he goes to the TT room. What does he do with the 15 pounds of school supplies he’ll be bringing with him? What about his backpack? Is there a place for it, because this school is totally void of lockers or cubbies of any kind? What about after school and getting on the correct bus home? Mary very kindly gave us a tour, showed Jason where the bus would drop him off, explained how there would be teachers outside helping the first week, told him to go into the cafetorium and look for the big purple sign that his TT teacher Mrs. Boaz would be holding up, explained that she’d take care of them the first couple days until they find their way around the school, assured us that at the end of the day no bus is allowed to leave without it’s full roster of children accounted for.

THANK YOU MRS. MARY! The 10 minutes she spent with us, one of the new families, is all that we were asking for. A small tour of the elementary, an explanation of how the bus drop off works, and a little assurance to our little dude (who was very nervous) that he would indeed find his teacher very easily and would not be lost.

Whew . . . there you have it. I went home and talked to My Hubby and as always, said that I need to just expect this stuff, not let it get to me, and go with the flow. I’m really going to make an effort to do that . . . which for me will be tough

So, we’ll spend the weekend grilling Jason on his bus number, his TT teacher’s name, and his 2nd grade classroom number. He’ll remember, he’ll get on the bus, I’ll cry, and all will be well

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