Each day brings something different...here's today's...
We have a child Shawn who I believe is too immature for kindergarten. He's had NO prior exposure, has a late July birthday, is a boy, and cannot work by himself or with others without interrupting, getting into confrontations or without a teacher there 100% of gage time. It's impossible to teach small groups with him in the room.
I emailed our principal about him a couple days ago and asked her what the process is in retaining a child (moving him back a grade or only doing half-day kindergarten). She had responded with a number of "compelling reasons" that we would need to consider. We'd also need to sit down with his Mom in November about how she felt in regards to this option. So in other words, she was pretty much telling me it's probably not going to pan out...
Ok that's your background knowledge :)
The end of the day comes and Shawn needs to get to his cab (which is at the other end of the school). He and his family are homeless right now and are living with a family on the south side. Persuint to the homelessness rights, Shawn is allowed to still attend his home school (us) even though he doesn't live in our area, for 90 days while they are looking for housing. Therefore the district pays for the transportation. He's been doing this for the last week or more, so today I told him I'd watch him walk to his cab - he could do it by himself.
So he starts walking and almost every 10 seconds he turns around and waves at me. He does a great job and gets to the other side of the school where the taxis are waiting at the curb and goes to walk into the van. I see the man take him by the hand and bring him back to the sidewalk and try to talk to the crossing guard. I rush all the way over there, he sees me, grabs my hand and hugs me - looking sad. The cab driver tells me that he had an order to drive Shawn home but it changed to a different set of sisters. So we stood there waiting for Union Cab to eventually come but they never do...
The school social worker Alli comes out and we decide to take him to the office and call the cab company because they never showed with another cab. I leave him with her because she said she would handle it. She does this all the time, so I trust her completely.
I walk down the hall about 10 minutes later and he's sitting in the hall (she's on the phone trying to figure out his transportation) and eating Flamming Hot Cheetos. I sit on the table next to him and start chatting with him. I try one of his Cheetos - way to hot for me! He's laughing at me and I realize I really enjoy him when he's not interrupting my teaching or causing problems. Alli gets off the phone with the cab dispatcher and calls Shawn's mom. She tells her that he will be picked up in 15-20 minutes, and home in about 30-45 minutes. Mom seems fine with that. Alli takes him with her to her office so I continue on with doing my work after school. About 15-20 minutes later (this is about 45-50 minutes after school lets out) I walk by the library and see her carrying him across the library. I'm walking back to the copier and as I'm making my copies I realize that she is trying to watch him (waiting for his cab) and sititing in a meeting for our school leadership. As I head back to my classroom, I stop in and ask her if she'd like me to take him out. She is thankful for that and as I'm grabbing his things and taking his hand, the principal says to me: "we might be having that meeting sooner." I'm in a rush and didn't realize at the time that this might have sounded rude, but I say back to her: "oh, you think?" I take Shawn back to my room and he colors and plays while I try to get some work done, chatting to me the whole time.
Eventually Alex comes in to take him to his cab that is finally here. I tell her not to worry about it, I'll take him down she can go back to her meeting. We walk part of the way together and she thanks me again, telling me that not all teachers would do that. I understand that our time with students is done at this point, but he's still here, I have a relationship with him and it's not always about time and our contract with me. I wish more would think like that.
I take him down to the cab and am strapping him in while saying to the cab driver: "we're running a bit late today huh?" He seems confused and tells me that he didn't get this call until 20 minutes ago. So obviously the communication problem came from the dispatcher when he changed cab orders.
We think it's all done from here...but...
I'm walking out of the building at about 3:45 - finally headed to the gym, and Alli is in the hall trying to listen to her voicemail. Apparently the cab with Shawn got to his apartment and Mom wasn't there. Alli gave him Mom's number but she wasn't answering. Alli had a nasty voice message from the dispatcher (not the driver) that she was rude for not answering her phone - she was in a meeting - and that they would be driving Shawn back to school and there better be someone there to receive him. Like this was all her fault?!
Poor little Shawn was just trying to get home, which wasn't even his stable home, and the cab is late and when they finally get him home, no one is there or responds. It's a lose lose situation here! Alli was waiting for Shawn when I left but I didn't see the cab drive through the neighborhood when I was leaving. Alli is one of the best social workers I have ever known and she is 110% dedicated, but it's hard for her (and us) to do our jobs when communication lines break down and when not everyone plays their part. This is where the accountability plays it's part...
