two things

There are several things about public school that bother me. But since my time is limited, and my patience is thin, I will limit it to just two tonight.

1) Why in the name of heaven does headlice appear to be RAMPANT at this school?! We have received FOUR notices this year about it - and all four times, it just so happened that the infected child was deskmates with one of mine. WTF? Thank god neither of them have it. If they ever get it, Kooka will be sporting that new Katie Couric do, and Punk will have to pull out his old Charlie Brown shirt, because ALL he will have is one lone hair on his forehead.

Can't they fumigate or something? Next thing you know they will be sending notes home about ringworms, and spiders that crawl up kids noses during naptime and lay eggs. There is only so much I can take.

2) Punk brought home a permission slip today. Apparently the entire fourth grade will be attending a "Kindness Retreat." Yeah - you heard that right . . . they are going to waste an entire day of precious educational instruction on teaching nine year-olds how to spread (and I quote) "kindness in every lunch line and hallway in America." I told Punk that I would sign it, so he could hang out with his friends all day, but I also told him to tell his principal to "bite me, because my child is learning kindness at home."

Seriously, I get what the are trying to do - I really do. But taking 100% of the kids out of school to prove a point to the 10% who are social losers seems a bit ridiculous. Seems to me, they'd have better results, (and utilize everyone's time more effectively) if they just pulled 7 bullies out of class, had some high schoolers kick the crap out of them and say, "hey - how do you like it?" or "do unto others," or some other moral chestnut.

Every day I grow more grateful for the school where I teach. If you sass off to a teacher - they will kick you out. If you harass another kid - they will kick you out. If your grades are bad - they will kick you out. And I am hoping that is true if you get head lice too.