Banned Talk

Yesterday I drove down to the Carolyn Kennedy Library to give a talk on banned books.  I spoke as a slightly-banned author (the library at the school where I teach refused to carry one of my movie novelizations because it was based on an R-rated movie) to a small but interested audience.  We discussed the reasons books are challenged or banned, what books were frequently challenged last year, and the history of book banning (and burning).  It went quite well, really.

Downhill

After the successful banned book talk, the evening went rather downhill.  The highway home was under construction and was narrowed down to three lanes, then two, and then apparently one.  I finally exited and took sidestreets home, but wasn't sure if that saved me any time.  A 25-minute drive took 65.

I realized by the time I got home that I was getting sick, either with something new or a recurrence of the same thing I had before.  Kala had come over for the evening to supervise the boys, and when she left, I checked school web sites and found email from one of Sasha's teachers about trouble in class, and the on-line reporting system reported that he was sliding elsewhere as well.  I called Sasha in to discuss this, and it turned into a full-blown fight.

Fighting with Sasha is always complicated and messy, and I hate it, and I think I need to find a therapist for him again, even though I know he won't want to go.

It was an exhausting night.

Meetings

Today I took a personal day from work to attend meetings.

First up was Aran's IEP.  We had the testing coordinator, the principal, the social worker, the school psychologist, his counselor, Kala, and me.  It lasted two and a quarter hours.  Because he was going to a new school, and because the laws about special education have changed, we had to redo his IEP from top to bottom and side to side.  It was arduous and difficult and draining, as it usually is--IEPs of necessity continually focus on the difficulties and challenges Aran faces, which makes them depressing.

Afterward, I went home and dropped into bed--I'm sick again.  Yeesh.  Slept for a while, then ate lunch and drove over to Sasha High School for a meeting about Sasha.

This was the second of two meetings to determine if Sasha warranted having an IEP.  Around this table, we had me, the assistant principal, the testing coordinator, the school psychologist, and Sasha's counselor.  This one lasted only an hour, though it generated a fairly lengthy to-do list for me.

As I noted above, the special education laws have changed considerably, and Sasha is the first student at Sasha High to go through the new process.  (Usually by the time they're Sasha's age, students are already long-declared special education and don't go through the admitting process.)  He'll be the test case.

At one point, the school's copy of one of the many evaluations of Sasha seemed to be missing a chunk.  I had brought my own files, and I paged through them.  Found it, made a copy, handed it over.  I keep everything, and now you know why!

There were more questions about Sasha's background, his abilities, his problems, his psychological condition, his strengths, his weaknesses, and more, more, more.  In the end, it was determined he would undergo several evaluations that would end in an IEP.

At last!

Scouting the Scouts

Got home from the day of long meetings and walked the boys through their daily routine of homework and housework.  (Isn't it odd how housework is cleaning and homework is school work?)  Then it was supper, and then it was Cub Scouts.

Mackie heard of Cub Scouts at school and really, really, REALLY wanted to join.  I don't like the scouts anymore.  I don't like their religious intolerance and I don't like their homophobia.  Local groups may vary on their stances, but the official nationwide stance is all-God and no-GLBT.  But I told the boys they could each have one "thing," and Mackie wanted scouts.  So off we went.

When I was in Cub Scouts, they met right after school, meaning my mother could pick me up when it was over (though she was a den mother herself for a while).  This group meets in the evening, meaning I have to take him, stay for the meeting, and drive him home, which is rather less convenient.  Next time I'll take my computer and write.

It was the first meeting of the year, and the den had four other boys in it.  They did introductory stuff and filled out the beginning of a notebook.  Today's topic: fill out your family tree.  I wondered what to do about this one--put in the birth family or the adopted one?  Mackie started in on the adopted one without comment, though.

After a snack and some marching around with flags, it was time to go home.