Four Days

Apparently, that’s how many days Olivia misses the cut off for preschool for next year.

I’m not saying she won’t be in preschool next year because I’m currently waiting for a call from her teacher’s supervisor to discuss this very issue.

But I’m already borrowing trouble and am feeling very stressed and irritable about this situation.

Let me be blunt. Olivia is not ready for kindergarten. She will not be ready for kindergarten when August rolls around. She just isn’t. She’s not ready for the academic aspect that kindergarten brings. She’s not ready for the heavy focus on fine motor skills. She’s not ready to be in school all day.

She’s not ready.

And I hate that some arbitrary date is going to perhaps push to into something for which she’s not ready. I know that we have other options of they decide to be shitty about the preschool date. I know that. But right this second, I don’t want to consider those options. I want her in the preschool class she’s been in this year.

She’s thrived in this class. It’s a small class (ten students to two teachers), the teachers are amazing, Olivia fits in well with the other kids and her teachers so far seem to get her. She’s doing well. So she’s still not really interested in writing, we’ll get there. We have to give her time.

What makes me crazy right now is this feeling that by pushing kindergarten, the school, the state is setting Olivia up to fail. And that pisses me off! She deserves every chance to succeed and if she goes to kindergarten next year, I fear she’ll hate it. She’ll be overwhelmed by the work, overwhelmed by the time she spends in school, overwhelmed by the fact that one teacher is expected to teach 20+ kids and she’ll get lost in the pack.

And she’ll shut down and decide that she can’t do it and that will be that.

Again, I know I’m borrowing trouble because we’re nowhere near done with the negotiations yet but I fear the worst. Isn’t that the old saying, prepare for the worst so you won’t be disappointed? Something like that.

I spoke with her teacher this morning. She’s lovely. She’s the one who suggested I speak to the supervisor. The supervisor is supposed to be my link to the state, so we’ll see. Mrs. F also encouraged me to be persistent/aggressive as I attempt to work with the supervisor. Mrs. F agrees that O needs another year in her class. I appreciate that.

The subject of school budget and funding came up while I was speaking with Mrs. F. See, she can’t actually tell me anything. She’s not really even allowed to tell me that she doesn’t think that Olivia isn’t ready for kindergarten. She did say that she doesn’t know if funding is one of the things that might be keeping O out of her preschool class next year.

I said that if funding was the issue, the school might want to consider the fact that if Olivia is pushed into kindergarten next year, I’ll be asking that a one to one aide be provided to help Olivia succeed at school. Talking about funding issues, right?

Mrs. F was glad that I knew about the possibility of requesting such a thing. Again, she couldn’t tell me about it but she can agree with me when I bring something up.

It’s so frustrating when our kids’ rights and needs are pushed aside because of bureaucracy. I don’t want Olivia to be a statistic. I want her to succeed, I want her to reach her greatest potential and I’ll do whatever I can to help her do just that.