nixtress's Diaryland Diary

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Grrr-worthy

Alritey.
Ry's teacher. Increasingly, there have been notes sent home, detailing all of Ry's transgressions and shortcomings. I have to sign each and every one and I'm sure they then go back to school and into a lovely folder to be used against my son at a future date.
These notes have been about everything from Ryan's inability to get himself in gear first thing in the morning, to drawing too much, to talking too much, to forgetting to turn things in.
I've handled them, even while shrugging at the complete triviality of some of them. I've dealt with Ry, making sure his punishment is equal to the offense.
Mr. Dick (the teacher) sent home a letter a couple weeks ago, telling me he thought Ry had the classic symptoms of ADD and requesting that I have him tested. He filled out a checklist and the school counselor stepped in, to do an observation of my son for all of half an hour. They then sent these documents to me, along with a checklist for me to fill out and then take the accumulated data to the doc for evaluation.
Still with me?
I received these documents on Monday, the same day that interim reports came home. Ry's interim relates that he's meeting expectations (as opposed to not meeting expectations) and that while a little disorganized, he's improving and not to be worried about. Ry's ADD checklist says completely the opposite. Mr. Dick not only chose the highest rating possible in many areas--from easily distracted to defiant to lacking in social skills--but also added additional plus signs after to indicate how severe he felt these behaviors were. He also added another sheet claiming that Ry is in the low C range grade-wise and in danger of falling behind. He says that my Ryan has no friends, has no social skills, doesn't get along with people, is highly defiant and argumentative, and can't be kept to task, ever. He also made a note that pissed me off. He, having no knowledge whatsoever about my family, noted that he felt there might be "a predisposition for ADD due to family background". WTF?
*Ahem*
I tried to keep in mind that:
A)This man is a male teacher, the first Ry has ever had as such and there's going to be a period of adjustment.
B)Third grade is much more difficult than second and they expect a hella bunch more of the kids.
C)My son isn't an angel and probably acts a tad different at school than he does at home.
None of this explains the picture Mr. Dick painted of my boy. I don't even recognize the kid he's describing. That, combined with the discrepancies between the interim (which says he's fine) and the checklist, had me setting an appt. with the principal to try to get to the bottom of it all.
During the meeting, I went through my concerns one by one. How can my son have no social skills, with every teacher prior to this one telling me Ry socializes TOO much, even noting it on EVERY SINGLE REPORT CARD he's gotten for the last four years? How is it possible that he's meeting expectations, per the interim, if he's in danger of falling behind as detailed by the ADD scale? Why don't the two documents match? Why was none of this mentioned beyond that checklist? If he's not meeting expectations and is in jeopardy of failing, why then are all of his papers and tests coming home with A's and B's on them? And that was just a few of my concerns. The principal took notes and said he'd get back to me.
Later that day after school, I ended up back in his office because Mr. Dick decided to interrogate Ry about Trev, asking if he's been having problems and if so, what they were. He also asked Ryan if I drank and if there was anything that happened at home that he wanted to talk about.
I. Was. Floored. I understand he's a teacher, a mandatory reporter, and supposed to look out for children. I think this goes above and beyond that.
Pissed doesn't describe my reaction. Ry may very well be changing schools before this is over.
***
My aunt has completely stopped doing anything with Gramps. My grandfather requested a metal plant stand to put near his sliding glass door. Guess who gets to take him to a completely different town to search one out? Not my aunt. It's irritating because in the same breath, she acts like she's the only one doing anything at all with my grandparents. Bothersome.
In addition, the cousin that threw such a fit about my diary? Has since begun one of her own, where she details everyone else's lives and even goes so far as to post my aunt's work information (phone number, fax, address, etc) in reference to a site she created for it.
Nice.
***
The Indians lost again today. They've had extremely close games the last couple series they've played and a real nailbiter last night. 13 stinking innings! Amazing. They've worked their butts off.
***
The weather has been glorious, cooling down and still comfortable. It's perfect weather for our annual trip to the pumpkin farm. I've begun digging out the Halloween decorations, in preparation for one of my favorite holidays. Yay.
I think that about covers everything. Busy, busy, busy.
Happy weekend.
N.

9:19 p.m. - 2005-10-01

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