The School of Pepcid AC

Do me a favor......never have a disabled child or adopt one if you can at all help it.

 Today was the first day of school for my oldest two boy's. According to my oldest sons paperwork he was not to start school until tomorrow so it was a bit of a shock when his bus showed up this morning. Luckily Laz had the day off today so he immediately drove Paul to school. Then I had to walk Gabriel down to houses to his bus stop where he is the only child at that stop but for some reason he still need's to walk to houses down to get on his bus. For some reason they can't just pick him up in front of our home....go figure.

Now let me back up a bit....I got a phone call yesterday from the transportation department. They told me that Troy would be starting school today and that they would be here at 12 noon to pick him up. Troy's paperwork also states that he does not start school until the 8th (Wednesday.... tomorrow). So I figure it's just another mix-up. Well fast forward to this morning. I get Troy ready and packed up for school,he's all excited. Well the his bus comes and then drives right on by. Confused,Laz call's transportation and come to find out,according to them,Troy doesn't actually start school until the 9th (Thursday).Well that didn't sound right to me because he goes to school Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, so he would be only going to school one day this week. Then I decided to call Troy's school and they said that he actually starts Wednesday and that I need to call transportation back and fix the problem. I again called and they had already fixed the problem. So,when Troy figured out he wasn't going to school today he had a major meltdown.

 An hour after school started and things quieted down a bit I decided to go pick up my artwork from City Hall. I was lucky enough to score a babysitter for Emma and Troy for half and hour.SO I ran and picked up my artwork and then grabbed the last of my change and grabbed a white chocolate mocha from Dutch Bros. I went and picked up the kids and went home. I cleaned a bit,checked my email,FB etc. Then it was already time for the boys to start coming home. Gabe was suppose to be home first. It was raining fairly hard today and I had two little one's with me so despite it only being two houses down(the bus stop)I took the van and waited for Gabe's bus. Paul's bus ended up showing up first so I had to leave the little kids in the van and run down to our house and get Paul. We got back to the van and proceeded to wait for Gabe. Will his bus came and he .....WASN'T ON IT.

 I called his school and the office phones were already off. So I called transportation and I am not kidding when I say that I was on the phone with transportation for 30 minutes while they tried to find my son. All the while asking me questions like "does he have any friends that he might have left with?" So my kid was missing for half an hour. Finally They found him, he was on the wrong bus with ten other kids who were on the wrong bus. They said that they would drive him home. 2 minutes later I get a call from Laz(who is up in Portland car shopping at this point)he say's that he just got a call from transportation and that I am suppose to go pick up Gabriel from school. So I am totally confused at this point and Laz sounds upset with me to boot. So I call trans back to find out exactly what is going on they tell me that there was a bit of confusion and that I am to pick up Gabriel at his school. So as I am headed to the school I get a call from a woman that works in the school office. She sounds completely upset with me and is very cold.She say's Gabe's in the office come and get him...well that's basically what she said, I was so ticked at this point that I wasn't exactly listening to her exact words just her tone of voice. I almost forgot to mention that Gabe got off at the wrong school in teh morning as well. So they had to go pick him up. The previous week I took Gabe to his school twice so he knew where it was at...and so I don't know what that was about...anyways......back to this afternoon. I finally get to his school and a woman(with red bleary eye's) proceed's to motion Gabriel and I over to a side room,btw I had all the kids at this point and Troy is having a major meltdown...and I am getting a major stare-down from everyone in that school office. Anyways the woman looks at Gabriel and asks him to explain to me what happened and what he did. Gabriel starts to tell me that he wanted to go home with a friend,so ofcourse I put two and two together,Gabe got on the wrong bus all by himself. Although I have doubts about this story considering ten other kids got on that bus that didn't belong on it yet somehow my kid was the only one that intentionally got on there...sounds fishy to me. Anyways, this woman proceeded to look at me and then she asked me, "do you understand what he is saying? DO you understand what has happened here?" I was shocked. The first question... understandable the second question was plain rude. She spoke to me as if I where mentally handicapped.

  After all was said and done I was disgusted with my son's school and the transportation department. There were things that I could have taken care of a little better I'll admit that. But the fact is when I hand my child over in the morning to the school and transportation department he is THEIR responsibility> The trans department actually called and apologized for not keeping track of him. I guess that they are suppose to do like a roll call and hadn't done it. But the school was fully willing to blame me and treat me poorly before they ever took responsibility for their own inadequacies.

I have told Laszlo that I will chalk it all up to first week jitters and scheduling confusion but if this behavior continues on their part..if they are not willing to take responsibility for their wrong doings and continue to be as rude as they were today than I am fully willing and ready to quit my business and homeschool Gabriel another year.

I am emotionally spent today,I've cried and then some. I never raised my voice to anyone and remained very polite. Meanwhile boiling on the inside. I am now litterily sick to my stomach,I feel like I could chuck at any minute. My head is killing me and I feel as though I could cry a few more buckets. I completely understand the beginning of the school year being stressful for school's and transportation but I don't think there is ever a reason to be spoken to as I was today,to be treated as I was ......in general. Atleast the trans department was completely professional and very easy to talk with. I am so fried right now and my stomach is killing me. I think I could use some Pepcid,a friend and some coffee.