Esme (4)

Work was rough on the first day of school. Darel tried to get the start date pushed back a day, but he was denied by the school board. I now realize that we should have listened. Half the staff was out all for personal reasons. Not only was half the staff out, half the parents pulled their kids from school today for family emergencies. The one thing in common is they are all woods people.

We tried to contact all the families that pulled their kids for the day, but they were not answering, and neither was the staff. The best I can guess is that the closed community has some sort of mandatory event for residents, but this does seem a little last minute to require that residents attend. One of the secretaries was out, and we only had one assistant principal running around trying to find people to cover classes.

We collapsed classes after the first period, which was a complete disaster. Since we missed half of the students, it was easy to collapse classes instead of covering them. It was also easier today since it was the first day of school, so most teachers only had get-to-know-you activities.

I was even dragged out to classrooms for coverages. I was trying to figure out what to do since I hadn't met any new freshmen, and that was the classes I was covering. I would have preferred the juniors or seniors. I knew them better and could at least talk about college and career readiness.

It was a long day and even longer by the end because I had to review all the class transfer forms. Kids didn't even want to give their classes a try before they wished to have them changed. Maybe if more of them submitted their class selections in the spring, they wouldn't have problems in the fall because I had to guess what they wanted to take.

Then, add that there was a teacher in my office at the end of the day. It was that new teacher Hannah brought over to meet us.

"Hello," she greeted me. "I don't know if you remember me. I am an English teacher. I have noticed a bit of bullying towards Alexis Remanti."

"Already, it is only the first day back?" I said I know it sounds horrible, but bullying isn't that uncommon. We try to stop it, but kids are crafty.

"yes, I just thought I should report it in case it worsens."

"Well, I am surprised because the woods kids normally went at her last year, but I will call her down tomorrow." With that, she left, and now I already have to deal with bullying.