90s36 More Problems

I have always thought that the general public would be surprised and alarmed about all of the problems we face daily in our elementary schools. Occasionally, they do get a brief glimpse. Some seek to get away from it while others just choose to ignore it. Times when people need to pitch in and be part of the solution are often times when they leave or just criticize.

September 28, 1998 - We had the first session of our Seminar in School Leadership this morning. About fifteen people showed up and I got two messages from people who forgot it but will come next time. We are meeting at the Holiday Inn for breakfast 15 times and talking about Autry's book Love and Profit and other sources that might be of interest to the group. It should be fun!

Last week I got a report that a female 3rd grader was behaving inappropriately on the playground. She has been threatening others and exposing herself. This happened sometime last year and earlier this year and I thought we had it taken care of. One parent was so upset that she took her child out of Longfellow and is sending her to Regina. I am very sorry to see them go but I know this parent has been on the verge of this for sometime and this incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. Now I hear from someone at the central office that the parent doesn't feel I did all I could. I did interview everyone last week in Julie or Donna's presence. I am trying to reach another parent who is concerned but haven't yet made the connection. In addition, another parent told us today she wanted to take her kids out of Longfellow because one of them is being picked on. She has three kids here. Two of them are in SCI. Their home school is Wood. I hope to meet with this parent and the teachers after school and relieve some of her concerns. We had a special education student who had a small pocketknife on the bus this morning. He showed it to the driver and did not use it in a threatening way. I am going to give him in-school suspension for a day, but am having trouble getting hold of the parents.

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Wow! When it rains it pours!!! I knew things were going too well.
I ended up suspending the boy who brought the knife to school to one day of in school suspension. The mother of the three children who was thinking of sending them to Wood decided to only send the regular ed. one there so we will be keeping the two that are in SCI.

The sudden drop in student numbers has me again concerned. Some of them are attributed to class size and some to families moving. We lost three on Friday. Two of those moved and one is going to Regina. We are losing another one who is going to Puerto Rico. Two are going to another school because of class size. One boy went to Wood because that is his home school and he thinks he has more friends there. We have three more that say they are moving and tomorrow is their last day. Whew!