odd request at work

[Zoe Girl]

I realize this is an odd request I am getting at work but I am very excited about it. We have a child in our before and after care who is a challenging kid. He does well with us but needs a lot of redirection and watching. Meanwhile during the school day he is having a horrible time, not getting along with the teacher or class, getting in trouble often, being sent to the office, etc. He is in kindergarten this year so this is hard to watch him not like school. He and his brother were adopted by their mom at age 1 and 2 and were taken from their birth home with abuse and neglect issues. He is also very smart, like really smart and curious. He was reading (not baby words) when he started kindergarten.

So after waiting 3 months the mother is getting her meeting with teacher, principal, counselor, etc. finally. I am thinking this is not okay. She was talking to my supervisor who was visiting us today and mentioned it is going to be hard to do this with people who only see the negative in him. So they got together and asked me to attend the meeting with her, my supervisor even arranged it so we will have the coverage for adults to children ratio. I am feeling very good about this! Not only am I a professional at the school every day and work with him 5 hours a day typically but I have my masters in elementary education and feel I would be using it in a great way. Not sure the principal will like me much since I am there for the child first and foremost and the appropriate education of gifted students is an important topic for me. I will let you know how it goes.

[redfox]

Please don't assume the principal will not like you much. You both represent important aspects of the school, and the manner in which one's interests are presented goes a long way towards getting co-operation. Good luck with this!

[razz]

Thr like or dislike will depend on how you present yourself. If you are clear in your role as an objective trained observer and phrase your approach in those terms, you may well have a new vocation. There is an increasing awareness by professionals that it is hard to balance the needs of the recipient of services, the supply of services as well as their administration. You will have the ability to ease the tension between these roles by professionally assisting with the first role, the recipient of the services.

You will be able to use your skills in concensus building, repetition/reiteration of the basic goals and objectives and shared searching for solutions.

Just a thought, it may be worthwhile to review the current legislation on special needs kids within the education system so that you and the principal are coming from the same perspective and understanding on delivery of service.

Good for you and I hope that you are really pleased with the outcome of the meeting as then the boy's needs wil be addressed as well as the educator's.

[Zoe Girl]

Thank you all, I think I already have a good relationship with the principal but we had a sticky issue at the beginning of the year. We did work it out (yeah!). It was about walking the kindergartners to our program daily instead of letting them get there solo but our problem was that we had so many preschoolers and kindies that our staff would be out of legal ratio to pick them all up daily. Now we split it, we pick up half and the school staff walks with the other 2 classes. Nice compromise.

So I do see a way to come out of this with the needs of the student addressed and looking good. This is really important to me because I want to have a teaching job in this district and am looking at getting an endorsement in special education to focus on affective needs. So if I do a good job then I may get a recommendation from the principal, and I think I am good at these things (crossed fingers with a little bit of research)_