Millard School District stinks...

You know those people who write nothing but complaints and negativity on their blogs? Well, be prepared.... and for the record, I never claimed NOT to be one of those people...

So school has started. And I have a few little concerns. First of all, they had warned us that the buses would come twenty minutes earlier this year. Last year, our bus came at 7:25, give or take a few minutes. And there, bright and early on the first day of school, at 7:04, was a school bus stopped across the road. Now, I realize the the high school actually does start 20 minutes earlier this year, and so does the middle school, but the elementary school? Not so much. They start FIVE minutes earlier. Which means, I suppose that I should put my seven and nine year olds on the bus and let them ride it for an hour and twenty minutes, give or take a few minutes? Excuse me? Have you ever seen a little kid who has ridden in the car for an hour? They are totally incapable of functioning at a conscious level, let alone learning and thinking as I would hope they are doing at school.

That is not the only bus problem. There are three (yup, three) buses that pick up kids in the Deseret /Oasis area. The kids whose stops are nearest my home on the other bus routes get on the bus at 7:24 and 7:28. Um, excuse me again? My kids are on the bus nearly half an hour longer than the kids half a mile up the road? Guess why... I know you're dying to. Well clearly, the logical reason is apparent... the bus my kids ride HAS to leave earlier so that they can get to the golf course and pick up the kids there. Yeah, why wouldn't the kids who live seven miles south of town drive to town, continue three miles north, and THEN turn around and go to the high school? Then the middle school. THEN the elementary school. Which brings us to the next error in planning (that may actually be a more serious problem than the fact that drunk monkeys are, in fact, drawing doodles on a map that the head drunk monkey then passes out as bus routes.)

Having determined that the only solution to the "sorry, my kid can't take a spelling test because she is still in the restroom, carsick from the bus ride that could actually have driven her to a less crowded school in Springville because it really, truly took THAT long" problem was to drive my children to school every day for the remainder of the year (gas budget be damned), I arrived at school today a little early- around 8:00. Imagine my shock when I saw a playground LOADED with kids, and no adults to be seen. I was a little concerned when two of Meredith's friends came catapulting into the parking lot to greet her as she arrived, with nary a word from a grown-up to warn of the possible dangers of running into the place where cars are dropping kids off (probably because there are other parents like me who are less than crazy that their kid, who lives two miles from the school, will be on the bus for 45 minutes.) The good news is that my bus time estimate was actually 30 minutes off. The bad news is that the children who rode the bus are actually on a playground just off Main Street, Delta, Utah totally unsupervised for that 30 minutes. I understand that the district policy has always been that playgrounds are not supervised before school, which policy I assume was published far and wide to deter over-eager parents from dropping their children off an hour before school because they were on their way to work. But if the buses are FORCING the kids to be at school 30 minutes before it starts, shouldn't SOMEBODY be responsible? I am sure they tell the kids to stay in the fenced playground areas, but anyone who has ever met a kid knows that a rule not enforced consistently will be obeyed for all of thirty seconds. I am not for a moment suggesting that the teachers should have one more thing added to their list of responsibilities, but perhaps someone should be hired for this purpose, like they hire people for the crosswalks. So now I guess I will have to drive my kids to school, drop them off, and then proceed to watch them so they will not be kidnapped, bullied, or otherwise molested in the interim before the bell rings.

Problem number three with this school year... the architect who designed the School-Formerly-Known-As-The-North-Elementary was a MORON. (I can think of a better term, but I'm trying to keep my ranting as G-rated as possible.... you're welcome!) There is a "coat closet" (feel free to substitute "Lice Farm" in your mind) that is about two feet wide and three feet tall, into which you are supposed to cram thirty two coats, thirty two backpacks, etc. Because of this storage issue, the kids have special bag requirements as to size and shape. That's fine, I suppose- I know having taught school that you have to make do with what you have. But seriously, would it kill them to install a row of hooks along the back classroom wall? Because honestly, there are going to be lice. Someone once told me that during lice check, they always had twice as many cases at the North as they did at the South. Now, I'm no doctor, but look at the "coat closet" (lice farm.) Mystery solved.

Also, and this is probably an offshoot of the former problem of storage stupidity, but Ruthie was telling me today she sure wished she could take her Chinese jump rope to school. I told her that she should take it tomorrow, to which she sadly replied, "I can't. The rule at this dumb school is that we can only play with the school playground equipment. We can never bring anything from home." I told her she should get a regular jump rope from the school equipment, but was informed that there are only two per class and she felt like she would never get a turn. I understand that in a facility that is totally inadequate in space and storage, it would be a problem if every boy brought a bat and ball, and every girl brought a soccer ball, but a freaking jump rope? Either buy more playground equipment or let parents supplement. (I am purposely not even going to get started on the glaring lack of actual playground equipment built into the playgrounds.)

Next problem... (you thought I was done? Ha, ha... you're funny!) At one point during the discussions before the Big Elementary School Shake-Up of 2009 (as I like to think they will one day refer to it in the history books, or at least in the Great Basin Museum Annals), our glorious superintendent assured us that "in this district we pride ourselves on our smaller than average class sizes." He went on to say that the best thing about having all the grade levels in the same facility would be the ability to add a class if there were too many in one grade level, while saying that if only half the kids were in a facility, there would likely never be enough surplus to add another whole class. I believe the numbers he stated were that if there were ever enough overall students in a grade K-2 to make a class of 24 or in grade 3-5 to make a class of 26, another class would be formed. Enter Meredith's fourth grade class of 32. And all the other fourth grade classes of 31 or 32. And if you're snappy with math, you could probably figure out that five classes with 31 or 32 COULD actually make 6 classes of 26. But- and this is the good part- go ahead and ask me if there are 6 classes of 26. Heck, no! Because guess what! That time when the first grade teachers from the School-Formerly-Known-As-The-South-Elementary pointed out that there were fewer classrooms than teachers? Remember that time- you remember, when our glorious superintendent laughed at them and made belittling remarks? Well, it turns out that those first grade teachers HAD actually honed their counting skills in their careers of teaching the little tykes to do it, and they were right. There is no freaking place to put another class in the piddly school building we are using. So Meredith will have the exquisite joy of going through a year in a classroom with nowhere to put a coat, and thirty-some-odd other little bodies (including the two naughtiest kids in her grade level, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

And do you know what the worst part is? I can't bring myself to believe that sharing my concerns (even in a much more positive way than I am sharing them here) would do any good. I sat through too many meetings last year to think that anybody gives a rat's fanny what the parents think. I still feel the decisions that were made were inadequately researched and too quickly enacted. Our (glorious) superintendent is sure enough of his opinions that he doesn't even need anybody else's to go ahead and cause massive upheavals. Really, there's nothing anybody can do about the overcrowding and the crappy building at this point. And I'm not stupid enough to believe that the bus situation will be rectified at any time soon.

Now, in my frustration, I am quick to point out that I am absolutely enamored of both of my daughters teachers this year (not that I expected to be otherwise, being quite pleased with most of the elementary school teachers in our district.) I feel bad for them, having to live through road bumps I am sure are even worse then mine. I am sure that despite the district mismanagement, and willingness to throw the elementary schools under the bus to accomodate the high school, that both of my girls will have a positive experience this year. I have actually really enjoyed driving them to school (for the whole two days I've done it so far.) I'm thrilled that when Meredith came home today and told me what she did at all her recesses it was "mostly I just hung upside down on the monkey bars with Zach" because I LOVE that she has cousins in her school. But it's aggravating. If people would just let me run the world, it would go so much more smoothly for everyone. Now, I have to go to bed, because come 8:00 tomorrow morning, I'm a bus driver. Remind me one of these days to post the cute back to school pictures and tell you the happy, glossed-over details of the other positives of back to school. I'm sure they're in there somewhere. Right now, I am just claiming the right to be a good old- fashioned, over-protective, growly mama lion with nary a private school in sight to improve our scholarly outlook.

TWELVE!!!

Twelve loads of laundry today.... twelve! That is a lot of laundry. The only person without an overflowing basket of laundry to put away in the morning is Ruthie, and that is only because she just alternates between two outfits every day until they are walking around by themselves, what with the dirt and all, and I finally force her to change. Still, twelve load seems a bit excessive. I had to use the clothesline in shifts- I filled and emptied it three times, which is impressive, considering I have a fairly long, four rows of wire model that holds a lot. That's what I get for letting the laundry slide for a week and three days rather than the usual week.

Am so tired. Can't remember last time was so tired. Wish caffeine would help me stay up and finish work. Zane had temerity to point out that the Ensign had an article about the evils of caffeine I should read. Pointed out to him that:
A. Already read the article
B. Am totally immune to caffeine effects at this point
and
C. Thought of yummy Diet Coke is sole motivating factor for getting out of bed many mornings.

I should probably let work wait. Tomorrow is busy- sewing day, shopping day, taking kids to Primary water party day... I think work will have to wait until Wednesday.