I went to sign Jack up for kindergarten this morning. Neither one of us is happy that he won't be going to school up the street now that the school borders have been changed by the district but we have to make the best of it. When I got there and rang the bell for entrance, it rang and rang and rang with nobody answering. Eventually, a volunteer was leaving and waved me in as she walked out. I said, "I probably should just wait..." but she said, "Nah, just go ahead into the office. It's no big deal." Actually, lady, it IS a big deal. You don't know me. You don't know why I'm here or what I'm carrying in my bulky bag. What if I'm here to kidnap my child who was taken from me by social services? What if I'm carrying a gun and plan on unloading on the cafeteria full of children who are 10 feet from the front door? What if...? The list could go on. Fortunately for the kids and their families, I wasn't there for those reasons or anything more serious than getting Jack signed up. I can't say I'm happy about sending him to a school where people are let in to roam freely though. Goddamn Delawareans are so trusting. When it comes to my kids' safety, there cannot be too much caution and I expect that to carry over to when they are in the care of others. I wasn't getting the warm and fuzzies this morning.
Once I got to the office (with no question of how I got in, I might add) the secretary took my paperwork along with another mother's who was signing up her son. The secretary mixed all of our papers together, started complaining that Jayden Todd and Jonathan Tobin are way too similar (not really!) and confusing for her (then maintain 2 piles, moron!) After hearing the other mom's story of moving this summer, she started questioning me about the other woman's paperwork. Now I'm crazy about organization so the piled up papers were giving me hives to begin with but her listening to the other mother and then thinking her story was mine just took the cake. Is this a sign that Jack will be lost in the shuffle at this school? Should I bite the bullet and send him to Catholic school? I am really up in arms over the whole morning. :-(
2 comments:
Take a breath, buddy. My armchair psych assessment: You're anxious about sending your baby to school and everything seems like a bad sign if you're really looking for signs. In my view signs, good or bad, are really only apparent after the fact. (And this is coming from a woman who's been beat up a little bit emotionally this month, kicking myself for no noticing so many signs that right now look so obvious!)
Your anxiety is totally understandable (because frankly the thought of sending my baby to school makes me want to curl up and suck my thumb). But. A dippy school staffer is not the sign of an overall bad school. Jack won't get lost in the shuffle because YOU will NEVER allow him to get lost in the shuffle.
Agreed on the secretary not being indicative of the school. Like my friend said, the front desk at a doctor's office often sucks but as long as the doctor is awesome, we leave happy.
That being said, I am still very concerned about how easy it was to walk into the school though and I'm going to (calmly) talk to the counselor about it when she takes us on a tour next week. Chuck E. Cheese has a better security system than the school does! If nothing else, perhaps she'll give a gentle reminder about stranger danger and how not all villians are scary-looking at the next staff meeting. There cannot be too much vigilance when it comes to the safety and security of our (MY!) children.
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