Thursday

Today was truly not a good day. Robbie and I went to Maumelle to take a tour of a charter school. Robbie was going to spend the day shadowing a student. We got up extremely early to be certain that we were not late. We had to be there by 7:45 and the school is about 30 minutes away without traffic.

We got lost. I knew we would, which is why we left so early. I called the mother who had set-up the tour and shadowing for us. She gave me directions and Robbie and I arrived in plenty of time. However, we had no idea where to go. We witnessed several children sitting on the ground outside of different locked doors. It was 41 degrees outside. Plus, there were no adults to be found. The office was locked. I finally found an adult and inquired about taking a tour. The adult pointed to an entirely different building for us to go to.

We drove to the building and bumped into a teacher who confirmed we were in the right place. We went up to the building with the teacher and the doors were locked. We had to be let in by a another teacher. They told us to wait by a closed door to the office saying that it wasn't open yet. I started reading the paper and gave Robbie my phone to play a game. It was VERY OBVIOUS we did not belong. Then suddenly, a woman comes clicking down the hallway saying, "The office isn't open yet? They are lucky I get here early." There was an adult following her. She unlocked the door and the two of them went in and closed the door behind them. Two other adults came to the door and said, "They aren't open yet?" Then knocked on the door, went in and shut the door behind them. Robbie was getting restless and looked at me and said, "Mom we need to ..." I told him, "Don't worry son, at 7:45 your mom will be taking steps to be seen and heard instead of ignored." Just then, the door swung open and the woman (who couldn't believe that she was the first one) propped the door open and said, "Ma'am can I help you?" I went through it with her and she said I was in the wrong building. I needed to go to a different building and ask for xxx (can't remember now). Let me just say that this woman was not sweet.

So Robbie and I go to a third building. This building is unlocked, but there is no one sitting at the front desk. There is a man that we can see talking, but he has not made a move to help us. I wait all of three minutes. I go outside and call the mom that I am supposed to be meeting. I proceeded to tell her that we have been at the school since 7:20 and have been given the run-around ever since. She said that I still was not in the right building. I needed to be at the first building. While I was on the phone, the man who had let us in the second building walked up and overheard my conversation. He went into the building and found the girl I was instructed to find. She told me, "I am so sorry. I understand you have been given the run around. I am not the person you need to see either. You need to go to a different building. I am sorry for the confusion, but our High School and Elementary School are completely separate and they do not communicate and there is animosity between them." Wow! Did you just air all of your dirty laundry?

So the male teacher offered to personally escort us to the building they were sure we needed to be. Sure enough at 8:00 we walked into first office that Robbie and I tried to open that was locked. There were the two moms I was meeting, the two other boys that were shadowing and three boys from the school that were going to show our boys the ropes. The boys left. The secretary told us, "uh, the principal is running late, but you can have a seat in her office until she gets here." Mind you our appointment was at 7:45 and it was now 8:00. Also, we had been scheduled for this tour for at least two weeks.

The principal came in and apologized for being late saying she had to buy her son a belt because he was worried he would get in trouble for being out of the dress code. The superintendent then came in to introduce himself to us. I did appreciate his gesture to take the time to come over. It was his office that I was in when the guy helped us. Then we took the tour.

The classrooms looked like caves. The walls were white with very little on them to make it more colorful. The ceilings were very low. I confess that I did not have a good attitude when I took the tour. I tried to calm down, but the excitement for this school was lost. When I picked up Robbie, he did not like the school either. They had a substitute that screamed at the class when only about three were acting up according to Robbie.

So, I called a friend in Maumelle and asked her how she felt about company dropping in. She was for it, except she was not home yet. She told us to let ourselved in the gate and let the kids play in the back yard. Here are some pictures of the boys climbing her trees.

These pictures show a happier time in my day. I was able to unwind some while I watched them play. When our friend got home, she told us that there was a fundraiser for the school at US Pizza, did we want to come? I had already decided that the boys were going there to eat salad, so sure! Well US Pizza was packed and understaffed to say the least. I felt so bad for those employees that had to suffer under management's poor decision not to have all hands on deck for a school fundraiser.

We could not find a table for nine, so we ordered our food to go. William had a melt down. This day did not seem to want to end well or end period!

THERE IS NO GOOD SEGWAY FOR WHAT I AM ABOUT TO TALK ABOUT NEXT
I did manage to find beauty in the day. There are pear trees blooming with pretty white flowers all over the place.