My hope with this blog, was to share a more personal side of me and give more of an insight into my day to day life. Fingers crossed I will get better at doing so. I'm sure my family would enjoy that.
Anyway, something happened yesterday that definitely rattled some nerves. If you follow me on Twitter, you got to see the "short" part of it. But for those of you who missed it--here is the lowdown of the showdown.
Yesterday was the first day of school for all three of my children. The youngest one entering half day, afternoon preschool. Considering that he is only 4, I wasn't quite ready for him to ride the school bus yet, even though his big brother and sister would be right there with him..so I decided that I would pick him up, as well as the older two.
When I arrived at the school to pick up my son from preschool, they dismissed all parent pick ups. When doing this, they walk all the way on the other side of the building and exit basically into one huge parking lot that has little to no supervision. Not only was I worried for my children to go out there without me being able to get them, but I didn't want them to get out there and not be able to find me.
When the parent pickups were released, I seen my daughter in the very same hallway I was in. When she walked by, I was just going to get her then. I looked on the other side (which is where the 3rd graders are) and all of them were out in the hallway, but I didn't see Nicholas. I was terrified that he had just walked out of the building, while I was waiting inside for him. Since his classroom is right next to the office, I walked down there and peeked in to see if he was still in there. Indeed he was, they hadn't dismissed yet..so I turned around and was walking back to where I came from. The secretary stopped me and told me that I was in violation of their policy by walking past the office and going to his classroom. I apologized for doing so, and explained to her the situation in hopes that we could fix it before it got worse. She was very rude and disrespectful to me and continued to tell me that I wasn't following policy. While this was going on, my daughter exits the building, not knowing I was in there. I requested that the secretary call Nicholas to the office since that is the correct policy, and so that he didn't end up out there, too. And she does. But he goes outside. In the middle of all of this, the secretary turns to another woman in the office and says, "Call Mr.XXXX (the principal), I AM NOT dealing with an ANGRY parent on the FIRST day of school!"
Um, excuse me?
I went over and signed Noah out of his first day of preschool, trying to be as chipper as I possible could. As soon as I walked out of the classroom and went to exit the building and get my other 2, the principal stops me.
At this point I am furious knowing that my 2 children are outside looking for me, with little to no supervision in a sea of people and cars. When I get furious, unfortunately I cry. In this situation, I was fighting with my emotions so much, because I didn't want to make a scene, and I didnt' want to cry. I couldn't breathe and I became very dizzy. Quite frankly, I don't remember exactly what he was saying to me, and all I remember saying to him was that I didn't like way of handling the situation and that things are going to have to change because I am not going through this every single day.
By this point we had made our way to my children, who were thankfully with a dear friend of mine. She had seen me go into the building to pick up Noah, and knew something was askew when my other 2 children came out the opposite side of the building. I grabbed my other 2 children and promptly left.
I kid you not when I say it took me an hour to get where I could breathe and not be dizzy. My stomach, even today is still in a tizzy.
The bottom line here was that they didn' see an issue with how they handled things. I was treated very poorly, even if I did break policy--I am NO stranger to that building. So, this morning I sent an email to the school.
Here is part of it:
"Yesterday was not a good day. First things first, I’m all for
following policies and rules. I apologize for not adhering to them yesterday when I peeked into Nicholas’s classroom to make sure he was still in there. In my defense, the very thing I didn’t want to happen, and I was trying to avoid, happened.
I experienced my first ever panic attack yesterday, and because of this I do not feel as if I made any amount of sense in what I was saying—or trying to get across. I apologize if I made any sort of scene, but I want you to understand where I am coming from. "
I explained exactly what happened from my perspective...
"My children are very dear to me, as I am sure yours are to you. My heavenly
Father has entrusted their care and well being to me and my husband. I do
everything in my power to make sure that they are taken care of and not put in
harms way. While I would like to believe that I have nothing to worry about while they are at school, and in your care, I can’t help but worry a little bit when they are sent outside where there is little to no supervision. For this very reason, I have told both of my other children to meet me at the preschool classroom or the glass office when school is dismissed. Obviously calling them to the glass office doesn’t work, since Nicholas was still allowed to go outside after being
called there yesterday. Hopefully this will work for you all and the rules/policies
that are set forth. I pray that a situation like yesterday doesn’t happen again.
While I fully admit that I was in the wrong walking down to Nicholas’s classroom, there was no reason for XXX to treat me the way she did. Above all, those are my children entrusted into your care for the time being. I am no stranger to the
school. I have been to every class party, field trip and school event as well as had
numerous communications with, you, Mr. "Principal". I would hope by now
that you all would know my character, and know that I am not out to do harm or
cause trouble. You ask over and over again for parent involvement, but
make it near impossible to do so.
Thank you for your attention to
this matter—I look forward to hearing from you.
Phoebe
XXX
Concerned Parent "
I have yet to get a response and it was emailed first thing this morning. Let's hope for a better ending to today!
Any thoughts????
