Our school district is having some challenges at the moment. Not that, say, the teacher's union has all but been disbanded. Or that the taxpayers are increasingly being asked to pay for charter "academies" that are springing up like weeds here. No. Not even that the principal of our middle school (junior high, actually, but that's semantics these days) announced his resignation 3 days before the beginning of school. That wouldn't mean our district is falling apart. Let's just call them challenges.
Have I mentioned that Peach Blossom has started 7th grade and a new school this year? I'm a little, um, concerned. There have been all sorts of things happening this week that make me more than concerned. But time will tell, I guess.
For openers, I have to get my daughter to the bus stop 15 minutes early in order for her to have a seat. You read that correctly. If she doesn't get there insanely early, she stands or sits on her sax case. For that privilege we pay $1.00/day. Yes, we pay for our school buses. Because freedom.
We were informed that her gym locks weren't going to be available for the first week of school. Instead of having our locks on backorder, as I would have expected, we would be receiving a refund and will have to order them again "soon". Fortunately, PB has health class this quarter instead of gym.
The thing this year that made me really upset is something that PB isn't even involved in yet. As of last month, our high schools are no longer associated with the federal school lunch program. Apparently it didn't meet our district's "high standards". And we can "afford to absorb those costs" (the district is projected to lose $167,000 in federal funds). I'm sure that the students who actually depended on those lunches will be happy to hear that. Thank Bob we're not affected by that - PB takes her lunch, as she has since 1st grade - but I know of families of high school students who will be hit hard.
It's not been all bad. PB likes her band director. She's finally with one of her oldest friends, at least for part of the day. But I'm increasingly worried and unhappy about the direction our district is taking. I thought the last school board election would help. It didn't, and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop this spiral. But for now, the good things outweigh the bad. We'll see what this school year has in store. Did I mention that the principal who suddenly left was at our school?