"Nobody go near the Office!!! My MOM is going to talk to the PRINCIPAL!!"

I pulled into the parking lot of the my children's elementary school, ... whack for my daddy-o, whack for my daddy-o, there's whisky in the jar ... blasting out of the car windows and thought I better throw out my gum before going in.  I checked myself in the rear view mirror, laughed and thought, screw that I'm totally chewing gum in the PRINCIPALS OFFICE!!!!

"Hi, I'm here to see Mrs. Principal," I said to the receptionist.  

She asked my name, told me that she was finishing up with a student and I could have a seat while I waited.

First!  It's absolutely hilarious watching a boy around the age of 9 or 10 getting scolded by the Principal.  All I'm thinking is what the hell did he do to land his ass in there?  Probably called someone 'stupid' ha ha, which is one of the 'S' words.  In case you didn't know.

When she was finished with him, he walked out past me with a frown masking a half smirk, Mrs. Principal following behind.  

"Hi Martina!" 

I wasn't sure what I was going to say.  Which approach I would take, but as it turned out, I really didn't have to say a word.  She began by telling me that she also was a mother of young children and that she would be sitting in the exact same place as I was if it were her kids.  She asked how Stefanie was doing?  

"She must be pretty upset.  It was a very scary situation for them."  

I didn't tell her that the entire story was rein-acted play by play while jumping up and down in the kitchen ... holding her empty cup of Tim Horton's Iced Cap, like she was telling me she just found a bag of gold at the end of the driveway.

"Oh my girls aren't really bothered by it.  That isn't why I'm here.  I would like a better understanding of the situation because I'm almost ... no I am shocked that this is even allowed to happen in the first place."

She explained to me step by step the events that took place this past Monday.  She explained in detail the events in February.  She told me other things he has done, she told me how they generally deal with him when he gets upset and she told me a lot of things that she probably shouldn't have.  She told me that she does not have the authority to remove him from the school.  I appreciate her honesty and I do have a better understanding of the whole thing and without breaching the confidentiality of an Innocent child ... I will tell you that;

It's medical.

It's political.

It's ethical.

It's a really crappy situation for all parties involved. 

I feel for this boy and his Mom.  

Did you know that we don't have a place for these kids to go?  All the 'special' schools are closed ... but that's another story.

I guess what I really wanted to know was when my kids said that all the teachers just stood there and watched this boy have his fit ... how much of that was just a child's unknowing perspective, because I doubt anyone is allowed to physically restrain him.

I mean, if he's freaking out and bowling kids over like a tonka truck ... I'm sorry, the laws can kiss my ass because I'd be putting him to the fucking ground!  The world I come from doesn't sacrifice many for the sake of one.  

She assured me that she is trained in how to properly restrain him and that Monday, start to finish was seconds long.

With any luck Internet, next year he will be in a school where he can receive the professional help he needs to succeed in this world.  

Politics don't really care about our children.

It's Dialoge about Smokes

"Do you know that smokes have four thousand chemicals in them that can kill you?"


No! Really? Are you sure that's all ...?

"Yep!"

Where did you learn that?

"School. We're learning about smokes in health class."

Oh.

Smokes or cigarettes?

"Smokes."

Ah. Are you learning about beer? Alcohol?

"No just smokes."

"Our teacher showed us gross pictures of what smokes can do to you."

OH? From the package ... like the eyeball and the brain?

"Ya haha everyone started crying 'my parents wahhawahawaa'. Not me though, I know it's not real.

Oh no no no no it's very real. Smoking can kill you. Those pictures are real, but I'm surprised she showed them to you.

"She's a substitute hahaha!"

Ohhhhhhhhhh so what did she do when everyone started crying?

"She was just like, 'umm oh my um' hahahaha she didn't know what to do."

***

My ten year old went to a spa/sleepover birthday this past weekend. When the Mother brought her home on Sunday, she mentioned what an entertaining child I had. "Not just kid humour either ... she gets things and she's funny!"

Yes ... oh yes she does. Of course none of that comes from this tree ...

one .. two .. three strikes you're out at the ol' School Lockdown

Recently I read an article about a teacher fired or what have you, for locking a special needs student in a 'time-out' room. Then another one about parents locking their special needs kid in a closet ... so they could relax. The motive behind both those situations would be the determining factor ... as far as I'm concerned ... as to what the outcome should be.

In fact, I was searching for anything and everything pertaining to 'special needs' children causing and entire school to go into lock down mode. Oops sorry ... Hold & Secure. There's a difference right. Lock down means eminent danger while hold and secure is more of a we-don't-want-anyone-having-nightmares. Or if you'd like I can share the explanation I received which was, 'we use hold and secure to clear the hallways ... for example, a little boy fell and cut his lip ... lots of blood ... didn't want all the kids seeing blood ... bla bla bla ...'
The only articles I could find however, were those with the 'special needs student' being the victim as opposed to the entire student body. Obviously because who is going to diss the specially-needy?

Queenie is. That's who!!

The only hold and secures I've ever heard of going down at my children's school are when a grade five student with special needs has one of his 'outbursts'. Violent outbursts. So far I'm aware of three.

One I wrote about here.

The other ... here.

The last one ... happened yesterday.

He entered Stefanie's classroom. He was in a rage. She mimicked him ... clenching her fists and growling. "He flipped over Ryan's desk!! Then he pushed Chloe and Abby into a table. and they were crying!!" She rubs the side of her body around her rib cage. "My knees were shaking! I was scared and we had to run into another classroom and lock the door!"
Needless to say I saw RED. No wait ... the color that comes after red!! Then my head started to spin and didn't stop until I jumped on the email train this morning. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting but certainly not what I received!

"We have not had an incident with this child for two and a half months and are working with a regional team to figure out why he did what he did yesterday. As he was making great progress. All school procedures have been reviewed. Parents of the children pushed have been spoken to and the class has been spoken to to explain the situation yesterday and also today. Any children that are feeling anxious will have opportunities to speak with staff today."

OMFG LADY!! The entire student body is in danger because this kid freaks the hell out and no one is allowed to use reasonable force to restrain him??? I am done and I don't give a rats ass how long it's been since his last episode!

So I replied:

"My daughter said he flipped a desk over and I believe her. I don't care that it hasn't happened for two months or ten, I do not want him at the school. I will take this as far as needed." 

This is not OK.  I'm not being unreasonable.

GOD FORBID ANYONE BUYS THEIR FOOD AT THE BULK BARN!  WOULDN'T WANT ANYONE POTENTIALLY GETTING HURT DUE TO CROSS-CONTAMINATION OF THE PEANUT.

I meet with her Thursday afternoon.

I can be diplomatic.

 

***

 

UPDATE:  Today after school I discovered that "the class has been spoken to" equates to:

 

     - no one being mean to special needs boy

     - no one bullying special needs boy

     - no one talking about things that special needs boy does

 

So I asked, "Does that mean you're not supposed to come home and say 'we had a hold and secure today because bipitybop was triggered into madness'?"

 

"Yep.  That's what it means", replied Brianne.  (except she totally knows what buttons to push so ...)

 

damnit.

P.S. Just because I haven't written it down, doesn't mean I haven't discussed in depth with my children that this boy doesn't do these things because he's mean or dislikes anyone.  He deserves the right to a safe, stress free education just as much as the next person.

Let's Genetically Modify People!!

Why ... or better yet, how is it even possible that the very first time Queenie has ever heard of the letters GM and O going together is from one of the peoples she follows on the Twitters? This is important and clearly she needs to stop believing that the government has our best interests at heart. Right?!

Queenie is going to guess that there are probably around ten people in Canada who even know what a GMO is. She's also going to guess that those ten people are farmers and they live in British Columbia. She thought it stood for something like general motors organization...

... genetically modified organisms is what GMO stands for and those organisms are used in crops to produce 'super' products such as a tomato the size of a soccer ball. Why? Well ... apparently, using GMO's help crops grow better even with pesticides, have less disease from insects, more resilient to weather, bruise less, ripen slower and basically taste like plastic. Don't worry though, because Health Canada makes sure these mutants are safe for our consumption. Just like all that rotten beef that stocked the shelves of Canadian supermarkets for how ever long until they took it out and fed it to the homeless people.

How about she let's you in on a little secret. She grew tomatoes in her back yard and she's lucky if they were watered let alone fertilized and guess what?! They grew perfectly fine. Except she's not growing tomatoes for a billion people.

When she first heard of this GMO stuff, she instantly figured that it was something Canada didn't have to worry about because they're so strict with their food and drug governing, but she was wrong.

97.5% of canola grown here is genetically modified, as is soy and beets.

And since when have beets been used for sugar? What the hell happened to sugar cane? Is Queenie really that out of the loop?

She has no idea what she's eating?

It could be poop!

Here are some of the risks that GMO's potentially pose:

• The capacity to create new allergens in our food supply. THINK ABOUT THE PEANUTS!! Look at that nonsense!!
• Antibiotic resistance
• Pesticide exposure ... and lots of it because GMO's can withstand much pesticide. Which also causes cancer amongst a few other issues.
• The unknown. These haven't been around long enough to know the long term effects.

***

Wait till she tells her kids that sugar comes from beets. Hahaha she could win this one. Oh wait ... it could come from shit and they'd still want it.

Why is she bringing this up now? Well, because she purchased a box of granola and it just so happened to be labeled as non-gmo and she was all, "OMG we have this issue here too!!??"

If Queenie wants to be serious about this, she'll have to change a whole lot of things in her life. Like ...

everything! No more MacDonald's ... A&W ... Subway ... wait they're healthy but not necessarily non-gmo. It's probably too much for her to wrap her head around huh?

Now if you'll excuse her she must go eat her poutine before it gets cold!!

If you would like to know more about GMOs, the following is a good article:

http://gmo-awarness.com/all-about-gmos/gmos-risks

On Effort and the Ever Loving Peanut

Good Morning Internet!!

Did you read that introduction in the exact same way Robin Williams would have said it in Good Morning Vietnam?

Que music for Fortunate Son to be played in the background ...

So did everyone have a great weekend? Of course you did!! Queenie only attracts readers who live exciting fun filled lives ... most of whom travel to far off exotic places for weekend getaways. She too once lived that life ... then she had a family and basically all she does now is homework because god dammit if she couldn't get an A+ on her Book Reports, there's no reason she can't get on for her kid! Right.? It's not cheating ... it's more like ... showing ... First she had to write a note to the teacher asking for a week long extension, then she had to read the book because according to her child the story was about a girl's birthday party. The girl wanted to run a zoo when she grew up, and that's basically it.

So when Queenie read the book she discovered that it was about Bindi Irwin's 11th Birthday Party which was to raise money for wildlife conservation. She does this every year in memory of her Dad, the late Steve Irwin, "The Crocodile Hunter". Events at the party produced the plot, climax and conclusion ... and Queenie's pretty sure her child did not read the book.

They sat at the kitchen table, flipping through pages, taking notes on particular events in the story ... details about main characters ... settings, etc., etc., and Queenie watched as her daughter huffed, puffed, sighed and face-planted into her hands, but they got it done. At one point, the child asked, "is this cheating ... are you doing my homework?" To which Queenie replied, "No of course not but you don't have to tell your teacher that Mommy helped you!"

In the end we decided that one, it would be better to do our projects earlier than the very last minute and two, if we do wait until the very last minute, Mom will do our work for us.

Queenie Rocks!!

Speaking of the "S" word ... school, she was handed a letter from the school this past Friday, from her youngest child. The note was on bright red paper. Alarm. Alarm. Alarm ... because what other reason would there be to use red paper?

APPARENTLY, Internet, a child who is allergic to the nuts ... has been having some allergic reactions lately and the school just wanted to remind all the parents about their nut-free policy. A policy which now includes items from the Bulk Barn being banned due to possible cross-contamination.

***

Queenie's head ...

Explosion ...

She figured that as her children got older, this nonsense would be less but as it turns out ... no! It does not get better and look out Internet because when these kids grow up and run the world ... there will be no such thing as peanuts or any nuts for that matter.

Start stockpiling!!

This only infuriates Queenie. She is not going to read the fine print of her food and even if she does ... she's not going to tell you she did ... and if she does it's not because she's looking for nuts, it's because she's looking for poisonous pesticides and dye!

So she asked, "Is someone having an allergic reaction to nuts at school?"

"Yes! A boy (name withheld) hit a girl (name withheld) on the back with his lunch bag and it had peanut oil on it."

Right because that's feasible!

They're not going to tell her where she can and can't purchase her childrens' food! Screw them and their stupid cross-contamination bullshit because guess what???? That apple in the kids lunch bag just might have been sitting atop a bag of peanuts in Queenie's fridge and you won't know the bloody difference! Really, if it's that much of an issue, home-school your allergy kid.

Of course she's a fan of segregation as well ...

One of these times she's going to a parent council meeting and she's going to snap there. She'll use the F word and everything and screw all those yuppie parents and gas guzzling SUV's. It's not like her name isn't already known by Miss Principal anyway ... for maybe complaining. Well it was a valid point and she hasn't heard about any lock downs due to the 'special needs' dude as of late so ... yay her!

P.S.

For those who were wondering, she did indeed get a new tire for her car.  Only because Mr.Q forced her to by putting on the spare tire.  Everyone knows you can't speed with a spare so she had no choice ...

Bye