Sad Father

Since school started before Labor Day, I couldn't take any of the children's absences seriously, especially those who missed every day of the brand new school year. Those kids could always show up after Labor Day, following their own idea of what truly marks the end of summer vacation. There was one particular girl who hadn't shown up at school and was officially going to receive "No-Show" status. The school receptionist finally contacted a family member and was told that the family moved back to the city.

I was disappointed but I can understand how difficult it was to make that decision. The city's school district was the one that retained the girl twice. The family had enough and in the middle of last school year decided to move into the suburbs to give their daughter a fighting chance. We noticed right away how underdeveloped her skills were. She had some real deficits and after interventions didn't work, we tested her. She became eligible for special education at the end of last year and we designed a program that would have been implemented this year. It was disheartening to put forth the effort only to have to child leave the school, especially since she was returning to her former school district. I suspect that my suburban district was too expensive for the family. I remember near the end of last year having a difficult time trying to contact them. I've learned that disconnected or non-working phone numbers are sign of financial trouble. To their credit, the parents did stay in touch with me during the evaluation process, they were extremely helpful and grateful for the attention and assistance their daughter was finally going to receive. And now they've left. The father came by the school today to see the principal. My principal called me into the conference telling me that she had a "sad father' who wanted to speak to me. As I walked down the hall I was trying to figure out who it could have been and what it was I did to make him sad. When I saw who it was I was relieved. He stopped by to find out what he needed to do to ensure that his daughter's special ed program would follow her to the new school. I explained the procedure and informed him of his rights as a parent. He also expressed how he wished they could have stayed in the district but things didn't work out. That was nice of him. So many people just leave and we never find out why. My district is very transient that way. While someone has left, we have plenty who will take her place. Everything has to balance out-special ed homeostasis.

BBC