Monday, November 10, 2008

it's the economy stupid

the current economy sucks for most of us, even if it only involves watching our 401ks crash, or the value on our recently-purchased house drop. when i'm complaining about it in these ways i think i forget how much it actually impacts the lives of my kiddos.

i had trouble setting up two different parent meetings today- one was a no-show parent for a meeting scheduled for today (i was even all decked out in my most professional attire) another was canceling on a meeting scheduled in a few weeks. both parents explained that they didn't feel comfortable taking off work right now. their bosses are currently laying people off and they know they can't take off or it could give their boss a reason to fire them. these are both essential, must-have-meetings that we needed to do by yesterday. but the desperation in these parents' voices rings true. how we can expect them to take off yet again when it could mean they are fired? being able to feed their family is more important than meeting with us, despite how inconvenient it is to us. we're so frustrated with the situation. we HAVE to have these meetings. we need these parents to know what is going on at school. and all of these meetings involve a lot of professionals- not a meeting you can have as a "drive by" at their house.

so much has made this year more stressful than we expected, and i feel like it can all be tracked back to the economy. our parents are losing jobs, losing houses, and feeling stressed which, sadly, leads them to beat their children. education is not essential to anyone but those of us trying to make ayp. and how do we argue that our priority is more important than theirs?

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