new twist to her day...

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

I just got this email from 's aide. This has been a sore

subject for me for awhile, since they don't believe can be

unsupervised at school for even 1 second (although they don't hover,

she's always in someone's radar.) So, I have not made waves, and

dutifully parked my car every morning and walked her into school

(because heavens, the aide couldn't be out at the designated drive-by

drop off spot where the other kids get dropped off... she waits for

at the playground where she can chat with the yard duty) And,

instead of picking up in the " drive through " lane, I also park and walk

to 's classroom to meet her, as again, it would be too much

trouble for the aide to walk her to the curb. Whatever. So, I feel

like I've made an effort NOT to make pick up/drop off an issue, although

it's been far from convenient for me (and as got older, she

wanted to go alone, like her friends.)

So, for all of you who don't have/use bussing (we have NO bussing

anymore, so every child either walks or is picked up in a car.... lots

of cars!), you'll know that the school parking lot (and surrounding

area) can be very congested. This is not an issue for the other

parents, since their children just wait at their designated meeting

spot until they arrive. There is certainly no rule that the other

children must be picked up by a parent the moment the bell rings, and

many parents actually wait 5 - 10 minutes until the traffic clears out.

Heck, I sometimes have to wait for to come downstairs.... I

don't complain when I've been waiting for 5 minutes :-) If a child is

still standing at the curb 20 minutes after school is dismissed, they

are told to come into the office and call their parent.

So, you can probably read from the tone of this email that should I be

one second late, something bad is going to happen :-) Last year, at the

beginning of the year, if I wasn't at the stairs when the bell rang, the

aide took her to the office to wait, which really ticked off

(and me too.) ... felt like she was in trouble. I did

complain about that, and that stopped. Although I generally am at

school prior to the 2:20 dismissal, things occasionally happen. Am I

nuts to say that my almost 11 year old daughter, who is in 5th grade,

can't wait at the steps, at the middle of campus, away from the street,

for me unchaperoned for a couple minutes? Perhaps they'd let her wait

with her 4th grade sister, who is a couple classrooms away?

Any thoughts on how to approach this without sounding like " hey, I'm not

a responsible parent and don't plan on being on time... what are you

gonna do about it? " Or without calling and IEP? This should not bug me

so much, but after 5+ years with this aide, my patience is quite thin.

Thanks,

===========================>

I just want to give you heads up to some changes. Starting November

17 I will be starting a new job immediately after school lets out for

the day. I will need to have meet at the bottom of the stairs

promptly at 2:20pm each day. This new job requires me to be at a

certain site on campus ready and available to other children as soon as

school lets out for the day. If you have any questions you can contact

me or Ms. L.