Why?

Around 1:30 this afternoon one of my students told me that one of our classmates would be moving on Monday. I went over to talk to the boy in question and he didn't want to talk in front of his friends. I then walked outside with him and asked him and he burst into uncontrollable tears and grabbed on to me and said "I don't want to move Ms. V." After he and I both wiped our tears away I left him, and the class with my student teacher and I went to the office to investigate. The secretary checked her inbox and found a memo from a secretary at a school across town and sure enough, this young man was leaving and today would be his last day.

By the time I made it back to class we had about 30 minutes left with our soon to be gone friend. Right before the kids went home I told the class and asked them to say some nice things about him. I also assured him that we would write and I would try to visit him at his new school. He smiled. When the bell rang, he just hung out for a while and then when I told him that I would walk him to the after school program he started bawling again. He was so sad! He cried, I cried, my student teacher cried. What a mess. When I took him to the after school program, I had to tell them what the deal was and they too started to cry.

Why on earth would a parent move a child and not tell the teacher? The one and only time I saw this mother was earlier this year when her son broke his arm and she came to pick him up. That is it! I have had no other communication with her. Her son is such a fabulously wonderful, sweet and caring young man. He at least deserved the chance for a proper good bye from all of his friends and teachers. I am going to miss him greatly. I hope that his new teacher will see appreciate him as much as we do.