Tuesday, September 14, 2010

I Feel Like a Failure

Robbie was in a specialized Kindergarten class.  Every morning he was excited to go to school.  Every afternoon he would tell us all the things he liked about school.  Apparently he was crying in class due to frustration, he was not getting his work done on time and would have times that sitting still was hard.  Sounds like a normal Kindergarten kid to me.  We were never told any of this.  Homework that came home came back with "good job" stamps.  It did say that he needed to slow down and concentrate with his work.  I had also let the school know that we were dealing with a death in the family and that Robbie was reacting to that.

Robbie is reading at a grade 2-3 level, he understands science concepts at a grade 4-5 level yet he has been kicked out of Kindergarten!!!!!

We were called into the Vice-Principal's office tonight having no idea what was going on.  After she gave her spiel that it was Robbie's best interest they were looking out for (which I don't believe).  She took us to Robbie's classroom so he could show Daddy.  While we were in there his teacher came to the door, saw us and walked away without even saying "hello".  I think that is what made me the most angry.  I found that so RUDE!

Because it is an alternative program we have no action to take.  The school makes the rules of who to take and who to keep.  This is so wrong.

It was so hard explaining to Robbie that he would be going to a different school.  We are trying to keep our disappointment out of it so that Robbie does not think he did something wrong.

I have been crying my eyes out for the last hour.  I have failed my baby!

2 comments:

Kate said...

You have not failed your son in anyway.

Not.in.any.way.

Sounds like the school has issues that they aren't willing to discuss. Take your precious son and put him in a school that is actually dedicated to learning, and let this alternative one fall apart.

You're a good mom, Margaret.

robin said...

This is not your fault at all. I am in agreement with Kate. You need a school that works well with parents, not one that dismisses the child at the first sign of difficulty. It is up to the teacher to communicate with parents if there is a problem and then work with you to resolve the issue.

I have to deal with a lot of school related things due to having two boys with ADHD and one with ADD and it is so important to have teachers and administrators who work with you. We had a change of schools one year and I was really upset about it. It ended up being a huge blessing for our oldest boy. The teacher he had that year was amazing and worked well with him.

Good luck with this and don't be hard on yourself.