Well, in true Meg form, I got into a little bit with a fellow parent at last night's Town Hall Meeting. Since Avery's school is only in year 3, they are working out kinks and doing lots of improvements and therefore they hold these meetings to try to keep the parents involved. They talked about how they moved 3 of the older classes to a 8:30 start time in order to alleviate the overcrowding in the parking lot (which has helped a great deal), about how they didn't want more parking because it would have cut into the size of the field and play area, the building of the new art studio, etc. I made a comment that perhaps next year on the first day of school they might want to stagger drop off even further because it had been chaos on the playgroup. Maybe do a sign up sheet so that it would reduce the number of people dropping off at once. I felt overwhelmed and the kids certainly looked like they were overwhelmed. It was hard to get a teacher to "take" your kid so that you could leave because they were being inundated with other kids and parents. It really was out of control (drop off was for 4 classes of 24 on the same playground). So, the owners of the school said it was an excellent suggestion and that they would figure out how to do that for next year. Another woman we'll call "Vita" then raised her hand and said something like "Well maybe that would work for THAT family, but everyone knows I had a very difficult time getting my kids here at 9 and now to find out that the 8:30 start is due to parking makes me really angry" (her older child must be in the older classes to have the 8:30 start). She went on and on and on the whole time her voice was cracking like she was going to cry. At one point she even said "I don't want to make this the Vita Show" but then just kept going. She repeatedly refered to my suggestion for ONE DAY OF SCHOOL so I finally turned around and said something like "that's why I suggested a sign up sheet so you could pick which time works for you". She didn't like that. She just kept railing the owners about the 8:30 start, and the "lack of communication" and the fact that she didn't want to be at the school after working a full day and would rather be home with her kids. She complained about the schools very generous after hours care (way more than a normal preschool, but not quite a daycare). The whole time the owners were trying talk her down from the ledge. They kept telling her lots of schools do drop off this way, that once her kids went to elementary school they could have an 8 am drop off (she of course said no it's 8:30 drop off), and on and on. This went on for what seemed like forever. Finally the owners said "Vita, perhaps this isn't the school for you, and you need to find a daycare situation that better suits you needs". It sounded like this statement was a loooonnnngggg time coming.
It just so happened that it was 8 at this point and we had told Avery and the babysitter that we would be home at 8 to put her to bed. So we ducked out and as I left I talked to two of the administrators to tell them why we were leaving. As I was talking to them, Vita got up to leave. Somehow we got stuck walking down the long hallway to the front door with her. She bitched at us the whole way and at one point I finally said "This is a school, not a daycare, if you need a daycare, then this isn't the place for you". Then I just kept walking and left.
I know Greg was a little mortified by my behavior because he wanted me to keep it to myself, but people like that drive me crazy- it's a school and they cannot make decisions based on one family or even five families needs. That's not how things work. Vita seemed to think that I was making my suggestion to make my life easier. Not so at all. I saw all those children on the first day of school and it was overwhelming for them. I made the suggestion to make things better for the kids. It's about THEM after all, right? It also drives me crazy when people take advantage of Aspirations liberal hours and keep their kids there 9 hours a day and then complain that's not enough. If they want their children at a school rather than a daycare then they need to make it work in their family- not make the school change their policies for them. Ok, I'm done with that topic!
On a somewhat related note, Avery didn't even say goodbye to me at drop off yesterday! She just ran to the swings while I was signing her in. I have been waiting for this day for over a year! It was wonderful. I left the school with a huge smile on my face! She has always had a wonderful time and loved school but drop offs were sometimes a little sad.
Off to swim for us, more later!
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