Monday, February 02, 2009

What is New?

School: I have gained and lost several students in the past month. It has been very troubling.

Child #1:
I have been fighting for testing since the first day of school. We finally had the SST, I advocated strongly for testing and the team decided to go ahead and test. The next day, he moved! The poor child is bouncing his way through the system and can't read, or write his name to save his life. I HOPE he gets someone who will keep fighting for him.

Child #2: Lots of ups and downs with this one. He started off with behavioral problems but we then worked them out with behavior mod. He started slipping Mid December. He has not been at school for the past 3 weeks. I have an emergency SST for him this week. I am not sure what will happen with him but I can only hope for the best.

Child #3: I had this one for one week and then he was gone. There was apparently a custody battle going on with the parents. I just received notice that he would be back tomorrow. Now, the parents are back together. In the meantime, this child has been bouncing around between schools for about 3 months. he isn't a child who can afford to miss even 1 day of school. Due to the fact that school is a challenge for him, he is easily distracted and enjoys playing the class clown. Fun!

Child #4: This one was gone for 4 weeks. She made her First Communion in Mexico and was there for Christmas. She had a wonderful time with her family but she definitely could not afford to miss out on classwork. She is now back but struggling. It is going to take a long time to get her back on track.

I have 15 more kids that all come with their own baggage. This job is really challenging sometimes.
*sigh*

5 comments:

Georgina Baeza said...

You have your hands full there! Sending you good vibes from Texas.

Msabcmom said...

Gracias mujer! I am going to need it!

cindylu said...

sounds like you have some tough students! btw, what's sst?

also, i never understood why parents would take their children to mexico for a full month meaning they'd miss 2 weeks of school. that's a lot!

Anonymous said...

Hang in there, Ms. V. At the school where I'm a reading buddy for first graders, occasionally a kid will be taken out of school for a couple of months--often to go visit family "back home." Usually they're the same children who can't afford to miss one day, like you say.

Unknown said...

just reading about your students was stressful. good luck.