Anxiety...

I have a conference in Washington DC this weekend and next week. This is going to be a stretch for all of us. I have arranged for people to stay overnight to give support to the au pair and to take the girls to daycare and to get the boys on the bus. We talked about it today and she had some good questions and seemed pretty realistic about the work and what will happen- asked me what we would cook and feed them. Makes me feel better about it.

Meanwhile in other ulcer producing issues...got a call from the boys' school on Monday - it was the Principal. She said that the county central office had called her and told her that the variance she had approved for Riley to come to the same school as Matthew was not appropriate and that she had 3 choices: to send him back to our neighborhood school after the term, after the semester or at the end of the year. But that he wouldn't be able to continue in the same school "just because his brother is in a developmentally delayed class".

I was crazy...besides the unbelievable inconvenience it would cause for me to have them in two different schools, it made me mad that someone who was not involved could make this decision - when the Principal was okay with it, when the school is not overcrowded, when he had already attended the school for a year (last year).

Also, part of the reason I allowed Matthew to be moved to this school in the first place was because I was assured that they would be together and I really feel like it is beneficial to Matthew to have someone with him. It helps him to be calmer on the bus, it helps his anxiety and I just think it is wrong to separate two boys who are so close!

So, I called and made an appointment with the principal to discuss what my options for appealing this would be and that was today.

Well, first, she has NOOOO idea why I made an appointment with her. (Great those two sleepness nights for me and not even a problem registered on her side!)

Then as I explained why I was there, she explained (what I had assumed but it didn't help)...that she had been chastised for giving the variance...she had made the call without looking into who exactly the child was (and who his brother was) and she had just done it as one of a list of things she had to do that morning without thinking. [Okay, I guess I have to give her a kudos or two for telling me the truth about that!]

"I could tell you were cold on the phone, but I wasn't really sure what it was about and I thought that I was giving you the best I could - to stay thru the school year" - "now that I talk to you, I realize that there is always more to these stories". [Um...ya think?]

We ended up calling the head of the exceptional education in this region (who was the one who convinced me to enroll Matthew in this school and assured me that Riley could go too). They were on the phone while I was in the room and she is supposed to try and take care of it - I hate it though, because the principal wouldn't give me this woman's direct phone number and wanted me to call her next week if I don't hear back from her by then! You can be dam___ sure I will.