It's over!

Well, for Amelia, the school year is over!  It's bittersweet.  If I were to be brutally honest, I'm relieved.

There was an incident yesterday.  She came home with a handwritten note telling me that she can't attend P.E. anymore because of what happened.  I tried to get the details from her, but I felt like there was something that she wasn't owning up to.  She said she was forced to write the note that way but that wasn't exactly what happened.  I signed her handwritten note and returned it, as requested, this morning.

On the way to school this morning, I had her re-tell me the story.  Here's a shocker.....I believe her!   Her story seems plausible to me, and makes sense.  The version that she wrote in the note, didn't.  I decided to call the resource teacher to have her tell me what happened.  She told me what the P.E. teacher told her...and then I shared with her what Amelia had told me.  She wasn't buying it.  She reminded me that Amelia is not a reliable source of information because she lies all the time.  I get that...but this time, Amelia's story is more believable....it really is.

I've struggled all day with the thought that maybe I just want to believe her so bad, that I've convinced myself that her story was true.  I'd like to think I'm a little more level headed than that, though.  Still, I WANT her to be telling the truth!

As it turns out, it didn't really matter.  The resource teacher told me that they (I guess the teachers and principal) had a meeting yesterday and since they are basically done with the academic portion of the year, there really is no reason to bring her next week.  Apparently, the resource teacher has some other responsibilities next week and can therefore not "babysit" her so we may as well keep her home. 

In light of this newest situation, Dan and I have decided that we are taking Amelia out of ACS.  He emailed the principal to let her know, so it is now official.  I feel as though a huge weight has been lifted.

I'm not blaming the school or the teachers for this horrific year, but I think they could have handled things a lot better.  Amelia did NOT have an advocate there and that was obvious on more than one occasion.  In my opinion, the Catholic school system has become too much of a business.  The priority has become all about the tuition and having "state of the art" this or that.  One of her teachers told me a few times that she didn't want Amelia to slip through the cracks.  In fact, that's exactly what happened.  It would have been nice had someone taken her under their wing and walked along side her as she stuggled.  Instead, she was juggled around with no one really wanting to deal with her.  Hopefully, this experience will have made all of us stronger in the end.

Nathan and Olivia are doing fine and will stay at ACS, at least for now.  In the meantime, we are scheduled to meet with the neuro-psychologist on June 5th to discuss her evaluation.  Hopefully, we can gain some insight into what's going on and figure out a way to work through it this summer. 

We're moving forward people!  This is a good thing!