School stuff
Yesterday was spent working and then running around looking for stuff to put in a package that I'm making for my best friend to celebrate her 40th birthday. I got her a card with buzzards on it as all 40 year olds need to have.
In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours at parent teacher interviews. Both boys are back to being straight A students. Ben is loving the french immersion and the teacher considers him already fully immersed orally and otherwise. As she said, the lightbulb came on right away for him. Matthew, after switching out of french immersion is flourishing. His new classmates are accepting of him, he's settling down and back to being confident in his work. He's also bored silly...without the extra challenge of learning a new language he's done his work within the first few minutes of class and reads for the rest of the period.
I had a talk with his guidance counseller about academics and our suspicions that Matt may be a high functioning autistic child, Aspergers syndrome they call it. Think Forest Gump, although not quite as socially impaired or as brainy. I've spoken to the teachers and principal and hopefully together we can put together a more challenging program for him.
After I dropped Ben off at gymnastics I grabbed my friend the birthday girl and we did some Christmas shopping and I treated her to dinner.
A 10 year old boy broke his arm last night at the gym falling off the pommel horse. I was there but didn't see it happen, but I heard his cries afterwards. Awful pain that I never want to hear coming out of one of my children's mouths. When I heard the cries I had an "oh my God" moment until I could locate Ben on the floor and make sure it wasn't him. I'm sure every parent in the place had the same reaction.
Having a bit of a hard time at the after school program I help to run. We have a child with a peanut allergy and the executive board have asked the parent to supply an EpiPen which so far they've refused to do...and our lead staff member supports them. Unreal. She's really digging in her heels and is getting almost to the point of insubordination. None of us understand why this is such an issue with her. She always has to have 100% control in the program and has a 4 year history of trying to make trouble for employees who happen to disagree with her. She's driven 3 employees to quit. She does, however, take suburb care of the children.
She believes she will have 100% access to the EpiPen at the school if needed. Wanting to confirm that fact I had a conversation with the principal about it. The principal wants the after school program to have their own EpiPen. She echoes the board's concerns that our staff does NOT have 100% to the locked cabinet where the medication is kept. As well, we need to have our own EpiPen for field trips and just for the interest of time. If a child has a severe reaction, having the staff member run to the office, get the medication and run back is wasting precious life saving time. When I informed the board that the principal echoed and supports our views and wants us to have our own EpiPen I cc'd the staff member and she replied and said that I went to the principal behind her back and made her look stupid and that I was lying and unprofessional.
I tried to be diplomatic in my response, but I was shaking the whole time with anger and I am not sure that I was able to keep all of that out of my response.
I then resigned my position as chair of the board. A position I've held for 4 years. I simply can not deal with this woman and I will not let her make me her latest target. I'll remain a volunteer with the board, but I won't deal directly with the staff. This all happened via email late last night and I'm sure once everyone reads their email I'll get some comments from the other board members. I hope they are supportive.
Last but not least, for the moment, I've made my diary public again starting with the nojomo entries. I simply blocked who I didn't want reading. Hopefully I find some additional favourties by making myself more accessible.
I've rambled entirely too much.
In the afternoon I spent a couple of hours at parent teacher interviews. Both boys are back to being straight A students. Ben is loving the french immersion and the teacher considers him already fully immersed orally and otherwise. As she said, the lightbulb came on right away for him. Matthew, after switching out of french immersion is flourishing. His new classmates are accepting of him, he's settling down and back to being confident in his work. He's also bored silly...without the extra challenge of learning a new language he's done his work within the first few minutes of class and reads for the rest of the period.
I had a talk with his guidance counseller about academics and our suspicions that Matt may be a high functioning autistic child, Aspergers syndrome they call it. Think Forest Gump, although not quite as socially impaired or as brainy. I've spoken to the teachers and principal and hopefully together we can put together a more challenging program for him.
After I dropped Ben off at gymnastics I grabbed my friend the birthday girl and we did some Christmas shopping and I treated her to dinner.
A 10 year old boy broke his arm last night at the gym falling off the pommel horse. I was there but didn't see it happen, but I heard his cries afterwards. Awful pain that I never want to hear coming out of one of my children's mouths. When I heard the cries I had an "oh my God" moment until I could locate Ben on the floor and make sure it wasn't him. I'm sure every parent in the place had the same reaction.
Having a bit of a hard time at the after school program I help to run. We have a child with a peanut allergy and the executive board have asked the parent to supply an EpiPen which so far they've refused to do...and our lead staff member supports them. Unreal. She's really digging in her heels and is getting almost to the point of insubordination. None of us understand why this is such an issue with her. She always has to have 100% control in the program and has a 4 year history of trying to make trouble for employees who happen to disagree with her. She's driven 3 employees to quit. She does, however, take suburb care of the children.
She believes she will have 100% access to the EpiPen at the school if needed. Wanting to confirm that fact I had a conversation with the principal about it. The principal wants the after school program to have their own EpiPen. She echoes the board's concerns that our staff does NOT have 100% to the locked cabinet where the medication is kept. As well, we need to have our own EpiPen for field trips and just for the interest of time. If a child has a severe reaction, having the staff member run to the office, get the medication and run back is wasting precious life saving time. When I informed the board that the principal echoed and supports our views and wants us to have our own EpiPen I cc'd the staff member and she replied and said that I went to the principal behind her back and made her look stupid and that I was lying and unprofessional.
I tried to be diplomatic in my response, but I was shaking the whole time with anger and I am not sure that I was able to keep all of that out of my response.
I then resigned my position as chair of the board. A position I've held for 4 years. I simply can not deal with this woman and I will not let her make me her latest target. I'll remain a volunteer with the board, but I won't deal directly with the staff. This all happened via email late last night and I'm sure once everyone reads their email I'll get some comments from the other board members. I hope they are supportive.
Last but not least, for the moment, I've made my diary public again starting with the nojomo entries. I simply blocked who I didn't want reading. Hopefully I find some additional favourties by making myself more accessible.
I've rambled entirely too much.