Another day, another bus

Back to school for Jared today.

The summer has flown past us with calendar items filling the days and nights and travel taking virtually the entire month of July away.

Now, we are barely into August and the dog days of summer while the school year now presses upon us all.

Jared is a sophomore.

Just saying those words seems somewhat odd. When he was just so tiny in the ICU with wires and hoses and all kinds of machinery hooked up to him to preserve life, we weren't sure he would make it through the day.

Now, we are fast approaching his 16th birthday, which is a feat that at least one doctor was certain would never happen. I wonder if it would be rude to look her up and remind her of her dire predictions now.

But the bus will be here soon.

His new driver called to tell us the approximate ETA for her arrival. She just lives around the corner from us and this is a new inner city route that will take the special needs children to their magnet school in our community. I assured her that the school is accustomed to things taking longer for the special needs kids.

She said Jared is the second child she picks up for the day. She also said she is excited to get to know us. The feeling is mutual.

While we will miss "Miss Nancy" who has been his driver for years, we continue to press onward knowing that all things change.

But regardless of the optimism in the air of this newly minted school year, it is still too soon to be back in school.

In my miscreant youth, school didn't start ringing the bells until after Labor Day. Then some idiot decided to start the last week of August. That was hot enough.

But now, because we cannot get a State School Superintendent who has the nerve to say that ALL schools receiving ANY state money at all MUST have the same calendar, everyone is on their own terms in preparing a calendar for the year. Dumb.

The children will survive just fine without a fall break and a parenting day break and a virtual month at Christmas. They don't need breaks for all of the various postal days off. What they need is a consistent schedule and a later start date. They even toss in 'weather days' just in case we get some . . . weather, I mean.

How dumb is that? The days are off days built in. Sadly, they never coincide with bad or threatening weather so they aren't really a brilliant idea. Poor planning if you ask me.

Then there are the days where students do nothing but take mandatory tests to see how well they are doing. Sure, those are meant to ensure that the "No Child Left Behind" standards are being met. Brilliant. This is the same plan that would have my severely disabled, short bus riding child to be in a mainstream classroom.

Again, we are back to poor planning.

So, as we get geared up with new and shiny supplies and clothes and an array of equipment to meet Jared's needs for the school year, we welcome the new driver and miss the old one, we revel in the thought that the weekend is only three days away and remember the days when summer was actually all summer long.

Time to board the yellow cheese box for the hot ride to the school.