One for the books

So, even though I don’t feel much like writing, I need to because this is great!

I got a phone call from the secretary today in the middle of a lesson I was teaching.  She told me that one of my students needed to walk to Nana’s house after school and NOT get on the bus.  Apparently Nana lives just around the corner or something. Anyway, I didn’t tell my student right away and then forgot to tell her altogether.  Let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.  She got on the bus to go home.

The secretary came in and said Mom was on the phone and was wondering why her daughter wasn’t at Nana’s house yet.  I told her she got on the bus (uh oh!).  About 10 minutes later, Mrs. K (the secretary) came back and said Mom was irate on the phone and is going to call back so be prepared for some choice words.  I told her to transfer the call to me because she shouldn’t have to deal with something that’s my fault and responsibility.  Mom called, and when the call was transferred to me, I was on the other line and missed the call.  So, I went to the office and Mrs. K got Mom on the phone for me.  She told me to stay in the office and talk to her because she wanted to hear the conversation (probably for safety and liability!)  Anyway, here’s the gist of our conversation:

Me: "Hello, is this V’s mom?"

Mom: "Is this Mrs. S.?"

Me: "Yes"

Mom: "I have some choice words for you ma’am!" (This is where mom got a little hysterical)

Me: "Okay, go ahead"

Mom: (summarized) "You gave me a heart attack and my daughter a heart attack.  She’s hysterical right now because she got off the bus and no one was there to pick her up.  What the h*** is going on?"

Me: Well, the bus situation is kind of crazy and the children know that they are not allowed on the bus until they tell me but sometimes they just go and get on the bus because they know their bus numbers and get on them."

Mom: "Well, I don’t know what all this bull sh** is but what am I supposed to do when my daughter comes home from school and doesn’t know where her f-ing mom is (oh, she actually said the word).

Me: "I apologize ma’am and understand that you are probably worried."

Mom:  I’m going to make sure that V never gets on the bus again when she’s not supposed to.

So, I know in writing it’s very anti-climatic, but honestly, she was IRATE! I just kind of let her blow her steam.  It’s not like I’ve never heard those words before.  The conversation continued with me apoligizing a couple more times and offering the suggestion of V going to Nana’s everyday since Nana lived so close.  Mom didn’t like that idea very much.  She said: "No!!! She only goes to Nana’s if I call the school because sometimes I’m home and sometimes I’m not!"  Lady, can we work out a routine and have some consistency here? That would make things a lot happier for us.  It was quite ridiculous.  Mom also proceeded to tell me that V wasn’t going to trust me anymore, yadda, yadda.  Well, it turns out that the principal went personally to V’s house and picked her up from the neighbor and took her to Nana’s.  Mom was at Nana’s and was actually having the conversation with me when the principal dropped V off.  The prinicpal came back and apologized that I had to go through that.  I told her it was no problem.  It made me feel better that both the secretary and the pricipal were not angry with me at all and actually sided with me.  Honestly, I have to laugh.  I mean, I understand that the mom was scared and I am totally empathetic, but come on!  The reason why so many of these children I teach are low in acaemic acheivement is because they have no consistency at home.  *sigh*  The whole situation is so ridiculous it’s funny.  Plus it was my first irate parent.  My principal pretty much congratulated me in so many words.  She was more worried that I had to go through that but I’m seriously okay with it.

Well, I survived.  Good thing it was a phone conversation and not a confrontation in person.

What a day!

Love,
Jerseycorazon