Rant

So disappointed in the kid's school this year! :( For starters, my request for specific teachers at last years end were ignored. Seems to have worked out though for the boys I guess. I do appreciate Jackson's teacher's efforts and communication. And Gage seems to really enjoy his teacher. But this is the first semester where they have not received any kind of award for academic growth. It makes me wonder... Are they just being more selective or are they not improving as they had been? Gage's fantastic special ed teacher from the past 2 years left so he has a new lady I hardly know, pretty much zero communication from her. I obviously need to be the one to initiate a conference or something.

I intended on being more involved this year and volunteering in the classroom so I could see a bit behind the scenes and help out. I went through the whole fingerprinting, background check, and attended the initial meeting and get together at the beginning of the year. I have never felt so alone, yet surrounded by people. I feel as though my children are judged and outcast-ed with the majority of that group, for whatever reason (I can speculate). So I have decided to remove myself and my children from that situation.

Before I get into what triggered this rant I want to mention how much I miss our old principal. She really knew how to run a school. I can't speak for how things were going on the inside with the staff, but at face value things just ran so much smoother than they do now. You really don't know how good you have it till it's gone! For example the pick up/drop off routine this year is horrible, like seriously pisses me off.

Now, MaryJane's situation is somewhat beyond the school's control. Just unfortunate. But I do believe the way it has been handled could have been greatly improved! I wish I would have requested a teacher for her to begin with but I chose not to because the 2 kinder teachers they had were both equally as great. Either one would have been wonderful. What I did not expect was that they would have so many new students enroll that they would need to hire a new teacher. Guess who MJ ended up with... I was willing to give her a chance though. She seemed nice, a little scatterbrained but I chalked it up to her being thrown into this job last minute and she would get it together. a couple months go by, MaryJane seemed to be really enjoying her class, homework was sent home regularly, things seemed great. Then everything just went downhill fast. MJ came home saying she had a substitute, not out of the ordinary. Then she started coming home every day that week saying she had another sub. I have no clue if it was the same sub or a different one every day but I can only assume it was at least a few different ones at this point. Then I get a letter from the school saying the teacher has abruptly left and will not be returning, they are working on finding a replacement but first needed to find a semi permanent sub for the time being. Now I can't even say exactly how long it has been but here we are in the 3rd semester and they just now found a new teacher. MaryJane got to meet her yesterday but then had yet another sub today because the teacher doesn't officially start till tomorrow. So we are going on... just a good guess, 7+ teachers in 4 months. I am unsure how much education she has actually received. She seemed to advance very quickly at first then everything came to a halt. No homework was being sent home, I began to really wonder and sent letters to school asking where her work was and still nothing.

Today I sent her to school in tears. She tried telling me she was sick this morning so she wouldn't have to go to school. What kindergartener hates school!? I am furious! I walked her to class this morning so I could talk to the sub about her hesitations. First thing I noticed was that they moved her classroom. The 3 kindergarten teachers were in 3 classrooms that were connected to one another in a line. When the 2 original teachers set up their classrooms at the end of last year they were not counting on a 3rd teacher so they had the center room set up as a shared classroom for centers and some combined learning activities. I am assuming when the new teacher came in they just stuck her where they had room so that middle room was now being used as a regular classroom. Well, apparently one of the teachers decided they liked that room better so when MJ's teacher left she took the opportunity to claim the room as her own and moved MaryJane's entire class to her old room. As if having your teacher abruptly leave and bouncing from sub to sub wasn't enough they had to put them in a whole new environment. I just don't get the logic in this. What a horrible idea!

The moment I walked in the door the sub exclaimed from across the room how great MaryJane is and how many good things she has heard about her from other teachers and staff. She said she is so helpful and more responsible than any other classmate and even her older brothers (yes, she actually said that, good to know my boys have a reputation of being irresponsible, but I'm not going to dwell on that cause I know just as well that they have attention issues and struggle with staying on task, it was just the fact that she actually said that after someone else felt like it needed to be told) Ok great, I am not complaining about how wonderful my daughter is and how much she has grown responsible. Even with everything going on she was noticed and received a citizenship award (proud mama!!). But when I began to explain to the sub that she was upset about having yet another teacher she brushed it off like it was no big deal. She claimed she heard she came in every day crying and upset and even swiped her hand in the air as to brush it aside. She was only interested in telling me how great she was (I am assuming this sub is the same one she had yesterday because she seemed to know MJ enough to speak from experience but kept mentioning what other teachers had told her). I don't doubt that MJ kinda moped in the morning because she was that way in preschool and she was very apprehensive on the first day of school. She is not one to jump right in. She likes to survey the situation and decide she wants to be a part of it before involving herself and feeling confident in her surroundings. But I know she does not go to class red faced in tears every day. If that were in fact the case, why haven't I heard of this!? When I drop her off out front she is almost always smiling. The boys walk her to class first before going to their own classrooms. I have heard how sweet they are with each other and even embrace before parting (I wish they were like that at home). At the very least I am sure Gage or Jackson would have mentioned that she goes to class crying every day. It just frustrated me that she would brush her anxiety of the situation aside like it were just a normal thing.

If all of this affects MaryJane in the future I am seriously going to flip out! I can just picture it now... The teacher is out sick and a sub shows up, tears! When will my teacher be back? Is she coming back at all? I'm just going to wrap myself in my safety net till I know what's happening and I feel confident in my surroundings again... She deserves a good education! Hopefully she is able to recover and thrive with this new teacher, who apparently MJ really seems to like from what she has told me. My heart is just breaking and on fire.

SO many changes have happened this year as far as the staff goes at the school. I used to LOVE this school! I looked forward to MJ starting her education here and continuing to watch the boys grow. It has become just mediocre at best. I am just so looking forward to moving back home. I really do love Colorado Springs and this house and I've made some pretty awesome friends here! But I'm excited to start over again and be able to plan for the future!

End rant...