So, I promised the details of my final straw with the current school Bri goes to. Now, the letter hopefully will be to them Monday of all my outrage, but I highly doubt a) they care and b) I'll ever hear from them.
So onto the story:
Friday the 25th, in the middle of celebrating my co-worker's very merry retirement, I got a call from my daughters school (actually I had just gotten back from running to Archivers to de-stress over other events of that day). The secretary asked for me and I said this is she. Secretary said Bri was sick and asked if I wanted to speak to Bri, so I said sure. Now when Bri is sick, she gets quiet and sounds different, keep this in mind as we go on. So I asked what happened and "Bri" said her lunchbox smelled funny and she got sick. I asked if she had told dad her lunchbox smelled bad, after a looonnngg pause replied no. I asked if she could wait until dismissal time to pick her up, she said no. So I asked to speak to the secretary again. I told the secretary she said she threw up, so the secretary questioned her and she said she did and told the teacher. Ok, I'll pick her up if she sounds that bad and threw up, probably best bet not to push it. So I hang up, go into my boss' office to let him know and leave. I drive the 15 minutes to her school, calling hubby that she is sick and I'm getting her. He offers to go, except he's stuck at a bank that has no power and he needs to wait around until they do to reset some stuff.
So I get to the school and ring the doorbell. Principal lets me in and walks away, does not even ask who I am or why I am there. (the school has a HUGE security policy in the handbook, which I can't remember anyone enforcing when I went there the 5 times this year). So I'm standing there and there is no one in the office except a child by herself. I figure the child is in K because of the gym uniform and its Friday. So she's looking at me, I'm looking around for help. Finally, after a few minutes, the Early Childhood/aftercare teacher sees me and asks if I need Bri. I tell her I got a call she was sick. EC teacher looks at me funny and walks to the K rooms. EC teacher comes back and tells me Bri is in class and fine. I tell her again I got a call she was sick and threw up. EC teachers comes down to the office, looks in the window and said "Oh they called the wrong mom!" WTF????? At this point, another mom I know (who is overly involved in the school) walks in, says hi and asks me what is wrong. At this point I am so mad, I could kill someone. EC teacher explains to mom that they called me, but called the wrong Brianna's mom. Mom looks horrified. I said I need to leave now or I am going to yell at someone, and walk out. I called James and told him the story and we are taking her out of there. I am glad James did not go, or it may not have been pretty.
So, care for the next part?
I went back to work and discussed this with some trusted people (after my bosses laughed at me for what happened. I told them I didn't find a possible Amber Alert too funny). So one of the people, who is a mom to a two year old and a second due any second, told me I should really call the other Bri's mom. When I picked Bri up, EC teacher told me secretary was sorry for the mix up and this was an exception. The woman did not call me herself, she had to send it through another teacher becuase she probably knew I would take her head off. I told EC teacher this whole incident was unacceptable and I cannot keep my kid in a school where I cannot be sure she is safe and will be there when we pick her up.
I got home and verified other Bri's mom name is NOWHERE near mine. I left her a message and she called me back. I told her what happened and I apologized if I upset or scared her daughter, but I told her I talked to her because I thought it was my daughter. I also said I ask a lot of questions of my Bri when they call me and I did the same to her daughter. I told her I did not swear at her kid or anything along those lines. She thanked me for calling, but no one had called her to tell her. They sent her daughter back to class. Her mom also told me that the other Bri hates school and fakes a lot, but still, they should have called her. I also found out the long pause after I asked if she told her dad was because her dad is not in the picture. I apologized that I did not know, but I thought I was talking to my kid.
So, the two girls have the same first name and last initial, but they had separated them before the year began to avoid confusion (there are two K classes due to the number of kids they had). The other one has short hair, Bri has long. The other Bri's mom does not have the same or similar sounding name as me. She doesn't even have the same last name as the child. And it was Friday, so their names were on the gym shirts they wear.
This was my final straw with the church and school. I've had issues with the church for a while. I don't like sermons where I feel beat down afterwards. I did not grow up with that. I grew up with church is supposed to make you think about your faith and be buoyed for the week ahead. The priests we had made points but did it in a way that made you think and act, not feel guilty and crappy afterwards. We've had issues with not getting notices from the school with adequate time. Nothing like 4 days to do a service project, one day to figure out if a grandparent can go to May Day celebrations and having to call for a replacement enrollment packet, even though they swore up and down it was sent to us (and it contained all the critical forms such as immunizations and dental history). Or course anything dealing with money makes it home in plenty of time.
Oh well, Catholic School #1 "Admission Committee" never called, we see Catholic School #2 Tuesday AM, and we found a Catholic School #4. #4 is independent, not attached to a church and costs about 1 1/2X what we pay now since there are no parishioner envelopes to support it. I also called public school, they can send me a packet in June to enroll, if needed.
So there are all the details in their beauty. If you wonder how I can be so calm now, you should have heard me calling James after I left the school on the 25th. It wasn't pretty. I made some truck drivers blush.