First full day at the school, or another day at MNPS

We got to the school a little earlier than usual yesterday as we wanted to see if we could get Maggie breakfast there. She eats before she leaves the house, but not much, so it’s sort of been a requirement that daycare also. Three year olds need some encouragement and longer feeding times than you’d expect.

We got in and got to the cafeteria. Maggie got a muffin, some rice crispies, and apple juice. Then came the hunt for milk. I finally had to ask someone where it was and the reason behind that was I’d passed it multiple times because I was looking for milk, not chocolate milk, not strawberry milk, just milk.

They didn’t have any. So Maggie had some rice crispies in chocolate milk and spent the next 8 minutes complaining about flies until we just gave up attempts at feeding her more (she’d already had a glass of milk and a kidz bar at home,) and then fought our way to her class.

There was a line of kids two and a half wide blocking the hallway as they were lining up to go upstairs. They were also taking the entire walking path. Carried Maggie through the mess and got her to her classroom and asked if pickup was at 3 or 3:30 as I’d forgotten. It was neither.

I was told class dismissed at 2:40 but I could pick up starting at 2:20 if I wanted.

This was a problem as I’d arranged with work for the school year to change my hours to 8ish-3ish. Not 8ish-2ish. There’s a sign on the door that says 3:30 is the last second that kids are taken care of.

I got there at 2:29. I’d forgotten at this point what exact time things were going to be at and found the doors locked and nobody in the office to let me in. Other parents came up and one kept asking why he had two cards and what he had to do with the two cards.

The cards you show in the pickup line to pick up kids, but being in pre-k and picking up in the building I couldn’t help him much with whether he was supposed to remain in the car or what. Parents were backed up to the street in the pickup line waiting.

2:40 comes around and the doors still aren’t open, there’re people in the office now but they’re not responding to people. Finally someone comes to the door and announces that if you want to get your kids dismissal starts at two PM but the doors lock at 2:20 and stay locked until 2:45 (she may have said 2:40, at this point I had been standing around for 10-15 minutes in 95 degree muggy realfeel).

2:45? we stampede in and I went into Maggie’s classroom and they’re still sitting there finishing a lesson. I wait off to the side for a bit and hear that they have homework that is in the folder.

I pick Maggie up, she looks exhausted. She tries telling me she needs the loaner mat to take home because she’s tired and I tell her to leave it there (we have had to pay $47 to get a $7 mat due to the colors that anyone stocks not being available anywhere. It won’t be here until Friday). Our $7 mat was rejected as you know, different colored mat is going to start a gang war.

As we’re walking out of the school Maggie stops short and I don’t. I end up kicking her shoe off by accident in front of one of the officers of the school. We move to the side, I get it on, and then we walk on out without me ever using my school number card I was told I’d need.

Evidently you only need a number if you’re in a car. Should you want to kidnap a kid just go in and pick one up.

Maggie nearly passes out in the car on the way to Adventure Science Center, I ask her what she’s learned and she can’t remember, ask what she ate and she can’t remember, eh, no biggie.

Playtime, go home, find there’s no homework in the thing and we’ve got a list that we may need to bring a snack and to check the list. There’s no list of snacks. Kim asks me what the homework was and I tell her I heard them talking about writing their name or the first letter of their name.

We work on that a bit, not too much as I also heard it was due Friday and Maggie is exhausted. She eats a huge (for her) dinner and goes down without much complaining and stays down.

This morning we’re running a bit behind so I loaded her up on a nutrition bar and we got there. I talked to the teacher and found out that the homework was only for two steps up in her class, the snack note was not meant to go out as there are no snacks listed yet and we have no idea what she’s eating today.

Sigh.

Parent handbook contradicts both what the teacher has told us and what’s printed on the front of the school. So far I’m pretty underwhelmed with Metro Nashville Public Schools in the getting it together department. The people I’ve talked to do individually seem on target, but as a whole it’s… just everywhere.

After the kids are asleep I’m on Facebook and reading about a family of three that one of the kids was supposed to have a transfer but they never received it so day one of school she’s not in and nobody can find her. The newly re-elected schoolboard guy who managed to help us find out that ours actually was in sprung into action and hopefully today that one is in.