The Po Show

Kudos

I just got a call from Tessa's teacher. I was going "Uh oh" when I saw it was the school calling, figuring it was the nurse again, telling me that Tessa was sick and I needed to come pick her up. (She called yesterday just before I got home from running errands, saying Tessa was complaining of a stomachache. I hustled over to school, but when I got to the nurse's office she said that since she hadn't heard from me [I left her a voicemail, but apparently she didn't get it.], she took Tessa back to her class, which was at the gym. So I went up to the gym and Tessa wanted to stay because she was feeling better, so I left her. It was too late to go back home, so I vegged in the car till it was pick up time. There's 40 minutes of my life I'll never get back.)

ANYWAY, Tessa's class was supposed to go on their first field trip today, a walking trip to the "alternative high school" to see a production of "Beauty and the Beast." It's only about a half mile walk, but we're forecasted to get rain later today. I had to tell Tessa yesterday that if it rained, the trip would be cancelled. She was very sad this morning when I told her it was supposed to rain, and thus the trip probably wasn't going to happen. No buses had been reserved for the trip, and parents couldn't drive them because of liability issues.

But her teacher just called, and asked in a hurried voice if Tessa had permission to walk in the rain. She explained that the trip had been cancelled, but the children were so upset that she had spoken to the principal to ask if they could still go.

She said, "They announced on the loudspeaker that the trip was cancelled, and all their little faces just fell!" So she got the go ahead to take them, if the parents agreed that it would be okay for them to walk in the rain. It's not raining now, and they should make it back in time before it starts, so I was more than glad to give my permission. It's also 65 degrees, so even if it does rain a little they should be okay.

I just thought that was so incredibly great of Tessa's teacher, to try and make this work, to try and not disappoint the kids. She's a newly minted kindy teacher; she just finished her master's degree and this is her first teaching job. I think that a more jaded teacher would not have bothered, trying to quickly call 15 parents to get their permission, and trying to get the kids there and back before it rained. Just so they wouldn't be sad.

You rock, Ms. Rodrigues!