Elementary School morning drop off = NIGHTMARE.
That, right there, could be the entire post, but I feel the need to be more specific.
Way back when the Howler was in Kindergarten, morning drop off was a free-for-all. Parking in the drive/drop off lane, no adult supervision any where near the drop off area....the cleaning out of car trunks while a thousand other people tried to unload the children in their morning care.
Things improved...if you call 10% less stress and the addition of 2 aides to supervise unloading an improvement. I did.
When the aides actually DO supervise and AIDE the unloading, it's not nearly as bad as it was just a few years ago.
But what we have now is the same 2 aides, obviously very much over the AIDE part of their jobs. I thank God every morning that my daughter does not have contact with either of these two women during her school day.
When it's arctic cold, they huddle in the doorway. When it's not so arctic cold, they stand, chatting with each other (my paranoia says that they're actually talking about those families currently dropping off children) and ignoring the stupidity that could be avoided. If there were actually AIDING going on during unloading.
Today's particular rant is inspired by the fact that once I finally get into the drop off lane, I'm waiting....and waiting....and waiting to pull forward.
Dunno what's happening, and I'm too far back to see. Finally, one of the unaides moves forward a few steps. She stops and the vehicle--with it's passenger side door still hanging wide open, is pulling forward.
I pull forward far enough to unload the Howler--remarkably enough, not late yet--and as I drive away, that car door is still wide open, Mom is on the passenger side with her child....and the unaides are still just standing there. The vehicle in question is still mostly in the lane, and those leaving have to swerve into the already narrow path of those incoming.
Am I being ridiculous to think that A) if you're old enough to have a driver's license and a school-age child, you're old enough to know that driving any distance with a child in the seat next to the wide-open door is flat-out a Darwin Award looking to happen and B) any adult being paid to actually HELP families unload their urchins should actually be HELPING. Even if it means moving quickly enough to get that door closed, and have the idiot driving pull into an actual parking space.
I want so badly to let the school know that their unaides are part of the morning drop off problem, but I've already had to complain about ceiling tiles in the Howler's classroom becoming water logged and falling...
Somehow, I think I hear "off the deep end" being spoken in my near future.
2 comments:
You should still speak up. Take photos with the camera phone. Go to the school board. That's ridiculous behavior.
I emailed the principle. She doesn't realize she made it worse: while assuring me that all the children were safe in that room, she told me that the teacher & students had watched that block SAG all morning...and that it did land on the Howler's own desk. I'm saving the information, and will await the right moment to use it. I'm not making a stink right now, key words being "RIGHT NOW" but I'll have no problem doing so in the near future if the problem isn't truly corrected.
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