School Woe's

I'm going through a school crisis here. I know I'm making it much bigger than it should be.

About a month and a half ago, I was informed by Jonah & Isabel's teacher that this would be their last year of pre-school. My understanding & what I was told, was that they would be eligible to go three years. This is their 2nd. And this was their teacher's understanding as well. The kids' birthday is on July 1. They will be 5 this year. That would make them the younger ones if they started kindergarten in the fall. I was content with having them do one more year of pre-school. Since they are preemies & lag a little behind in some areas, I was okay.

The teacher told me that the cutoff for them to be able to go another year was August 1. Meaning if your child (or children in my case) turns 5 before August 1, they were not eligible for another year of pre-school. My options are to send them to another pre-school, keep them out an entire year or send them to kindergarten in the fall. The school they are in is state funded. They had to qualify for it. Seeing as they had some delays, mine qualified. I haven't had to pay anything which has been a giant blessing seeing as Nate & I live off his income. If I send them to another pre-school, we are looking at a lot of money per week. And right now, we cannot do that.

So, the last few months, Jonah & Isabel & Jasper's teachers have been pulling them out of class to work on things they will need to know for kindergarten. They all know their letters & numbers. They know their address, phone number, etc. They have learned to write their names. They may not be the best, but they know how.

I was also informed that they wanted to move Jonah into a separate class when they return from Christmas break. I am okay with that. He seems to stick to Isabel like glue while at school. Their teacher loves them but said she just wants to make sure Jonah does things on his own, without Isabel. She then said that the principal wanted to change the classes for all of them. She wanted to move them in to another teacher's class, having two in the afternoon & one in the morning. What? How about we completely take them out of their routines for 5 months of school & also make it to where the mom is constantly getting kids off to school or home from school. No thanks. Not to mention that I was told this new teacher they wanted the kids to have, was not good with kids.

I waited for a call from the principal because the teacher told me she would be calling to set up a conference to tell me she thought this would be the best situation. The Principal at their school is not on the top of my favorite's list. She's a bully. And I've honestly never heard one good thing about her. She's tough & isn't friendly. I decided that I wasn't going to be my usual "doormat" and I was going to tell her what I wanted for MY kids. I felt as though she wanted to just throw them into something completely different because she realized she screwed up (realizing half way thru the year that they couldn't come back next year) & wanted to make sure they knew their stuff before kindergarten so it didn't look bad on her.

I received a phone call from her on a Friday afternoon. I didn't get it because my phones were turned down due to nap time. She left a message & said she was leaving for the day but would call me on Monday. She didn't. On Thursday morning, she called my cell phone. I answered & she said, "Shannon? This is Mrs. --------. I've been trying to get a hold of you for a week!" That was enough to put me in a bad mood with her. I have caller ID on both my home & cell phone. She did not call once after that Friday call.

She gave me her spiel on how she wanted to place the kids & told me if it were up to her, that was how it was going to be. I told her I was confident with my kids' teachers & that I felt they were getting them ready for kindergarten. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea to shuffle kids around & completely throw them out of their routine for the remaining 5 months or so of school. I understood why they wanted to move Jonah, but I wasn't down with everything else. Our conversation ended with her telling me that we were keeping the kids where are they with the exception of Jonah. I called Jonah & Isabel's teacher after I got off the phone with the principal. She said, "Yea, I just got an e-mail from the principal. And it started off with, FINALLY got a hold of the mother." That almost sent me thru the roof. It made me sound like a non existent parent...a parent who doesn't care. And that couldn't be farther than the truth. I keep in constant contact with their teachers. I have went to every party they have had in their class. I take donuts every Friday.

Fast forward to two weeks ago...the last day of school before Christmas vacation. I went in because they were supposedly having a Christmas party & parents were welcome. There was no party. No parents showed up & no one brought goodies in. So I said to Jonah & Izzy's teacher, "Well, this is the last day you will have Jonah, isn't it?" She said, "No one got a hold of you? Jasper is the one who is going to have to change. And he is going in to Mrs. ----- class (the one they told me was not good for kids) We're not sure what is going on." My mouth fell to the floor. I said, "They are going on break until January & when they come back, they will be completely different than what we had discussed? No one was going to let me know this?" Honestly, not one person acted like they knew what was going on. I called Nate & he said, "I'm calling that principal." I told him I was going in to her office to talk to her face to face.

I went in to the office & asked to speak with her. I walked in & said, "I'm Shannon Wright, the mom to the triplets." She said, "Yes, I know" and had a smug look on her face. I said, "I want to talk to you about...", she interrupted me & said, "about us shuffling your kids around?" I said, Yes. And I asked her whose job it was to inform me of these changes. I told her that had I not come in, I wouldn't have known a thing & my kids would have gone back to school & everything would have been changed. You could tell she was embarrassed but didn't want to act like it was her fault.

It ends up that Jasper's teacher is going in to full time speech. Therefore, she wont have his class. He will be going in to the teacher's class that all the other teacher's told me wasn't good with kids. I'm beginning to think no one knows what is going on. Because after that decision was made, the teachers acted like Jasper would be just fine & that teacher really wasn't that bad...she was just a hard teacher who probably isn't the best with pre-school students. I'm wondering if this teacher they are talking about, may actually be good. So when they go back...tomorrow...Isabel will have her same teacher, and Jonah & Jasper will be with different teachers. None of them will be together. I've mentioned this to the kids & Jonah & Jasper aren't too fond of what is going to happen.

So after all this, I'm now worried about my babies being in kindergarten. Are they too young? Should I just send them half day? Which school? Would they be able to last all day? One thing that I keep hearing is that they should go full day. That kindergarten has changed so much since I was in school & they learn so much. They have to shove all of that in to a 2 1/2 hour day for students who go half day. Ugh. Decisions. Being a parent is hard. I don't want to push my babies in to anything, but I want to do what is best for them.