Thursday, September 2, 2010

School Daze or Incomplete

Last year the middle school bent over backward orienting the new 6th graders (and parents) to the new school, schedules, etc. We had no problems. The sixth year of back-to-school at the elementary school was easy.

This year?  Not so much.

And I'm feeling pretty cranky about it.

Is it just me? After all, not everyone accidentally ordered the 2nd grade wrap pack of supplies instead of 3rd. And then spent the last date night of the summer at WalMart, OfficeMax, and Target instead of dinner and a movie.

But volleyball tryouts (beginning the second day of school on the track at 8am) really were obnoxious. Granted, the early morning run was noted on the middle school website, if you somehow knew to look there and the full schedule (times as well as dates -- so you'd know not to expect your child after school) was apparently available somewhere. But I'm still not sure where.

After the second day of confusion I emailed the girl's athletics coach, asking if I had missed a notice about tryouts. This followed a methodical search of the school's website for more information.  I guess my email was too subtle. Her brief reply -- that it was on schoolweb -- did not give me the webkey to access her page or clue me in to tryout details for the week. I can't believe I was the only parent caught off guard.

BTW, I just checked her schoolweb page and although there's a schedule posted for PE, not a thing for Athletics. Is it somewhere else? Kate says there's no syllabus because of all the different sports involved. Does that make sense? I would think a more complex schedule would be good incentive to outline the process. But then, I've never been an athlete.

To recap: no advance tryout information, no athletics syllabus directing me to information, nothing on schoolweb. Grrr.

Band calendar confusion? Totally not my fault! The old band director's website -- accessible, user-friendly, extensive -- is obsolete. The new information, on schoolweb (!) was unreachable to me, a parent, even though I was instructed last night at the band meeting to login and print out a form at the end of the online handbook. I was able to get to the handbook and print out the form that says I agree to calendar dates, etc. shown on the included (nonexistant) calendar hard copy. But the calendar link didn't work.

I had to wait for Kate to get home and log in as a student to access the link. So now I have the dates and titles of band activities... but I don't mind sharing that the tabs promising "more information" are a tease.

Sigh.

I like to know. I try to know. But this year as hard as I try, I just don't know.

And I'm feeling pretty cranky about that.

5 comments:

The walker family said...

Thanks for always making me laugh!
Love you!

Julie E. said...

Sounds like you need another tub of that Costco cookie dough to ease the back-to-school stress. I'm sure the band would love to sell it to you for $35. :)

Susie said...

Welcome to the next several years of your life, wherein you will subtly but surely feel less in control and more helpless than you ever have before. But take heart - there is someone living just up a few streets who will be happy at a moment's notice to drop everything and discuss any and all such grievances over a bowl of soup at Patrizio's.

Barney Family said...

I always thought I was the only clueless parent out there wondering where I missed the memo about where my kids are supposed to be and when. Blah. I feel your pain.

Olsens R Us said...

I have a $10 off two entries coupon that I'm willing to share if you invite me to Patrizio's too :)

It's a never ending battle with the school Sharon. I thought it was because I had so many to keep track of, but really it is often just the one under-advertised event, or the one entire calendar that doesn't get into my hands that keeps me out of the loop. Let me know if you find anything out- you're working much harder than I am.....I figure if they want me to know something important they'll spell it out for me!