Monday, August 17, 2009

The New Moon with the Old One in Her Arms

New school year; one returning student one new; one new lunchbox one returning; two new backpacks; one new teacher one old teacher revisited; new (newly built) classrooms; new principal; new (to us) superintendent. New all-day kindergarten in the district (hence the new construction.) New rules about pickup (don't enter the school). New furor among parents (we want to enter the school; and there's no canopy over the doors you want us to wait outside, which is only fine when it isn't raining or snowing).

When I asked daughter last night what she was most looking forward to in her second ever day of school, she said: squishing bugs. She took care of two cockroaches in the brand new hallway outside her classroom before 8am, so I'm afraid it's going to be all downhill from there for her today!

The new policy against parents coming into the school to collect kids seems misguided. First, the sign out front says parents are welcome. Second, by putting the parents and guardians of 400 kids together on the sidewalk, you have an organized mob. We should actually hold PTO meetings, ten minutes at a time, right there. Third, it is not safer to send my 2d grader out with instructions to "come back if he doesn't find a parent." That's just... wrong. How do other schools do it?

1 comment:

  1. Addendum: the school has revised its policy based on parent concerns, and has combined the way things used to be with the new dismissal procedures. Amazing how alienating it was not to be welcomed in, and not to see the walls with kid work posted on them. For those of us who like going in, waiting for Parent-Teacher nights is both an eternity and a waste of a parent volunteer force. Glad the school was willing to change its procedures for us!

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