It's not looking good

Today wasn't any better than yesterday. First, Emmie had to give up 5 minutes because she had to go to the bathroom. Apparently, if you go during class you owe the teacher 5 minutes of recess or 5 minutes after school. I know I have talked about this before, and still don't really understand it. How can you punish a child for needing to pee? Emmie said it was an emergency and she had to go. Because of her urinary reflex when she was younger, I certainly don't like her to hold it and she shouldn't have to. Emmie isn't the kind of kid to have to go often and certainly not the kind to disrupt the classroom or play in the restroom. I just think it's wrong. Again, only my opinion.

Another frustration has been stewing for some time now. I'm going to give you the short version. Our last Wing Commander decided to play musical schools. We have three elementary schools on base, which belong to the local school district, so we had both military and civilian children that attend all three schools. He decided that two of the schools needed to house only military students, while the third (our school) needed to house only civilian students during this school year. Like most things in California, it was for monetary reasons only and he did not put the children first in ANY of his decisions. So, this change was made. Students were shuffled, families uprooted, and all hell broke lose. Then, like our military leaders do, he moved. His kids didn't have to go through what ours are now. Big surprise huh? Students that have been going to the same school for years were now forced to hop on a bus and ride to a new school. This also added more of a course load on our Resource and Speech Teachers and added more behavioral problems to each classroom. Coupled with the class size increase and lack of prep time which equals grumpy teachers and we have a hell of a year.

I am frustrated because Emmie isn't getting what she use to get from her education at school and what she needs to be getting. I know the staff is trying their hardest, but when you have to deal with behavioral issues it over shadows the kids who are really trying and really struggling.

Also mix in the contract negotiations. For anyone who hasn't heard, California is broke and they seem to keep taking money away from our schools instead of working hard to preserve the future of our country! Our teachers sport fancy little "Strike" buttons and we are now at (rumor has it) Strike 3..which means a strike is in our near future. I admit I am not the most educated person when it comes to contracts and what each side (teachers and district) are asking for. I understand the cost of living in California. However, as a military family, we live on a LOT less than the teachers do. We didn't ask to be here, but I do want a quality education for all of my children. Sadly, California doesn't care.

In a perfect world, people would care. Parents would raise their children with compassion, with respect, and with the desire for education. That way our staff wouldn't spend so much time dealing with problems and could actually teach. My child would have her time in Learning Center and in Speech and I would feel like we are making progress. I wouldn't have to worry about her falling behind because our beloved teachers are waving strike signs and screaming on the side of the road. As a parent, I'm pissed that my kids are getting cheated.

So, thank you Col Dummy for having your own agenda and not putting our children first. Thank you Air Force for sticking us in this horrible place. Thank you insurance company for telling me since my child receives speech at school, you won't pay for her to go elsewhere. It is because of all of you that I'm bitter.

Anyway, homework tonight was fairly easy. Especially since some little brat pushed Emmie into a desk while she was getting her backpack. It was so hard she had blood running down her leg when I picked her up. She went to the bathroom to clean it up and put a band-aid on it, but it was bleeding through by the time we got home. Again, more behavioral problems! We did the 5 sentences from the spelling words (blah) and a math worksheet. I also added in the Cheez-it spelling, which was so much fun. During the day, I used small snack size bags and put the letters inside for a spelling word. Then we got to unscrambled the words! I love the new Scrabble Cheez-its!! We also read one of Emmie's favorite books, "If you take a mouse to the movies". Easy Peasy!!

Now, I'm going to crawl back in my bitter little corner....tomorrow friends.