Good Morning, Mrs. Alburger

I went yesterday to the school district office and picked up the packet for being licensed as a substitute teacher. I'm sort of excited, to tell the truth. I can work less, if I want to, because it's my choice whether or not to take an assignment. I won't have as much responsibility, since I'll only be there for a day. I'll get to mix it up and work at all four schools in my district.

Also, if it comes down to it, I'll be able to home school Nick next year. And I'm afraid it might come down to it. The high school is so innovative when it comes to 99 percent of the students. But for the one percent who have special needs they really drop the ball. There is no teacher. They've hired a long-time aide to be the teacher, but come on. There's a reason that getting a special education endorsement requires a full year of education. This woman has a degree. In sociology. And the scariest thing is that I seem to be the only person who has a problem with this. None of the other aides are the tiniest bit concerned. I guess because they're kids aren't going to be taught without a real teacher.

The school has this weird policy of making the special needs kids stop work at the end of the second hour to help set up the lunch room. Who are they helping? The kids who are on in-school suspension. Which ties the job to a punishment. I actually feel a little sick every day when I take the kids out there to do the work. It's just so WRONG. They don't disrupt any other class to make the kids do physical labor. When I've mentioned it, I've been told that the resource kids need to learn responsibility. Because, you know, all the other 500-plus kids at the school are shining examples of responsibility.

Yeah, I think I need the option of homeschooling Nick. Hopefully next year they'll have a teacher. Definitely next year I'll be making a stink about the lunch room thing. But just in case, if I'm working as a substitute, my (and Nick's) options will be open.