A reporter commented on the school board meeting the other night: Here is a link to her article:
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/topstories/x932354132/West-Prairie-Board-approves-new-boilerAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I have been trying to keep my heart from exploding out of my chest all night since I read it. I wish the school board could hear my side of the story. I wish I could have spoken at the meeting. I wouldn't have said that the Anderson's have "vested interest" in their community. Who doesn't? This is not our reasoning. I wish I could have told the school board that our choice has nothing to do with us not liking or approving of our children going to West Prairie. I actually think the school district is great from what I can see. Our reason for this choice of trying to stay in Macomb School District has to do with a few reasons:
1) First and foremost I can't stand the thought of the boys having to ride so far to school when Macomb schoools are five minutes away. When they would go to High School they would have to drive by the Macomb High School a few minutes after leaving home to drive all the way to Sciota!
2) The property we are building on is three feet away from Macomb School District.
3) Grant is already registered for Macomb, has been going to preschool with all of his friends since he was two and due to some personal reasons with Grant adjustments and transitions at levels of comfort are rather difficult to tamper with.
4) Ted is a police officer in Macomb and due to his irregular schedule he would like to be as close to the children's schools as possible in order to be able to see their sporting events, or to even see them before or after school in general, if even for a few moments. He would also hope to coach track again when the boys get into track as he was a track coach here for quite a few years.
5) With my degree and training I will most likely only be able to find a job in Macomb and for both Ted and I to work in Macomb and the boys caretakers living in Macomb it seems clear to us that the ease makes that clear.
I have nothing against small community schools, I am a product of one. I loved going to Aledo Schools. They have so much to offer that bigger schools simply cannot touch. I hated living five miles from the school district line though. I lived closer to Westmer school district than to Aledo. I spent one hour on the bus to school in the morning and one hour on the way home. It was a waste of time for a child. It was damaging to my self-esteem dealing with bullies and learning horrible things that no child should learn anywhere when they are so young. We worried about school buses getting caught in ditches during bad weather. I had a school bus driver who was a dairy farmer and honestly fell asleep while driving the bus daily. There was someone who always yelled "STEVE! WAKE UP!" To this day I hate it, with a passion, when someone falls asleep in an inappropriate place. He terrified me from grade school through junior high. Thank God I had a cousin who could drive who was four years older, then Dan could drive me and then Darren and I took turns driving each other. But, we lived too far, so we drove too fast and Dan and Jim scared the crap out of me only a little less than Steve.
I have so many reasons, but not one of them is a dislike or disapproval of their school district. I am angered at the reporter who wrote the article because the meeting started with reports from all of the school principals. Was that in the article? NO! I was so impressed with the projects they had worked on and were currently working on. They spoke of how Macomb Hy-Vee donated to an event they had. They spoke of trips and things that the reporter failed to mention. I felt bad for all of the lack of recognition they probably already get. Then there was a presentation of students of the month. These kids were filled to the top with character, integrity, talent and so much more, If I had been their parents I would have been so proud I would have probably cried. It was so nice how they read why each child was getting the award. Yet, this reported mentioned nothing of these great kids. When Ted showed me the article, I was so angered that we seemed to look like we were insulting their district, and that she left out the kids and the hard work of each of the schools. My first impulse was to send a comment to the article mentioning all of the other business discussed at the meeting and all of the kids names who were honored as students of the month. I wanted to sign my name so they could see what I thought was important. Ted told me no; Mom told me no, I'm pretty sure the entire world would have told me not to do it. Once again, I didn't do what my heart told me to do.
Now tomorrow I have to go to the Parent-Tot swimming class with one of the school board members and I don't even know what I can and cannot say. My heart is always screaming for me to be completely honest. I have this internal creature that eats me from the inside out if I feel injustice or that things or simply going wrong and need to be said. I don't know why it is. I feel it is a part of me that I'm not sure I want to get rid of. It separates me from the masses and yes, it pretty much means that almost everyone disagrees with the way I choose to deal with things, but I simply find that I must...almost like it would be dishonest to myself to stifle it. I asked myself today an important question. It was one I honestly didn't know the answer to and I had to think about it.
I asked, "Would you give up being true to yourself, even if it meant that everyone disagreed with you and was even potentially angry with you?" Two very important things to me...#1 Being true to myself and #2 Wanting to please everybody. Funny enough that often means a civil war in my soul.
The very last thoughts in my head at night are often about who I have upset and how I am going to remedy it without selling out myself. I know it sounds selfish, but, it is the honest truth.
Side note: Grant just woke up with hives again. He hasn't had them for about two-three weeks. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out anything different he came in contact with. I just wiped him down with hypoallergenic and unscented baby wipes and gave him
Benadryll and that always does the trick. I wish I knew the reason.
Isabella is also having some allergic reactions lately and we are waiting the results for her. I'm sure I join the crowd who was hoping she would sneak past the family jinks of allergies. It could be eggs, but it is still unknown.
Funny story about Jake today. Dude that kid is wild. I remember Grant being that wild at 2 and a half and I gave him time outs all day everyday. That was when Jake had just been born. I can't believe I did that and am still alive. We don't seem to be as affected by Jake. I guess we are used to the wild. He isn't as impulsive and stops when you ask most of the time, but he will finish really fast and run off laughing. He is part evil. He is really sassy. He won't stop with the really rude stuff "shut-up stupid". Ahhh the wonderful benefits of having an older brother who likes to see his little brother get into trouble and hanging around so many other older kids. GRRR!
Oh, Funny story, I forgot:
He came up behind Grant and put his arms around his neck. I thought for a second that I was going to have to keep him from trying to strangle Grant (poor Grant, he is an abused big brother). Instead Jake says so cute, "This is my best friend!" and he gives Grant a kiss on the cheek. The thing about Jake is though, he could do that and then pretend to cut off Grants head with an imaginary light saber. I am so sick of everything being a light saber: Tooth brushes, silverware, my arm, toilet plungers...ok, he is really funny. I could pretend it doesn't all make me laugh but it does. Well not the violent stuff. He is so freakin' funny. He was sitting in the grocery cart singing, "Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin' like a fool with your pants on the ground!" Grant was telling everyone he saw, "Hey, I got 6 shots, really, six whole shots! Three in each leg! I have three band-aids on both legs!"
P.S. I'm looking for a baby sitter Saturday 9am until 5pm and Sunday after church- noon until like 7pm. Any takers? I would like it to be at your house though. $5/hour! $75 for two days!!!
