Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Breaking News update!

Had the meeting & it went well. Apparently we were lucky to get the meeting today because it will be late next week before everyone can meet again & Havoc would have missed 7 days of school, putting him over the 10 he is allowed to miss & still pass 1st grade.

The school system has a zero tolerance policy but they also have a sense of perspective.

Havoc very honestly admitted the toy was his & was in his backpack & that he hadn’t brought it to school intentionally, it had just been left in there from the weekend.

This apparently made all the difference.

The whole situation was gone over in the meeting, everyone agreed with the series of events as related. They explained to Havoc why toy guns are not allowed in school, his perception being that it’s just against the rule, with no understanding of why.  I think mostly they were concerned that a rumor would go around that some kid had a gun on the bus and parents would be calling them up freaking about it (Naturally enough. I certain would had I heard that).

Havoc was allowed back to school right after the meeting, so he had a half day suspension. He’s has to meet with the guidance councilor to go over again the reasons why he shouldn’t bring toy guns, knives, swords etc to school.

Even lightsabers. This is not the Jedi academy.

I think I managed an air of suitable seriousness and gravity the whole time. Very hard for me because there is nothing like needing to be grave & serious to make me bust out in giggles. Nervous giggles. The bane of my existence. I’ve laughed during funerals. I can’t help it. It’s embarrassing. But my mind copes with stress by finding something funny & it’s very very good at finding funny things.

I was deeply concerned someone would mention Havoc’s ‘permanent record’ because for long & involved reasons I find those two of the funniest words in the English language and I know I would not have been able to stop myself giggling.

And you can’t explain believably that you are taking this seriously while you are giggling.

Plus I didn’t want Havoc to get the wrong impression. This was my first encounter with a disciplinary committee and I want it to be the last.

Havoc seems suitably impressed with the seriousness of the situation & I’ll be going all TSA on him in the mornings before he leaves the house. Hopefully it’s over, done with and we can all look back on it as a strange aberration in our lives that makes an interesting story some day.

I’m just waiting to see if the rumor of a gun on the bus gets started.

8 comments:

Ruth said...

Glad to hear that it was all kept in perspective! Poor Havoc!

SciFi Dad said...

Thanks for the update. I'm glad they sorted it out without incident or excessive discipline.

(And yeah, I would be freaking out if there was "a gun on the bus" rumour too. I'd also be inspecting the backpack.)

humel said...

I promise I won't start any rumours! Glad they kept perspective on this (and you kept your composure) xx

heathergw said...

so glad to hear it all worked out... I'm also a giggler to deal with stress... it's so hard not to laugh... way to go with keeping your cool :)

LizzieMade said...

Oh, I missed the original post about this problem (don't know where I was...). What a worry for you and Havoc! So glad the school dealt with it so sensibly and have got him straight back into school again. I hope there are no further issues now. I'll bet you will be checking backpacks daily from now on!
It's good to have a sense of humour, but I sympathise about the involuntary and inappropriate giggling problem! I had a school friend who was a giggler - the worse trouble she was in, the more she giggled. It was awful for her... not funny at all. Well done for getting the better of it!
So glad it's all sorted out. Hope you are all okay now. Hugs!

Alex @LateEnough said...

Glad things worked out for your family... And I'll remember to keep the lightsabers at home when my son heads to first grade. Unless he gets into the Jedi Academy. (I can DREAM, right?)

Darcy said...

I'd been waiting to hear updates on this..so glad it went well!!

Creative Junkie said...

Holy crap! I can totally see this happening as a daily occurrence in elementary schools everywhere - I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. We're constantly using Helena's backpack for other things and I can see how easy it would be to just leave something in there that wasn't meant for school.

Glad it worked out for you ... WHEW.