Complications

Pearls and Dreams

Early transfer to a district you are moving to ... isn't easy. First, the district we're going to was suspicious. They acted like the fact that we wanted to come was an unusual request. They gave us the paper work, grudgingly, told us we needed the contract for the house. I asked if we needed any other information from the district we're living in currently. "no".

Wait the 2 weeks till the 'enroll transferring students' date, we go in, with the paper work filled out and contract from Habitat. "Shot records and unofficial transcript please" HUH???!??!?!?! Why didn't you tell us this when I asked if you needed any information from the district???? BLANK LOOK
Off to old district to pick up shot records and unofficial transcript. We get the transcript, no problem. Shot records ...ugh, already sent over to the high school. Call ... it will take 24 hours. Pick them up tomorrow at the Registrars office.


So, today, we go to pick up the shot record after I had weird dreams about it last night. Dreams of being stopped at the school by a security guard ... and unable to find the registrars office ... purposefully led in the wrong direction ...weird weird weird. We get to the school to pick up the shot record and the lady behind the desk looks at us like we're insane. Shot records? At a school? School nurse? "I've never met a school nurse!" At this point, my dream is coming back to me in a flash. This is so not cool. In the room a conversation is going on about students the district is loosing to transfers ... in district. Students who live in the district but are transferring to other districts for various causes (will be moving, parents working in the other district etc) and how annoying it is for students who benefit the district to leave ...how DARE they leave! I'm standing there with my honor roll student ... top 3rd of his class ... top 99%ile of the STATE in Pre SAT's and Pre ACT's and in my head I'm thinking give me the shot records and don't ask any questions ...let me out of here! She finally looks under his name and hands me the envelope. As I reach for it, she snatches it back and says "I need photo ID" Sigh ... ok. (She'd obviously forgotten that step, but it still annoyed me at that point.) Got the shot record ...on our way! YAHOO!So ... We proceed onto new district with shot record in hand. We hand it to the nurse who becomes concerned. The people in the office who'd been short and suspicious are now friendly and welcoming. Obviously ..they'd faxed for the initial file of my son and no longer think I'm trying to hand over a problem student. The nurse becomes concerned as she looks at the record. "there are no polio records here"
I'm stunned ...if I were to skip a vaccination for my children, which I wouldn't, POLIO would be the last one I'd skip! My HUSBAND'S DISABILITIES are caused because of POLIO! Trust me, my children got their Polio vaccines! My Mother had polio! No one was going to let Polio vaccines by in this family! As they look at the records together ..they are confused, they've never seen shot records like this. The clinic is missing. GROWL. So, they look him up in the health department to see if he's there (um ..you couldn't have done that yesterday???) However, having never gotten his shots in the health department .. he wasn't in the system. So, we call the pediatrician's office to see if they can get one. I am told they'll call back within the hour. We sit and wait. And wait. And wait. I learn that they had in fact requested the initial file. The district IS happy to have this particular student moving in and is more than happy to take him early. While waiting, 3 other students from the same one we're moving from come in and check their status ... still on the waiting list. One (who Samuel knows) and is told "we've been told that they will probably not take any transfers from out of district" I panic. I'm told after they leave not to worry, it won't effect us. We wound up waiting 90 minutes and giving up (good thing too ..they never called!!!) and we went home ..as we drove by our property (2 blocks from the service center) and saw the sign posted for the city meeting that will announce our building *grin* and saw that pruning of the tree took place. Which means ... things are moving on our lot. I had asked them if our district could block the transfer, they said ... for no reason to transfer, yes. For this reason, they can make it difficult. They can and HAVE in the past, sabotaged transfer processes of students they didn't want to loose but knew they had no real reason to block the early transfer. So, given the trouble we've had with this district in the past ...why was I the only one surprised that this turned into a 3 ring circus?