I’m pretty sure we’ve already been classified by the Elementary school as “difficult parents”. We made a big stink about Honeybun’s class placement (which I’m pretty sure did not affect where she was placed), opted out of the school uniform policy (for which we were given a “violation” yesterday since the administrators apparently did not share our decision with the teacher) and I’m sure I’ve also been classified as a “forgetful” mommy since I forgot to fill out the forms for the first day and sent them back without the required money the second day.
So today, the third day, there was a meeting for new Kindergarten parents to inform us about getting involved with the school. At first I wasn’t going to go because the school has a silly policy about no siblings in the school during school hours and not knowing how long it would take I wasn’t comfortable leaving Doodle home (luckily my sister is in town and was able to keep Sugarplum). I decided at the last minute to go, though, and I’m very glad I did (and took Doodle anyways).
Sitting there listening to all the information I realized it’s going to be important for me to be involved as much as possible and make my presence known. If I’m going to make a big deal out of things and spend so much time advocating for my child they need to know that I’m invested in the school and the education she is receiving.
The meeting mostly covered the different parent organizations in which we can get involved such as the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO-they voted last year to become an Organization instead of an Association) and the School Advisory Forum (SAF) which are both open to any parent/grandparent. There is also a School Advisory Council which you must be selected for and is made up of parents, staff and local community members (I requested to be a part of that one as well). Hopefully I will be able to attend as many of these meeting as possible but I’m somewhat pessimistic about it as most of the meetings are during school hours and (as mentioned before) siblings are not allowed which means I will need to have someone to watch Sugarplum and Doodle and hope the meetings are short enough Doodle doesn’t need a feed while I’m gone.
It seems like while they desperately want parent participation and help and encourage volunteerism, they don’t want help from parents who work or who have other children. Apparently, those of us who have obligations outside of our Elementary aged student are not the type of parents they are looking for.
