home

The Last Day

I have one excited girl on this last day.  She is looking forward to a summer off, being with friends, and then getting ready to come back to the same school as an 8th grader – and be at the top.  She gets to go from the bottom to the top of the heap in just one summer, as the junior high (7th, 8th, and 9th grades) transitions to a middle school (6th, 7th, and 8th grades).

I have one sad boy on this last day.  He would give almost anything to stay in his elementary school – if not forever, at least another year.  But because the elementary schools are changing from a K-6th grade to a K-5th grade model, he has to go to middle school next year.  And not the one his sister is at.  He has begged me to let him stay at his school and repeat 5th grade.  There have been tears – both his and mine.  But I’ve already twisted the system to hold him back once – and I can’t do it again.  He has to go to 6th grade, no matter how sad we both are to leave the school where he’s been so happy and secure.

I have one wholly indifferent boy on this last day.  He knows things are changing.  He knows he – surprise! – is getting moved to a new elementary school next fall.  He will be going back to the school where he was in kindergarten, because the special ed program there is expanding to accommodate his grade (it’s going from a kindergarten-only program to a K-5th grade program in the next two years.  They will start with K-2 and then begin a 3-5 class the fall after this one).  So, all the familiarity that he’s gained at his current school, with a program he’s become accustomed to, with teachers who were invested in his growth and development – all gone.  He starts all over again, at a school he’s familiar with, but with no teachers he knows, for his 2nd grade year.  If you ask him, he hates school and couldn’t care less about what is happening.  Until you ask him about specific teachers that he won’t have next year.  Then he gets quiet, and thoughtful, and a tiny bit sad.  And then he brushes it off, because if school can’t be bothered to care about what was best for him, why should he care about school?

And I have the little boy who is already out of school, who is probably wondering why his siblings have all come home early today to mess with his schedule.

One Response to “The Last Day”

  1. Linda
    June 26th, 2017 07:33
    1

    School Days! Loved, disliked, barely tolerated and, yet, looked back upon with fondness with the Wisdoms of Age! Hugs to All!