Houston! I mean Teacher! We have a problem!

Remember that pink slip? Remember the anger and fire coming out of my eyes? Remember how I wanted to STRANGLE my child? Let's just say I want to STRANGLE the teacher. Ok that's pretty harsh and I shouldn't say write anything like that. However, I must digress!

Bryce has come home with a pink slip 3 times out of 4 weeks. (Gasp!) Noooo, right? In my last blog, you would’ve thought my child was in a dungeon by now or placed in some child labor camp for bringing home that pink slip. After writing about what happened, I calmly sternly asked exactly what happened. (Rage was starting as I was waiting for him to explain) I demanded a FULL explanation from start to finish. (Imagine Jen looking like a communist ruler w/an iron fist, glaring at my child w/the red Chinese fiery eyes).

Yes, he was talking. No he didn’t start the conversation. He was the only one that got in trouble. It was Kristen that was talking too. She instigated the conversation. (Double take) What?! WAIT A MINUTE! STOP! Who? Kristen? She didn’t get in trouble? So I wrote Houston Teacher back and told her she needed to find out what happened and all guilty party should be charged reprimanded. The case was dismissed, a lesser punishment given because it doesn’t change the fact that he was talking. Teacher talked to Bryce and admitted she needed to pay more attention to what was going on and admitted she was in the wrong to single him out. She agrees that he was in the wrong for talking though. I’m ok with that.

The following week, he received ANOTHER pink slip. Reason: Out of Line. OUT OF LINE?! What the heck is Out of Line?! Bryce asked to get up to get his jacket. He didn’t have any tickets (tickets are earned for good behavior so you can use them as a bathroom pass, get things from your bag if you ‘forgot’ something..etc). In other words, tickets are hall passes. It was the day after it rained and it was pretty windy too. He sits near the door so he felt the cold coming in that day. Because he asked to get his jacket and he had no tickets, he was marked for being Out of Line. Fiery eyes and rage starts. It was windy alright. I worked in a symposium that day. We were inside the outdoor tents for registration and we closed and zipped up the tent doors to keep the wind from coming in. I thought, the school is worried about kids’absences and Teacher wouldn’t let him get his jacket?! If he gets sick and is absent, it’s not my fault, it would be hers. Then I thought, there’s no bearing on her! That’s just not right! And so, I wrote on Bryce’s pink slip:

"I do NOT agree with this. Tickets or no tickets. It was cold and windy yesterday. Considering the fact that he sits near the door, you couldn’t make an exception?”

Teacher sends me an email. “My mistake- tally removed. I thought he had to go to the bathroom.” I didn’t even respond. My brain said: “Houston! Teacher?! We have a problem here!!!”

Hello Tuesday-as in today. Yes ANOTHER pink slip from yesterday. Do we have a problem? Yes we do. Jordan was talking yesterday. Bryce looked up but DIDN’T answer. Yes my child actually didn’t talk or respond. Jordan decided to talk to Jack instead. But Teacher, we have a problem! Jordan got in trouble and Bryce did too. Teacher said, “Jordan couldn’t have been talking to himself so Bryce, go get a tally for talking too.” HELLO?! Didn’t Teacher tell Bryce after the incident with Kristen, she needed to pay more attention? Someone isn’t following through and she ASSUMED (we all know what ASSUME means don’t we?). It wasn’t Bryce and Jordan, it was Jordan and Jack. So I wrote her another note telling her what Bryce told me. I won't bother with the details that I wrote. Let's just say it was written like the last note I wrote.  I am waiting for her response as I write this…

Yes, Teacher, we have a problem. I know my child has been guilty and we accept responsibility for his actions WHEN he is at fault. However, assuming to pick on my son for something he didn’t do or wasn’t fully responsible for isn’t ok with me. As a mother of 4 boys and a super busy household, I don’t have time to deal with petty issues. However, when there’s a problem, I STOP, LISTEN and  try to UNDERSTAND. Once I comprehend what the issue is,  I fix it, reprimand if I have to and discuss what needs to be done to prevent the problem from happening again. So Teacher, we have a problem. It’s not Bryce. It is YOU!