Look Out World- Here He Comes!!

Kenny started school today!

He was so excited and looked so small and sweet. I cried the whole morning until I woke him up. I was able to hold it together for him. I never thought this would be hard for me, but I have never turned him over to strangers all day and trusted they would take care of him (keep reading- my fears were not totally unfounded). When we finally got to the school he started clenching my hand a little bit tighter. I could see in his cute face face that he was excited and nervous all at once. He has a friend from his preschool last year in his class and he was happy to see her. I still have mixed feelings about him being so big but I can't hold onto him forever. They grow so fast!



Now for the dramatic part...

The school lost Kenny!!!!
And to make things worst- no one at the **** school cared!!!!!

What happened: I wrote on Kenny's dismissal tag that he was to walk with Emily and Daniel. I even put the grades of those kids. At dismissal, Kenny's teacher put him in the walker line as she was supposed to and went to do her duty. The walkers/car rider kinder teachers let him just walk on by. He walked all the way to his babysitters house, all alone, crossing the street, and when he got there he sat on the lawn and cried because no one was there. Ken and the babysitter were at the school to show him the way to walk home.

When Ken asked the kinder teachers on duty where Kenny was their idiotic response was, "Mrs. Wulf's class is in the 2nd grade pod and we don't know if she is out here yet." And then, instead of offering to help, or offering to get help for a parent with a lost kindergartner- THEY JUST STOOD THERE DOING NOTHING!

Ken went into the office to get help and the nurse worked with him and they found him. A nice mom found him crying on the curb and brought him back to school. I'm sure glad it was not some pervert.

When I called the principal to address the problem, her excuse was "Well, last year there were only 4 kinder teachers and this year it is 6 and they have only had 6 for a few days." I told that does not fly with me. I AM a kinder teacher and I don't care if the team has been together for minutes or days, they are responsible for each other.

Anyway, I was LIVID! They are lucky it was Ken dealing with this. He has an amazing ability to control his temper and emotions. I would have gone postal on them- as any normal mom would upon learning the school lost her child. I have been told by several people that the kinder teacher's at his school are awesome, but let me just say- as a parent and a fellow educator- I am severely disappointed in those teachers and I have no respect for them as professionals. This should not have happened!
And the only thing Kenny remembrs about his first day is that he got lost! Poor baby!!!

Anyway, here is a copy of the email I sent to his principal and teacher this morning just to clarify my views.

Mrs. Wulf,

I wanted to put in writing my concerns over the incident yesterday. Please forward this email to your principal.

First, I want to thank you for putting Kenny in the walker line like he was supposed to be. My concern is for what occured afterwards.

1. The kinder teachers who were on walker/car rider duty told my husband they didn't know where Kenny was because "Mrs. Wulf's class isn't in our pod. She is in second grade." Neither of those techers offered to help locate my son nor did they offer to get someone to help. They stood there and did NOTHING!

2. If those teachers on duty had read his tag they would have seen it was CLEARLY written that he was to wait for the V******* children. What is point of having tags if they are not checked? Their oversight and lack of interest or care is severely disappointing to me.

3. The excuse that the team has only been together for a few days is unacceptable. You and your class are NOT second class citizens because they are not housed in the pod.

4. No one notified administration that a child was missing. They should have been the first people informed.

I hope these oversights are addressed so something like this never again occurs.

Thanks You,