todays public school system. I live in the great state of Georgia that just recently had more than 27,000+ students fail the 8th grade because the school superintendent changed the math GCRCT tests to include math that these kids had never been taught. The SAME superintendent that just won the million on “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader” on Fox. Yes, Cathy Cox.

Today, while I was at work, I received a phone call from my child. He knows he can only call when the big bosses are there if it is an emergency. When we finally hung up, the call was definitely deemed an emergency in my book.

It turns out that he was called to the councilor’s office… I was given the impression that he was pulled from the hall, but I later found out that he was called out of one of the classes that he is struggling in. Minus 1 point for the school there.

It turns out that this so called councilor deems my child a waste of school space and suggested to my 15 year old that he just quit school, since in her mind he will just be a drop out anyways. WTF???

This is MY child she is referring to. Who is she to deem any child a waste of space and further more, bring a child down to that kind of level in the first place? Councilors are there to “council” children. To help them get through the uncertainties of life and to lift them up, not bring them down below ground level!

My son is struggling in school, yes. My son is repeating the 8th grade, yes… because he failed the math portion of the GCRCT by 20 points, twice. So did 27,000+ other students in Georgia this past summer. My son is not perfect but he has been making an effort to get through this school year and get out of middle school and then to be exsposed to a woman with this kind of thinking? I think not, at least, not ever again.

Last year at this time of year my son was failing all of his classes. This year he is only failing three… and he has brought his math grade up from an F at end of school year last year to a C this last grading period.

My response to this woman was like a momma bear protecting her cub. I was furious and when I get that way… my body and mind wants to fold up and cry. To counter act that reaction, my words can have the cutting edge of a serrated knife. I let loose on her… and this was before I found out that he was a “waste of space”. Let me just point out that my words with this woman are NOT finished.

Here is what I wrote to her, the principle and his homeroom teacher this afternoon before I got the rest of the story:

Ms. [Councilor],

I am sitting here at work seething over a call I received from my son this morning. According to him, you pulled him out of the hall (not a class) and told him that he should just quit school. I am flabbergasted beyond words that a councilor would say such a thing to a struggling student, whose grades, by the way, this year over last years are improved. I am hoping that [Son] misunderstood you or that this was a stupid, moronic and misaimed ploy on your part to make [Son] try harder. I hope…

Who do you think you are? I really want to know. I have fought and struggled with [Son] and this school for longer than I should have ever had to. I know [Son] is not perfect. I know [Son] is disrespectful at times and can be a handful. I also know that he struggles to pay attention in class and sometimes falls asleep. BUT I do know that he is making an honest effort this year to pass the 8th grade. [Son] is ADD and is struggling through his disease without the aid of medication. He refuses to take it and I cannot force him to.

I should not even have to be writing this e-mail to you. YOU are the educator and mentor for these kids. YOU are the person that they should be able to look to when they are struggling. YOU are the one that should be standing beside the parent fighting to keep a child in school and to get their education.

I do not want to EVER get another phone call from my son telling me that he feels the school system is failing him. I heard honest panic and fear in my son’s voice this morning and I have done all I can this morning to rein in the tears that phone call caused.

Sincerely.

[Me]

I am tired of this public school system and their thoughts that all children should behave all the same way. When I was his age, the students were punished if they acted out and sent back to class. We were NEVER told to just quit and to stop wasting space. We were NEVER put in that kind of situation. We had teachers, coaches and staff that we could look up to and their doors were always open if we felt we were wronged by someone. The teachers cared. The staff cared and encouragement came from all corners of the school. Even the kitchen staff cared what happened to you and would give encouragement if they saw a sad or down face in the lunch lines.

Todays schools have no tolerance for failure. No tolerance for students that don’t fall into that perfect ideal of a behaved child. My son has already been forced to repeat the first grade, not because of his grades, but because he was deemed not mature enough to pass. Now, because of the Cathy Cox debacle he is another year behind and 2 years older than most of his class mates. He is singled out repeatedly because of past behaviors and is automatically deemed a bad child. These kind of things will follow him all through school and I am truly saddened that he will always be singled out.

How does one fight this kind of systematic treatment of children? We are not rich people and cannot afford private schooling. My son has already (last year) been sent to an alternative school for his behavior in class. This one thing alone is what has kept him in the 8th grade. This “alternative school” does not teach the kids. They are handed assignments and are expected to learn “at their own pace”. The problem with the alternative schools, besides the obvious, is that they are filled with criminally minded kids. Druggies, gang members, violent children and the like. This is not a learning ground for kids that are ADD or ADHD and that sre just struggling to stay on task like my son.

What do I do? Any and all suggestions are more than welcome. I will be making a trip to the school to confront this person… but what I need is a longer term solution for a good kid that just wants to get through this grade and get into high school. Kids should not have to suffer through childhood. Life is hard enough without having to struggle as a child… It is a time to enjoy life before the struggles of becoming an adult hits you in the gut.

With my site host. I have not been able to upgrade, upload pictures or help out someone with a website design because my hosts tech support has gone AWOL. My site has been, well, the only word that fits the case is hijacked by some foreign entity.

I have placed numerous repair requests. I have e-mailed, complained and offered to pay for their services, all to no avail. Two weeks I have been ignored this time… for the second time in just over a months time (the first time it was over 3 weeks).

I pay for this service but it seems to make no difference. My only option now is to find a new hosting site and pray that they have tech support that pays attention to their customers.

My posting may be slim until this gets resolved… because I am currently double my limit on available paid space… through no fault of my own. Please forgive the infrequest posts… and I can only hope that I still have a few that still read here.

Blessed Be.

\rant

Men, can’t live with them. They won’t let you love them and they REFUSE to communicate.

My son hates me, my hubby… meh… lets not go there and my best friend, sigh… I just not sure what is going on there. He knows all the right things to say, except when they need to be said. He knows I love him to death and would do anything for him… but certain things are kept too private. Don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to their privacy, but when you know that someone has been missing the hell outa you and misses chatting… well, dammit, next time warn me.

I can never call at the right time. I never seem to be able to text at the right time and I feel awkward as hell interupting someone. I have a hard enough time carring on a conversation as it is and if I feel as though I am bothering someone? Well, I go silent. One way conversations are just fucked up.

How bad is it that I have just 4 people that I talk to on the phone? 1 My mother, 2. My step-daughter (that I never talk to), 3. My best male friend, 4. My best girl friend. I have my home number as 1 of my fav 5. I am a sad, pathetic creature.

Between my hubby chasing away most of my friends and me not keeping up with the rest… there just is no one to chat with anymore outside of those 4. My kid only calls me when he wants something or when he is late getting home. My best girl friend doesn’t particularly love my hubby… so we hardly ever talk and I try to call my mom as much as I can between teenager problems and work.

My times to talk freely are far and few between. I have never felt truly confortable talking to anyone in front of the hubby. I don’t know why… so don’t ask. He constrains me for lack of a better word. My thought patterns do not function properly when he is sitting near. Most times, I just get up and move to another room… but then I feel sorta guilty doing so… not that I am doing anything wrong… it just frees that weight of him being near.

Oh well… maybe in the next life.

/rant

On the good news front…

The pest got his own place and moved out. Now if he would just get all his shit out of the way… and not come over here every day I would be that much happier.

Main Entry: anxious
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: In a state of anxiety or uneasiness.
Synonyms: concerned, distressed, nervous, solicitous, uneasy, unsettled, agitated
Source: Roget’s II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition
by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary.
Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Someone I know can’t take 2 friggin minutes to respond to a simple texted question (several text messages, in fact) and the longer I am ignored the more I suspect that SOMEONE is hiding something. SOMEONE needs to remember the people that stuck by them through all their angst with their relationships and wartime duties…

SOMEONE needs to contact me and confess whatever it is, because hiding is not the solution. Besides the fact that it just makes me MORE pissed the longer I am ignored…

Now I am gonna go stop tapping my foot like a mother figure and go get toasted…

I am majorly stressed. I have lost my smile. My kid is going to put me in the hospital before it is all said and done… and now the house pest is back for 2 weeks (only, thank GOD). If you hear about a woman in GA who goes on a rampage killing spree and then slits her wrists… It won’t be me, but I have sure thought about it the last few days.

I will be back when things calm or my head goes bald from pulling it all out.

My top ten pet peeves concerning motorists:

10. No signals (Forget what that knob is for, buddy?)

9. Tailgating (Keep it up and I am gonna drive like your granny!)

8. Swinging wide into your lane to make a turn (It isn’t a bus… geebus!)

7. Foriegn drivers (‘Nuff said)

6. Speeding up to pass you, then pulling in front of you, only to slow down – slower than you were driving BEFORE they got in front of you (If you were only behind me… grrr)

5. Getting cut off by last minute turns from 4 lanes over! (I think you have had one too may there, IDIOT!)

4. They are turning left and you are turning right… you have the right of way, but they cut you off because they don’t know the law (Ummm, oh NO you didn’t!)

3. Women who use their car to put on makeup while they are driving (Your bathroom is at home, Beotch!)

2. Men who slump down so far in their seats so far that they can’t see where they are driving (Last I time I took the test, you had to be able to see OVER the steering wheel… damn kids!)

and my number 1 Pet peeve (drum roll please…)

1. People who drive expensive cars that think they own the road and drive like they own the road AND HAVE to be in front of SUV’s because they think they will miss something… but if you weren’t tailgating me you could see that I am having to brake because some asswipe is suddenly turing in front of me without signaling! (#@%$&*%$#**^%$#) [read between the symbols]

Click the picture if you would like to own one of these lovely gadgets!

It managed to spread during the night… Lord, give me strength!

Don’t friggin mix!!! I can remember a time when I could walk through the dang stuff and never get even the tiniest bump. *huffs loudly*

Now I can just get near it and whammo! I get it in spades. Is this The higher powers way of getting even for not being allergic to it before?

Face, both arms and a spot on my tummy. I am trying desperately not to itch… lol

Grrrrrr. November 8th I need to appear in court because the asswipe contested [the eviction].

Insert lots of unlady like, bad enough to embarrass a sailor, words here. I am so angry I could spit… and trust me that gags me to no end.

grrrrrrrrr!!!!

I honestly cannot express to you fully how this makes me feel. The words above do not complete the picture by a long shot. I am at the point that I am ready to leave… and that is not a good thing right now. At all.

sigh.

My life is still not my own and maybe worse so, I am just not sure yet. After two days of silence, me avoiding him and visa versa, I was sent an text message that he was sorry and he would not contest the eviction. He then proceeded to tell me that my old man had person info on me that could be used against me. WTF? That night when I got home we had a short discussion and he said he would leave… but I had been spiteful in my ire against him and had added a stipulation that if he did not remove all his things that he would lose them. Let me tell you folks… that is not me. I felt like I had suddenly become him and had lowered myself to his level and regret is now in my vocabulary. I told him his things would always be his and that line no longer applied. He apparently lied to me about no contest and that he did not believe what I had said.

What I mean by that is: He told me one thing and had told my old man something else. He told hubby that he would contest and that he was afraid I would sell his things once he moved. I was floored yesterday morning when he was starting to act like his old self centered, controlling personage when out of the blue he was talking about someone coming to get some paneling he had sold. Then he fell into this discussion… mainly at me but more to himself as I was getting ready to leave for work, about how he was going to clear out some more space in the driveway and begin to make weapons that people had ordered. I just stood there for a minute listening and I know I must have had a look of utter confusion on my face. The metal weapons need forging… and you are moving out… but you are talking about an endeavor that will take months…. but you are moving out… etc.

Just before I walked out I interrupted him and I asked him, “When are you planning on moving out?” His reply was “When I can.” ummmm, all I could think was I don’t think so! I left and went to work. Later I called my hubby and got the real scoop about him not believing me and the rest. His game is this: He thinks we (me and hubby) are not really talking to each other and that if he tells one of us one thing and the other something else that he can worm his way past the eviction. He believes that my hubby will back him up. What he doesn’t know is that the hubby has had enough and that the pest has pushed the wrong buttons with him. (re: Trying to tell the old man how he should be parenting our son.)

We have also discovered that he represented himself as the hubby to the school again… or so it appears. I will know for sure today once I call the school. Hubby and I are now on the same page. He has got to go and we will give him exactly 30 days from being served to get his ass gone from our lives. He is causing more problems and we really don’t need them!!