It started as a regular afternoon: I went to pick up Pixy from school with the other kids in tow. It was a crazy weather day; we were expecting 30 inches of snow beginning early evening. I made sure to arrive early and parked to wait. Then...I saw her. Pixy's eye was swollen shut. I couldn't help it, I screamed in rage and let out some words that would make the paint fall off the walls of the church.
Great! The snow is on its way and now we have to drive to Walter Reed hospital on 95, which is sure to be a parking lot! Not good! I had to think and think fast! I called our insurance and found an Urgent Care place close to the house, packed up Pixy, and sent her off with the Sailor to see the doctor.
After a couple hours, and the snow storm starting, Pixy came home with a conjunctival abrasion. It turns out some jerk kid poked her in the eye with a pencil at recess. Here is the worse part about this, Pixy came in contact with 4 different adults who saw her eye in that condition and did nothing. Seriously?! Sailor's face mirrored my own: we had a big decision to make.
We had sent Pixy to private school because at that point in our lives, the public schools near our house weren't very good and we knew that once Banshee started attending school, they'd have to attend different schools (our home schools didn't have the services that Banshee needed). The bonus was that the school would help with faith formation. My Catholic identity is shaped by all the religions of the Caribbean. My family alone is a hodgepodge of religions, which makes us unique, but I wanted to learn more about our faith too. Kill two birds with one stone, right? After this, I felt like we had made the wrong decision in her education. The adults that we'd paid to educate her and watch her had failed miserably: she had sat at school from 1pm until 3:45pm with no first aid. Grrrrrrrr!
Luckily, after moving to this new house, there are some great public schools. In fact, Banshee attends one and it's a very nice school. This got us to thinking...should we pull Pixy out of her school and place her in public education? Should we let her finish out the year at her present school? It is a dilemma that I'm sure quite a few parents face in their lives: what is the best place for my child? One thing was clear, where she is at is not the right place and we are angry. Anger that keeps on being fueled by the actions of the school since then--they've done nothing. Just an "I'm sorry". Nooooo....that's not enough. It's her eye. Not a hand, not a foot, not a finger.....her eye.
So, we have been in talks with the public school and trying to figure out if this move in the middle of the year is a smart move for our Pixy or not. There isn't that much left to go in the year. This is a subject we talk about every night and waffle about what to do. What is the best decision? Ultimately, as her parents, we hope to make the right one. Once we figure out what it is. For now, the thought of switching from a school uniform to regular clothes is a reminder of what we need to do. A little scary, a little different, a little awesome...all rolled into one. Sucks when you love your kids so much, you feel their emotions for them! ;)
What would you do? Have you encountered a situation that would warrant a huge change for your child? How did you handle it? Sound off and let the Mamas know.
