A First!

Today a parent made a request of me that I honestly couldn't believe. This week we have our spring conferences. They are never easy. They are all for kids on AAP and it's all about projecting the end of year progress and setting up summer plans. Summer School, tutoring, etc. To begin with I had 2 sets of parents who had not responded to their appointments so I had to call them before school started. They both ended up saying they wouldn't be able to make it today and would need to call and reschedule. Well one of them called and left a voice mail with 2 options. 1) Could we do the conference by phone during lunch and 2) Could we conference during lunch. EXCUSE ME! Here's a news flash. Teachers are human beings and they actually do eat lunch. Yeah. I know we only have 40 minutes (probably more like 30 by the time we get the kids out the door and to the tables) but it's the only time we have all day to eat. Do you really want your kid to deal with me until 2:46 without food? I don't think so. This girl can get pretty grumpy without her lunch. Now here is the amusing part. When I called her back and informed her that neither options 1 or 2 would be possible because I actually do eat lunch I suggested that perhaps instead we could meet before or after school. "OH! We could meet before school! That would be perfect." OK. Let me get this straight. You can't meet at 2:00 so your first idea is to meet during lunch and not before or after school? Now I really don't get it. I swear somebody does need to write a book about the real life of teachers. Here's a place to start. We eat 3 meals a day. We sleep. We even shop at the grocery store. We are real people.