Thankfully I happened to bump into the teacher he was meant to have purely by accident, who said that yes, if Theo has the gifted designation that he should be in the class and to go to the office (which was the next step). Not surprisingly the office was pure chaos, with attendants running around wild eyed and kids sullenly standing around in corners while their parents pleaded whatever case they had - the person in front of us was a middle school kid who left their baseball glove behind last year and is there any way to track it down? - and our situation was no easier to sort out. Everyone was just confused and said they’d have to verify his gifted status (didn’t we already do all this?) and might get back to me today and might not. As it’s now after five, I’m going to say *not*. So, exactly, wtf are we supposed to do on Monday morning when Theo has to walk into school by himself (no parents allowed) and not know which classroom he’s supposed to be in…? I talked with some other parents and they said just have him go to the one with the gifted cluster - if nothing else he can tell the teacher he’s supposed to be there (thankfully he’s met us now) and maybe he can sort it out. But boy isn’t that an anxiety producing beginning of the school year! Jesus Christ. Like I wasn’t nervous enough, now I have to send my nine year old in there alone on Monday to deal with this mess.
After this we sat through long, boring presentations that were mostly just a pitch to get us to join the pta, and then when it got to afterschool I could sense the less-informed parents low key panic as they realized that no, most likely your kid will not get into any program, and any other options don’t start for over a month and are also no guarantee of getting in. Good times. At least I was emotionally prepared for this. Many were not.
The gifted magnet presentation was last, and it didn’t tell me much, either - except when we were walking around looking at classrooms, the magnet coordinator randomly asked Theo who’s class he was in, and when we told her, she said, “you’re not supposed to be on this tour”. Great way to make Theo feel even more welcome! Jeez. I jumped in to explain we were here with our older boy and that’s why we stayed for this part, and I could tell she was flustered and said, “I don’t know why I said that.” Everyone was a stressed mess, and I get it. Working in education just seriously suck right now. I honestly don’t know how anyone does it.
So, it was a very sucky introduction to this school, but honestly, I’m so used to things being stressful and shitty (just yesterday I got in a huge fight with one of our vintage clothing vendors and had to fire them - they were awful) that I figure this is just part of everything being sucky and shitty. It’s going to be a fucking brutal week with school starting on a messy note and all the complicated work I have to do with my event just over two weeks out, and now having to pick the kids up at 2:30 and 1:30 each day. Right now with the event it’s just one crisis after another, because that’s how it always is right now.
No matter what, we will get settled in this school - it sounds to me like gifted kids are actually not supposed to be not at least in a cluster - we’ll get used to the newness and the routines and everything will get sorted out. And my event will come and go as it has 24 times before. I have lots of plans to cut costs and ease my load for next year, which gives me hope. And I made a “poverty retirement plan” based on my social security and possible income from renting this house if we move out to the desert, and hey, it’s doable. So. Despite everything being nuts at the moment, I’m taking it in stride. Sometimes things are just like that.
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