2002-2003 THE ONE WHERE WE NO LONGER NEEDED DAY CARE
2002 School Year Photo
2002-2003 THE ONE WHERE WE NO LONGER NEEDED DAY CARE 2002-2003:* Wichita Public Schools: Funston 2-5, White PreK-1 Library
Brad’s new USD 261 School Psychologist job was at Haysville Elementary. I would drop the boys off at school and after school they would walk from Rex Elementary (next door to HMS) and Brad would take the boys home. For the first time in a long time we no longer had the expense of daycare.
Before the start of the school year, I had made arrangements to drop down to a 4 day a week position. I had Fridays off and I used them to work on my Masters degree. I initially felt alone in my M.Ed. program as I was the only “Specials'' Teacher in the group. I sought out other like minded Techie Teachers early in the program to work group projects with. My first official Friday at home though bought our first assignment. I remember taking a break and hanging laundry out on our clothesline. I was sobbing and certain that I made a HUGE mistake even thinking that I was smart enough to be in a Masters degree program. The assignment I was working on was tough for me and I told myself to give it one semester. I eventually learned how to jump through those graduate school hoops and successfully obtained a 4.0 GPA.
Robotics Camp Summer 2003
Sometime in this school year Funston started having meetings with White Elementary. Funston was scheduled to close at the end of the 2003-2004 school year. There were a lot of questions and concerns especially when it came to the Specials team. Our positions existed at both buildings and the new “combined” school would only need one PE, Art, Library and Music Teacher. How was it going to be determined who got the job?
Another question we all had was who was going to be our Administrator? Anne Clemmens the Principal at Funston? Or Suzanne Smith the Principal at White?What would the name of the newly combined school be? So many unknown questions.The Principal question was answered in early May with the job going to Susanne Smith the Principal at White Elementary. It was also determined that the combined school would keep the name of William Allen White Elementary School. Funston would soon be no more.
My Robotics Camp participants. One of my students was challenging!
I took a full summer load of classes for my M.Ed, one class in particular just about did me in. It involved an AM Lego Robotics Camp with students whose parents paid for them to participate in the program. I paid to have my oldest son attend and he really enjoyed it. I had a particularly challenging student in the group that I worked with. The afternoon was where the adults that were teaching robotics would come together and plan for the next day's session. I expressed that I had a challenging student in my group and wanted advice from my classmates on how to work with this child.I believe I said “I think I have a BD (behavior disorder) student in my group?” My instructor said, “How DARE YOU label a child after only one morning?” My reply was “At the school I teach at we reach out to one another with our problems/concerns and we help each other out.” I was INSTANTLY chastised by all of my classmates just because I voiced a concern. Each day became more challenging and my peers shunned me. My challenging student left the class one time and security at the school had to be called to find him. I had never felt so alone. I struggled through and completed the class and learned how to work with this difficult student. I stand by what I asked/said that first afternoon as that kid was like nothing I had ever worked with before as an Educator. As difficult as he was to work with, he did prepare me for future disruptive students. I wonder what happened to him? I like to think that he is a successful computer programer that is making a ton of money. He was smart. I was happy when my Robotics class was finished as it was a challenging experience for me.
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