After 1.5hours meeting #1 is done. I will admit I still have many fears, but then again after last year who wouldn't......right? I am sending my child to a group of people whom I don't know, don't trust and gives me every reason why I shouldn't trust them. Yet for some reason I am handing over my child into their care, working with them and trusting them. Ya can you tell I am going to be a mess the first few weeks of school? I know that after the year gets going we will have a bond and a trust, its just getting to that point.
Today was a "Care Plan" meeting. Setting up protocal, safegaurds, general plans and getting to know Michaela (although she wasn't with me). I think all in all things should go well and we shouldn't have to many bumps in the road. I understand and accept the fact that there could and most certinally will be at least one failure. We are all human, mistakes happen and we learn from them and move on. The question is can these teachers and staff do that, I mean learn from mistakes and move on to become better aware? I see where changing classrooms can and may creat a whole new set of problems we have never had to deal with, but I can also see a positive side too. I couldn't have made it more clear that the more staff members who KNOW the situation the better off Michaela will be. Thanks to a wonderful mom who suggested to make a folder, 3 ring binder type. Michaela wrote a letter (with a little help from us) to her teachers, so that they can get to know her and its all there in her words. Its not just coming from us, which I think is a good thing. We also wrote a letter, similar to what we wrote last year with a few changes. I added a front page to have important info allergies, Medic Alert#, phone#'s and of course a picture of our beautiful daughter (a face with a name is the best!!). We also added our own information about allergies, asthma, food allergies and anaphylaxis. I hope that teachers will at least look at the information and not just toss it aside. It will be something that they can leave for a sub and this will also put a name with a face for the sub.
There is a lot to talk to Michaela about. This year she needs to be more "incharge" then she has been in the past. We as parents need to give her this room to grow and trust that she will do the right thing. We, staff and parents, are putting our trust in Michaela to do the right thing, speak up when needed and seek help. But that comes with a lot of mixed feelings for her, I know she has become more self concension about her medical situation. I do understand that this is the age this tends to happen. I know that her feelings come from things that have happened in the past, things we can't change but learn from and move on! She needs to be able to advocate for herself or she won't get far! She needs to not worry about others (I know hard to do at 11yrs) and worry about her health and saftey!
In all there will be 7 frist responders on site at any given time, 2 of those being resource officers. They are making copies of our cover page to give to all of those who need to be aware of who Michaela is and what things to watch for. The 2 officers will have direct contact with dispatch, if needed.
Tomorrow we will have another meeting to go over her 504 plan, and EpiPen trainning, all of her teachers will be involved with this. I will give each teacher a purple folder, answer any questions they may have, or find answers to ones I can't answer on the spot. We also have meet the teacher, so they will all have a chance to meet her and Michaela the chance to meet them. Then on Monday I will hand over my child to their care for 7 hours a day. 7 very long hours.
All I can do is help them creat a plan they (staff and teachers) are the ones who have to chose to follow the plan. Putting my trust in someone whom I will have spent less time with then the Dr who placed Tyler's Gtube, is hard. Its hard to wrap my mind around it, knowing I have to do it, gives the word "TRUST" a whole new meaning.
