Is it over already?

For some reason, I had 6 babies out today. Can you see how broken up I am about that? I only had 20 kids for the day. It was AWESOME!!! We got so much done today, it was ridiculous. Actually, yesterday was another great day, as I only had 22 there. It's amazing how much teaching/learning can actually happen when I don't have to spend every minute asking someone to sit down/be quiet/stop touching your neighbor/stop singing/stop jumping....you get the idea.

One of the best things about today (oh, I'm going to burn in hell....) is that TN was out. I know I haven't really posted about him, but he has been my biggest challenge this year. I have an entire notebook filled with anecdotal records about him already, and it's only the 8th week of school. He makes last year's Twin Boy look like an absolute ANGEL! More about him later.

I think one of the reasons so many kids have been out this week is because we've been sending home medical exclusion letters since before the fall intersession. These are given to children who are out of medical compliance (e.i. Their shots/physicals aren't up to date) This Thursday, October 15, was supposed to be the deadline for getting this taken care of, and if they don't, the children can NOT come to school until it's done. Well, some of the parents must not have understood the letter, because I think they've been keeping their kids home since they received the letter.

Normally, the parents just ignore the letters, and send their kids anyway. At least they try to send them. New Principal insists that she's going to strictly enforce the exclusion policy. If that happens, I'll seriously only have less than 10 kids in my class next week! Out of the 34 children I originally had on my list, only 8 didn't get a letter!!! EIGHT!! What I want to know is, how in the HELL were these children allowed to register for kindergarten without showing proof of the required physical?! WTF!? New Principal asked me the same thing when I told her how many of mine received letters. She was NOT happy, and asked me what the hell was wrong with the office staff. I must admit, it made me giggle a little.

Next week is going to be a short week for the kids, as Friday is a staff development day. I hope it goes by as quickly as this week did!!

One more thing...

...I forgot to share about today. At the same time that New Principal was telling me that she needed to talk to me, the nurse came to find me to give me my exclusion letters. These are letters that students receive when they are out of compliance with their mandatory health requirements (shots, physicals, etc.) They are excluded from school until the requirements are met. Now, keep in mind that our office (AKA-Clusterfuck Central) should NOT be registering Kdg. students unless the parents can show proof that these medical requirements have been met. Well, out of my 34 students, guess how many had letters. G'head, guess.....give up? 27!!!! 27 out of 34 freakin' kids!! Seriously, WTF?! I asked New Principal if she was actually going to exclude these children, and she said absolutely, I could use the break! God bless that woman!!

We are going to give the parents until the end of intersession to get their kids current on their shots and so on. That means I could come back on October 13 to a class of 7 children. Sweet!!!

New Principal did ask, though, "Um, how are all these children registered for school without these shot records?!" At least she realized that the office dropped the ball. I really hope she keeps cleaning house, and getting rid of all the incompetent people that I have to work with everyday. It would eliminate so much stress from my day....sigh....