The principal at my son's school is a jerk. No other way about it, he's a jerk plain and simple. I had to track down some "stories" today, meet with sheriff's deputies (again, thankfully they are helpful and patient), another kid's parent, and finally went to the school. Where the principal told me (after not returning my phone calls) that he didn't have time to deal with me and had too many other things to do.

Excuse me, whaaaaaaaat?



I got more than a little angry, told him this was my kid we're talking about and maybe he didn't care but I do! He managed to find "a few minutes" for me, but totally blew me off and just kept insisting that my son is on drugs. I told him I had teenager tested and he was clean so we could move on to other problems. I have so many issues with that school right now. Not that I'm condoning teenager's behavior, but I am not satisfied with their solution to the situation. My son is suspended, I feel wrongfully, and I will have an appeal with the school board on Thursday. I'm also meeting with the superintendent to lodge a formal complaint against said principal as his behavior has really been uncalled for.

Of course, teenager's suspension will be over by then (he's due back Thursday) but at least there's the chance to have it taken off his record and allow him to make up the work that he missed.

I also had to call his dad and inform him since he hadn't responded to my email, and he was thankfully supportive for once. He offered to come to the school on Friday when he picks up teenager and make a scene if need be.

Teenager had his first session back in counselling today as well, so hopefully that will help him deal with his anger and issues. It certainly can't hurt.

AND tomorrow I have a vicious math test that I have to pass or get kicked out of the program. Hopefully it won't be too bad. I also have my hearing tomorrow for the BWC broken foot/dr bill thing, but it's about the same time as my math test! I have to reschedule one or the other, and can't really decide which.

On the bright side, all this drama has managed to help keep my mind off of the side effects of late pregnancy, and I've hardly noticed how uncomfortable I am until late in the evening. The other kiddies are being good as gold, and for that I'm very thankful. I think I'll go insane if they ever all decide to act up at the same time. It'll be like a mutiny!

So that's the story... frustrated with teenager (but less so than yesterday or last week), frustrated with the school (more so than yesterday or last week), and thinking I'd rather be doing all this running around town and arguing and appealing with a giant preggo belly than with a newborn in tow.

Pretty much sums up my week!

Teenager is now suspended from school... I don't know just yet whether to be angry with the teenager or the school. If teenager is telling the truth, then it's the school I'm upset with. But the stupid principal is not returning my calls, so I guess I will have to go down there tomorrow and see if I can figure out the rest of the story. I'm too tired to go into it right now...

I'm completely overwhelmed and upset at the moment. He had a major fit today because I wouldn't let him go somewhere with my mom (kind of like a Chuck E Cheese type place) and couldn't understand why he couldn't just "get out of the house" for a while. Maybe I need to re-explain the concept of being grounded?

Maybe he is on drugs. His personality has certainly done a complete 180 in recent times. I've not had a bit of trouble out of him until now. Kind of makes me rethink my whole approach to parenting!

I'm just terribly frustrated and wish I knew what to do for him/with him. Where's that damn instruction manual?

I've gotten about 3, maybe 4 different accounts of what actually happened yesterday, and I'm sure the truth is in there somewhere. Teenager says they walked out there to that school, in the rain, 10 miles from town, to pick up another kid who goes to that particular school and talk him into skipping with them. At the last minute, my teenager and another boy decided maybe going to the other school wasn't so smart and they started walking back to town.

The other 2 went into the school (smart kids) to find their friend, the sheriff was called, and those two ran but were apprehended. Meanwhile, those 2 informed the cops and the principal that mine and the other were still "on the run" which is when they called me. Apparently they called the other boy's mother as well, who had the same idea as me but drove faster (or lived closer), as she found the two walking alongside the highway and brought them back to school. Piecing together information from teenager and the sheriff, I think this is the most likely story although there may very well be untruths in there as well. The other two teens will be charged with trespassing, but since mine was not ever actually seen on the other school's property there will be no charges against him.

I have to say, teenager was a mess when I picked him up yesterday. He had stewed all day long about how much trouble he was in, not to mention that his clothes and shoes were soaking wet, he missed lunch... He vehemently denied that any of them had drugs, but admitted that all of them forgot their brains. I don't know what to believe about the drugs; the principal had said that teenager seemed "jittery" and that his pupils were dilated yesterday, hence the suspicion. However, thinking about the conditions teenager suffered yesterday, just getting caught, being in the rain/cold all morning, etc... I'd wager to say he'd be a bit "jittery." I'm going to keep a close eye on it; I don't want to be in denial and certainly realize it's possible, but I really want to believe he just did something stupid and not that he is involved in drugs. It's a fine line there between wanting to believe/trust and being in denial, but I haven't seen evidence firsthand so I'm going to go with watchful surveillance for now. I hope that's not a mistake.

At any rate, November is not going to be a pleasant month for him and I hope he remembers yesterday for a long, long time. And especially next time he and some of his friends decide that school is boring.

Today would have been a much better day for it, the sun is shining and it's pretty warm for the beginning of November! I think I've got a few new gray hairs...

Anyone in need of a teenager? I'm thinking of trading mine in. I have to go pick him up in a couple of hours from his after school detention, and I am not looking forward to the wrath that must ensue tonight. If you follow my blog, you'll remember a few weeks ago that said teenager skipped school, hung out at a friend's house, was grounded for a while, and has been a model citizen since then. Until today.

Today, I get a call from the principal at the high school. Teenager is truant, but that's not the worst of it. Apparently he and 3 other boys decided (for some yet unknown reason) to go to another school about 10 miles outside of town (don't know how they got there either, mine is too young to drive). The sheriff was called, two of the boys were apprehended but mine and another escaped and were on the run. Last seen running through a corn field toward some woods. It was pouring rain and very cold, so my mom and I decide to drive out that way and check a nearby park, businesses, etc. and see if we could find out anything (because it beats sitting by the phone worrying).

I was a little perturbed by the fact that the sheriff deputies had apparently just given up the chase, so now my teenager was out in the woods somewhere in the rain and cold and no one was looking for him. I hoped he'd come to his senses and head back to town, but didn't know if he even had a way back to town (since I have no idea how they got there). Eventually, as I was making my way back to the sheriff's dept., I got a call from the principal again saying teenager was back at school, soaking wet but safe and sound albeit in a lot of trouble. A deputy had found them and picked them up and taken them back to school. Now he faces trespassing charges from the school they went to, along with evading charges should the sheriff's dept. decide to pursue them.

I went to the school to talk to the principal, who informed me that he was fairly certain that teenager was high/stoned/on something when he returned to school today. He said teenager was pretty scared when he was returned to school, and offered to go get him out of class so I could talk to him then and there. I told him to let teenager wait and worry about it until time for his detention to be over with this evening, figured that would be worse than anything I could have said to him at that time (especially if he was high).

So now I have about... two hours to decide what I'm going to do with him. If I were not pregnant, I'm quite certain I would have removed everything from his room except for the bed... as it is, I can't really do that, so I've settled for disconnecting everything instead. I'm just so at a loss. I never thought that would be "my kids" but then again, I guess who does right? One thing is for certain, this has to be nipped in the bud NOW, I just wish there were an instruction booklet for such situations. I do believe I'll be calling his dad tonight to get his input before I lay out any punishment. In the meantime, he can go sit in his room with no TV, video games, computer, phone, or friends and maybe he'll have some time to think about how much that sucks. I'm sure today was not pleasant for him, and I'm very glad he got caught.

It's good I've had a few hours to calm down before he has to face me. Looks like teenager and I are going to be spending a lot of "quality time" together...

Test is done, projects are turned in, last clinical in 2 days, and only 2 more (yes, TWO) Mondays to survive in this quarter. And finals, of course.

We went trick-or-treating tonight, in the rain, but it did manage to slow to a drizzle for our walk. Toddler was so cute in his little power ranger costume, and I have never seen a child so attached to a mask. My older 3 would always ditch the mask almost immediately when their costume included one, and I had assumed that toddler would follow suit and just wear the outfit part. But nooooooo, the child had to have that mask on, and his boots (because power rangers wear boots, mom!) and he couldn't see where he was going at ALL... it was quite entertaining. At any rate, they are all happy with all their candy, and there is much trading going on for "the good stuff" as each defines it.

This was also hubby's first time with trick-or-treating (being not from this country and having to work on our previous Halloweens together), and the poor guy was ... overwhelmed? He was nearly as entertaining as the kiddies, probably because it's something that seems so ordinary to me but was so exciting for him. He used to say (before this year) that he could never go with the kids because the idea of going to other people's doors asking for candy just seemed wrong somehow. Tonight, he couldn't believe how many people were out (and really there weren't many comparatively due to the stinky weather). Yeah, he was mesmerized to say the least. I'll bet it would make an interesting anthropological study (although it's probably been done), considering our Halloween tradition from an "outsider's" perspective. How strange it must seem!

In other news, I can't believe it's freaking basketball season already, something is wrong with this picture. I hate basketball. Hubby loves basketball. I like football, enjoy baseball (although I don't watch with regularity), but I cannot stand basketball. And is it just me, or does basketball season last forever? Yuck. Let the fight for the TV begin (I will win of course, but I will let him watch while I study or sleep

).

For the record, I got a B on my test from Monday. My daughter assures me I could have had an A had I spent less time (Sunday) playing online games and more time studying. She's probably right, but mom needed a break and B's are perfectly respectable!