“Great souls suffer in silence.” ~Friedrich Schiller
I need your help here, folks. You see, I don’t have a typical normal kid so I don’t know what normal parents (ha!) do in some situations. Remember, Pearlsky has no communication, nada, zippo.
Your kid comes home with two fairly significant bruises on her forearm. Do you:
- Say “Oh, honey, what happened to your arm?”
- Say “Who did this to you!”
- Say under your breath, “I just hate this shit.”
Thursday the nanny calls in sick. That means I have to be home from when Pearlsky gets home through the rest of the day. No big deal, school ends at 2:45, she is usually home at 3:00.
I turn the corner and I see the van in front of our house, the ramp already down. Nervously looking at my watch … it’s 2:45! Time travel! Beam me home, Armond! Something is very wrong. The driver tells me “The aide brought her out early.” The aide ignores my questions to her.
Teacher:
Pearlsky was sitting on the school van outside her home BEFORE the end of the school day. There was no one at home.
This is completely unacceptable. Why was she sent home early. Why was I not notified?
I have no idea who was on the bus with her, the person would not look at me nor respond to my saying hello. Who was it? Is s/he trained in Pearlsky’s care?
-SingleDad
Father and Guardian of Pearlsky
To which Mr. Pants-on-fire responds:
Hi SD,
I’m not exactly sure what the timing was like but I find it difficult to believe that Pearlsky was home by 2:45. I helped get her ready to go home myself by putting on her harness and poncho at 3:35 – 3:40 [sic]. She was still here, in the room then with roughly five min. before the school day ended and at that point she still had to walk over to the van, board and get home which I assume would take longer than five min. Her regular aide had to go home sick half way through the day and at that point S, who rode the van, and myself worked with Pearlsky until the end of the day.If I somehow read my watch wrong and she arrived home earlier than I thought she would I apologize. She was not intentionally released early but I will try to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.
The wonderful woman in charge of transportation did a bit of investigating and tells me:
Para [i.e.: aide] stated she was instructed to bring her out a bit early due to the weather.
As in previous issues, the teacher has an issue with the truth, it appears.
In the midst of all of this, I notice that on the daily note that comes home, the sections for snack, lunch and changing are all blank. This is a first, so I sent this email …
Besides sending Pearlsky home early, why did she not have a snack NOR lunch today? Are you castigating her for some issue?
And I get this astute response:
Just so there is no misunderstanding I am picking up a little bit of sarcasm in your email. I adore Pearlsky and would not ever let anything unpleasant happen to her. As I said in the earlier email her aide had to go home sick on a day where there were a number of other factors causing confusion. I fed Pearlsky lunch myself and saw the aide trying to give her a snack. In all of the confusion I forgot to initial her sheet and for this I apoligize [sic].
You know what pisses me off than the fact that it is unimportant (to him) to send home the information (all that was needed were two initials) … what really incensed me?
I adore Pearlsky …
1: to worship or honor as a deity or as divine
2: to regard with loving admiration and devotion
Learn English you moron. (see this short post) If you really adore Pearlsky, I’m getting a court order.
I’m going with “I hate this shit” as the default response to your question. I say that with the greatest of cynicism, because no matter how right we are and how much we persevere, it doesn’t seem like it’ll ever really change.
Take care, Single Dad — my heart goes out to you in solidarity.
Maybe the aide or nurse or school or someone forgot to set the clocks back? We just set ours back over here in Hungary. I don’t know when the US changes theirs.
Could you just send him “Liar liar pants on fire”? This twit has to go.
I’m with you on EVERYTHING in this post except getting angry that he says he adores Pearlsky. You have a special relationship with that word, one that there’s no way for him to know about. Most people who say they “adore” someone, such as a student, simply mean that they enthusiastically and warmly like that person.
But yeah, everything else is crap.
I am definitely with the ” I hate this shit.” Zoey came home with a nasty little scratch on her face the other day and no one had any idea how it happened. Everytime someone in, or outside the family, mentioned the scratch I thought, I will never, ever know, when something bad or even good, happens to Zoey. She will never have the capability or capacity to tell me. Ever. This much I know.
Yep,I just hate this shit on some days.
The early dismissal lie is not something I would let go if I could possibly go after it. That is well documented and that lying teacher needs to be nailed.
As for the marks on her, though i would raise a stink so that everyone understands how unacceptable that sort of thing is and that you are not going to let it go, I agree that it goes under the “I hate this” category. It is possible that she got the bruises innocuously and no one noticed how, though it is a reportable event and something not to be taken cavalierly. You just cannot be too careful. Wish you could get a camera in there so you can see how Pearlsky is truly being treated in the classroom.
Hugs to you and Pearlsky.
That is the rudest so-called teacher! He finds it hard to believe? I find it hard to believe how stupid he is.
I’m sending good thoughts and hugs to you, SD, and to Pearlsky. David too. I hope better days are soon around the corner.
Good grief! Like some of the scenes from my very own life… if your blog were a movie I might say in some points: “This isn’t like real life. Real people don’t act this way. This is all made up for dramatic effect.” But, I know you aren’t making this shit up. It boggles the mind.
The thing I don’t understand about the bruising — it’s not like Pearlsky ran into a wall by accident or in any way was able to participate getting the bruises. They happened to her. Somebody or something bruised her. Why aren’t they paying attention???
When will they make a small, easily worn camera that will easily record everything Pearlsky sees, and send it, automatically, to your laptop, for your review/appropriate action? How else can one oversee, unless one sees? I know they make these things, but do they make ones that can be powered for a full school day?
“Damn, I see you got some bruises. Sorry about that. I’ll try to figure out what happened.”