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At least, for the gifted program you do. The people in charge of registration have to SEE your child just in case you're going to try registering your dog or your teddy bear instead. (They don't, however, have to verify that the child you've brought with you IS the correct child, though, so in a pinch you could just grab any old kid and bribe them with candy not to argue when you say "Yes, this is my kid So-and-so". But that's beside the point.)
Now, because the DoE hates poor people and wants to make life as difficult as possible, gifted results were mailed back last Friday, and you had to pre-register your child at the school by the 24th. That is, you had one week to do that, and the weekend doesn't count.
(The DoE also doesn't tell you how to get your child in the gifted program unless you ask for the information, and you have to do all the work in setting this up. And then they wonder why children in poor neighborhoods are less likely to be enrolled in such programs. Meanwhile, parents in poor neighborhoods in some cases have no idea that you CAN get your child tested, and that it's the only way to get your kid in the program!)
Jenn already had taken off work a half day for Evangeline's graduation, and 'dul was busy with various things, so I got drafted into heading out (to freakin' Pleasant Plains!) with the girls to pre-register Evangeline. (Not Ana. To switch Ana, we'd have to wait until the start of the new school year.) It would've made sense for Jenn to do it on Wednesday, but she didn't have Evangeline's birth certificate because 'dul had taken it to join the reserves. Apparently you get more money if you have dependent children...? I heard this, but I can't quite credit it. Being paid according to your needs seems somewhat... well, socialist, doesn't it? And while I have nothing against socialism per se, doesn't it seem strange to find it in the US Army? Or is that just me?
So we start out towards the train. Halfway down the block, I think to make sure everybody remembered their underwear.
Evangeline: Oops.
Me: Oops?
BACK to the house to put on panties and shorts, everybody! Evangeline, do you realize I can be arrested for taking you out in a short dress with NO UNDERWEAR? OMG!
We then head to the corner store to pick up a breakfast sandwich. Good thing, too - because that's where I remember I left our lunch and the paperwork behind. Oops.
BACK to the house, and from there BACK to the train, and ON the train. At least the train is free.
Take the train very nearly to the end of the line. Now I see why Pleasant Plains is called that. It's very flat. I hadn't realized ANY part of Staten Island got that flat, our part is so hilly, but it makes sense. After all, we're always hearing about our wetlands, and those don't go hand in hand with hills, do they?
Walk carefully to the school. Naturally, I went the wrong way around and had to circle back to get to the main entrance. There's a sign on the door - all preregistration has to go on... at the other building. About a mile away.
...
And no, it's not their fault, they don't send out the letters, but you can bet I complained. (I sympathize with the guard, who's heard this exact complaint a dozen times already, but he can hear it once more. It's new to me!)
Hop into the office to get directions. No, there's no bus nearby. It's too far to walk, isn't it? (I've long since learned that when people say this, they have no idea, and if you point out that a mile isn't very far they'll lie and say things are further away than they are, so I just said that if it's under five miles it is NOT too far to walk, which shuts most people up.)
The directions literally start "Walk toward the cemetery gates". A gray, miserable, drizzly day, and this is how it goes? I was liking this more and more.
So we did that, and we made our way to the annex at Mount Loretto. No sidewalks along that way.
Get there, and get told "Oh, didn't you know, it's supposed to be a parent!"
Fortunately she was on the phone with my sister, so after she confirmed that Evangeline really does exist she gave me some paperwork for Jenn to sign and told me I could bring it back Monday, sans child, to get her set up. Good, because if we went all this way and accomplished NOTHING I would've screamed the place down.
Went out and found out that the 78, the bus past my house, stops right in front of the school. I ought to have taken the other one and transferred to the train, like they suggested, but I just hopped on the first bus I saw... and spent an hour crammed in with 8th grade graduates and two small children who thought Ana was really a vampire (she'd found her teeth). I had to teach them the ASL alphabet just to shut them up!
It was a very, very long day.
Now, because the DoE hates poor people and wants to make life as difficult as possible, gifted results were mailed back last Friday, and you had to pre-register your child at the school by the 24th. That is, you had one week to do that, and the weekend doesn't count.
(The DoE also doesn't tell you how to get your child in the gifted program unless you ask for the information, and you have to do all the work in setting this up. And then they wonder why children in poor neighborhoods are less likely to be enrolled in such programs. Meanwhile, parents in poor neighborhoods in some cases have no idea that you CAN get your child tested, and that it's the only way to get your kid in the program!)
Jenn already had taken off work a half day for Evangeline's graduation, and 'dul was busy with various things, so I got drafted into heading out (to freakin' Pleasant Plains!) with the girls to pre-register Evangeline. (Not Ana. To switch Ana, we'd have to wait until the start of the new school year.) It would've made sense for Jenn to do it on Wednesday, but she didn't have Evangeline's birth certificate because 'dul had taken it to join the reserves. Apparently you get more money if you have dependent children...? I heard this, but I can't quite credit it. Being paid according to your needs seems somewhat... well, socialist, doesn't it? And while I have nothing against socialism per se, doesn't it seem strange to find it in the US Army? Or is that just me?
So we start out towards the train. Halfway down the block, I think to make sure everybody remembered their underwear.
Evangeline: Oops.
Me: Oops?
BACK to the house to put on panties and shorts, everybody! Evangeline, do you realize I can be arrested for taking you out in a short dress with NO UNDERWEAR? OMG!
We then head to the corner store to pick up a breakfast sandwich. Good thing, too - because that's where I remember I left our lunch and the paperwork behind. Oops.
BACK to the house, and from there BACK to the train, and ON the train. At least the train is free.
Take the train very nearly to the end of the line. Now I see why Pleasant Plains is called that. It's very flat. I hadn't realized ANY part of Staten Island got that flat, our part is so hilly, but it makes sense. After all, we're always hearing about our wetlands, and those don't go hand in hand with hills, do they?
Walk carefully to the school. Naturally, I went the wrong way around and had to circle back to get to the main entrance. There's a sign on the door - all preregistration has to go on... at the other building. About a mile away.
...
And no, it's not their fault, they don't send out the letters, but you can bet I complained. (I sympathize with the guard, who's heard this exact complaint a dozen times already, but he can hear it once more. It's new to me!)
Hop into the office to get directions. No, there's no bus nearby. It's too far to walk, isn't it? (I've long since learned that when people say this, they have no idea, and if you point out that a mile isn't very far they'll lie and say things are further away than they are, so I just said that if it's under five miles it is NOT too far to walk, which shuts most people up.)
The directions literally start "Walk toward the cemetery gates". A gray, miserable, drizzly day, and this is how it goes? I was liking this more and more.
So we did that, and we made our way to the annex at Mount Loretto. No sidewalks along that way.
Get there, and get told "Oh, didn't you know, it's supposed to be a parent!"
Fortunately she was on the phone with my sister, so after she confirmed that Evangeline really does exist she gave me some paperwork for Jenn to sign and told me I could bring it back Monday, sans child, to get her set up. Good, because if we went all this way and accomplished NOTHING I would've screamed the place down.
Went out and found out that the 78, the bus past my house, stops right in front of the school. I ought to have taken the other one and transferred to the train, like they suggested, but I just hopped on the first bus I saw... and spent an hour crammed in with 8th grade graduates and two small children who thought Ana was really a vampire (she'd found her teeth). I had to teach them the ASL alphabet just to shut them up!
It was a very, very long day.
