Mamma Bear is Roaring

A week has gone by and Morgan is still loving her school. The drama has also subsided....

Aug 12th (the first day) 3:00 pm.
I get a call from Mark telling me to have a (insert explicit here) word with the guy who runs the After School program when I pick Morgan up. He just received a phone call from the Principal's office wondering when we were going to pick Morgan up (school's been out for a half hour now). She's sitting in the office since nobody came to get her. Mark explains that she was supposed to go to the After School program. Apparently, she was left behind.

3:15 pm
I leave work and head out to find said guy and have a chat with him. I ask Mickey (as in Mouse) what happened this afternoon. He has no idea what I'm talking about. Now, if a child is brought late to you, wouldn't you:

A. know about it
B. do everything in your power to find out what happened because you know some irate mother is about to come barrelling through your door?

He apparently did nothing. When I explained that my daughter was left behind and asked how that could happen, he rolled his eyes, gave a big sigh and said that he did everything he was supposed to do and it must be the teacher's fault. No apologizes, no promises to find out what happened, no guarantees that this wouldn't happen again. He even went so far as to say very rudely that my child wasn't the ONLY one this happened to today. Umm.... is that supposed to make me feel better? Because all it does is show you do not have your act together.

I asked him to explain to me how, we sign up with THEM for After Care, THEY have the list of kids so how is it the teachers get this list (since, according to him, it's Ms. D fault)? He had no clue.

After lots of eye rolling and heavy sighing from him, I came to the conclusion I was getting no where with him, so I told him I would talk to Ms. D and walked away. His response? To shout down the hall at me: Hey I'm not done talking to you! Oh yes we are Mr. Mouse.

I entered Ms. D's room and first asked how Morgan did. I got a great report back. Morgan was one of the children she used as an example of how to behave, as in look how nicely Morgan's sitting. Can you try and sit like that too? Ms. D didn't see any of the wonderful, gee I'm so proud behavior Morgan exhibited during the assessment. Whew!

Then I asked her what happened this afternoon. She immediately knew what I was talking about and apologized profusely. It was an honest mistake. Some miscommunication. She told me it's been resolved and she would make sure it would never happen again. When I filled out a form stating how Morgan would be getting home from school, I wrote in Walk. She took that to mean that Morgan would be walking right after school - not going to the After Care. I should have wrote in the After Care.

I go to pick Morgan up. Mr. Mouse does not talk to me or look at me. Instead a very polite and young man from the program approaches me on his own and asks if I'm alright. I tell him no, but I know what I'm going to do. He apologizes for what my daughter went through and assures me that he will personally be responsible for making sure she is picked up this week. Nice that a 20-something regular staff member is more professional then a 40-something director.

I can understand an honest mistake. What I can't forgive is Mr. Mouse's rude, indifferent behavior and his complete lack of ownership for what happened. I am now on a mission.

Aug 13th 9:00 am.
I call Mr. Mouse's district manager. (This is the second time I have spoken to her. We had a minor incident during enrollment.) I explain what happened and she is appalled. She has a child that entered Kindergarten last year and she states that she would be livid if this happened to her kid. She promises me that the program has higher standards then this. There is check and balances that are supposed to happen (both the teacher and the director should have attendance lists and compare them to each other). She is in shock over how I was treated. I tell her about the nice young man. He has been with her for three years. Mr. Mouse is a new hire. She says that it sounds like she hired the wrong person. I agree. She tells me that she will pay Mr. Mouse a visit.

Aug 13th 10:00 am.
I call the Principal to inform her that I filed a formal complaint against Mr. Mouse with his district manager. I just wanted her to be aware of what was going on. She was appreciative that I was keeping her in the loop.

Aug 14th 4:00 pm.
Mark goes to pick Morgan up from After Care. Mr. Mouse is not there. Previously, there wasn't a formal check out process - another issue I reported to the district manager. This time, Mark is stopped at the doors and asked to sign Morgan out. We have progress!

I don't know if Mr. Mouse is gone for good or what. I guess we will find out tonight.