The boy has a project to do today in class. He gets to present a poster of a state and give a bit of information regarding the state flower/bird/tree and so on. Any guesses as to the state he chose?

The song Issue is resolved

First Grader, originally uploaded by allysther.

We met with the school principal today. This meeting went very well, and the issue has been resolved. She was very receptive to our request to have the song removed. She promised that the song will never be sung in the school again and that she will have a long talk with the teacher about his actions.

She also apologized to us. She apologized for the song being sung in the first place and for the trouble we've had in getting it removed from the classroom.

It was a good talk. We all left feeling that we had accomplished something, and we were all happy with the outcome.

Scholastic Book Fair

Do you remember the excitement of the book fair? Did you beg your parents for a few dollars so you could go on your own and buy a new book? Did you have 25 or 50 cents left over and buy a silly pencil or a pack of stickers?

I loved the book fair. It was only for a day or so, set up in the cafeteria (the only room big enough) for an hour or two each day. I had plenty of books at home, but the thought of a new book was wonderful.

Even the Scholastic magazine was not as good as the fair. Flimsy pages showed a few options, but the fair let me hold them, touch them, and small them. I've always loved the feel of a book in my hands, and so many new ones in one spot....ahhhh, heaven.

Tomorrow I get to be behind the scenes at the book fair. The PTO meeting was awful, but it did allow me to connect with the parent in charge, who were kind enough to let me volunteer some of my time this week. I honestly can not wait.

I'm off to pick an outfit.

"Some of my best friends in High School were Jewish"

We met with the music teacher today. The meeting went as well as we thought it would, which was not well at all. The title of this post was something he said to me as an attempt to befriend me. He then tried to tell me about a Jewish song he had written based on some psalm or other. I explained nicely that I had no knowledge of the psalms and that the only Jewish people I'd known in High School were my family. This was at the end of the meeting, but the entire thing had been a disaster, so it only amused me when he pulled it out of his "diversity" hat. Earlier in the meeting he had called Wendall "brother" and told him that it was great to see an African American doing so well.

The only good thing that came of the meeting was that the teacher had a minder, and the minder was visibly surprised by what she saw and heard. She rolled her eyes repeatedly and was friendly towards us the entire time, even asking him questions before we could. I know that he will never understand that what he did was wrong, but she did, and I think that she will give a full report to the principal. She did promise to find an official complaint form for us to fill out, and seemed willing to work with us until we are satisfied.

I made sure to let them both know that this was the latest in a line of things that I see as problems with the school. I also let them know that I would be attending PTO meetings and any advisory meeting I could find regarding the school. We were also very clear tat we had shared this story with fellow parents, and that we were letting people know how unhappy we are with the situation.

So that's it for the time being. The form should be in our hands within the next week. I will get the chance to introduce myself to the principal at the PTO meeting tomorrow night, and the fight will get to continue. This is not how I wanted to spend the boy's first grade year, but it is keeping me busy.

We have a meeting with the teacher tomorrow.

Blogger has decided that Korea might not need to be connected, so I have not been able to update. Hopefully I will be able to connect tomorrow.