School Trouble

I am the secretary of the governing body of our school.

Sometimes this is a little awkward for me, as it calls for me to have a different working relationship with the principal than the relationship I have with him as a parent. Our parent/teacher relationship has been a little rocky, as I have often butted heads with him over the welfare of my children. Neither of my children really fit "the system" so I have found myself advocating for them more often than I would like.

Just this week Scott has been suspended, for something that I found pretty trivial, and strongly believe the school is reacting to the result rather than the cause of the problem. This bothers me a lot. So I have gone in to bat for him (again) and said my piece (again). I've always remained calm and polite during these encounters, I've never resorted to attacking the teachers or principal personally (although there have been times when I would have liked to) and I think this is the only way I've been able to balance my two roles as governing council secretay and parent.

I have to admit though, that this recent incident has me seething. And I'm all but ready to throw in the towel. Scott has spent the past few days at home, working from home and achieving much much more than he would have in a classroom. He is pretty bright, and he showed me today that he wants to succeed. He was actually enjoying trigonometry, he just needed to see that he can do it, and he needed someone to take the time to help him with it.

Our school seems to have a real problem with discipline at the moment. They are letting incidents slide and then completely over reacting over something minor.

I have little choice but to send him to this school. Which annoys me. The combination of a few teachers who just don't seem to care, a few (very) disruptive boys in Scott's class, and apathetic management isn't conducive to success. But there is no other school that doesn't require boarding, and that's just something we can not afford at the moment.

Scott confided to me today that he wants to be an airforce pilot when he grows up. But he doesn't dare dream it's a possibility because he's "too dumb". That's just heartbreaking.

Lord, please help Scott follow his dreams. Give him faith in his own ability and a willingless to learn despite the obstacles he sometimes faces. Help me to continue to encourage and help him and help him to become the man you made him to be.