90s50 Happy New Year

Tuesday, January 4, 2000 – We are all back from winter break. The Y2K glitches that were forecast by many just didn’t happen. The new year seems to be off to a good start. We have lost some students but are also picking up some. Several of them are ESL students so that will help our numbers in that area. We need to hire a 3-hour office associate and a 6-hour one-on-one associate. Hopefully, we can find some good candidates for those positions.

Wednesday, January 12, 2000 – Rumors are that the parents in one of our families’ have separated. These are the parents who gave us so much trouble at the beginning of the year and questioned everything we did. One was upset about having three and a half sections at third/fourth grade, about supervision during recess and on field trips and about everything else. For a while they wanted their fourth grader moved up to fifth grade. I will not be surprised if it is true because they seemed to be so tense and uptight all of the time. Too bad for the kids! We have all felt they certainly needed some counseling. Hopefully this is getting some help.

Friday, January 21, 2000 – A challenging student is back this week and has done very well. The associate is working out well. The child’s mother called me last week and said she didn’t know anything about the child coming back and ask how we were handling it and what accommodations we were making. That caught me off guard because I called her the week before and explained the whole thing and told her who the associate would be. We had all agreed on the accommodations at the December 9, meeting so I don’t know what she was talking about? It has worked out fine and she is coming in next Tuesday to talk about the schedule. Teacher observations have gone well and I am pretty much on schedule.

Monday, January 24, 2000 – A parent came in at the end of the day today. She told me that another parent had pressured her to write a letter against me. She said she reluctantly did but did not say what the other person wanted her to say. She said she also met with Superintendent about it. She said she told him we had some disagreements but that she thought I was very good with kids and the staff and that she didn’t think I did as well with parents. She said other person wanted me removed but that she didn’t support that. She was feeling guilty about doing all this behind my back and wanted me to know about it. It is very interesting that she would come in and tell me this. I do know that the other parent has tried to get several others to write letters but hasn’t had much success. It is sad that this person can’t move on. This parent has alienated many parents and staff but somehow still believes they are on her side. I really haven’t felt the need to fight back because I just don’t think it would be productive but I do think this person is a dangerous threat. This person has dramatic mood swings that many have noticed. I’m not sure this person’s mental health is all that good. This is probably going to be like this the rest of the time their children are here.