I wanted to thank everyone who left such supportive, and insightful, comments on my post last week. You were, of course, right that sending that letter would have been a mistake. And the alternatives you suggested were incredibly helpful.
I wrote that letter in a moment of anger and frustration. I honestly didn’t know how broken SFUSD was when we first decided to send our daughter to a school there. I had heard rumors, and read dozens of articles, about it, but I didn’t really KNOW. Now I do know, and it makes me so angry. I see these kids, who come from such difficult situations, and instead of school being a refuge, it’s just another place where they, and their futures, are disregarded. It’s not right.
But of course it’s never been right, and me and my white privilege was able to avoid experiencing the reality for way too long. I don’t want to sit back and do nothing anymore, but I don’t know what I can actually accomplish.
So I keep crossing thing off my to-do list, trying to get stuff done. It feels mundane and useless, but it’s all I got right now.
And there is so much to do. March is going to be a perfect storm of obligations. I will be drowning in action items. I don’t say that to brag about how busy I am — I consider my packed schedule a personal failing actually — but instead to warn others who contemplate taking on too much.
I keep reminding myself that when I agreed to take on the responsibilities of PTA president I didn’t know I’d be without the in-law help we’d grown so accustomed to, or even that I wouldn’t have my own classroom at school. I couldn’t possibly have known, so it wasn’t totally my fault for over committing.
And now I must finish my grades for the 2nd trimester, and organize this carnival, which is less than a month away, and manage the kids by myself for a week while my husband is away.
I’ve tabled getting the house ready to post on AirBnB and preparing myself for the reality that it might not happen. I still have four rooms to photograph and they are all disaster areas once again. I’m thinking of posting the place with the photos I have and seeing what happens – maybe if I make it a good deal people won’t mind waiting for more photos. I don’t need to make the most I possibly could on the place this 1st summer, I just want to offset the cost of traveling with the kids.
And maybe traveling with the kids won’t happen and that’s okay too. We can’t have everything, and there is always next summer.
Right now I’m just trying to get through this month.
Sending you support each and every day. People make plans and then life happens.
You repeatedly achieve what I consider the undo-able and I have learned over the years to believe you will do that. What resources can the principal provide or does the principal care? Could principal call on another source for some help? Keep breathing and be healthy.
I understand wanting a longer trip for the kids but sometimes a short first exposure is all that can happen. What is your PTA obligation for next school year….assuming you stay with current school?
Have you called the school board members and talked to them about what you are running into? Might you consider being on the board instead of the PTA????
I certainly understand the risk of overcommitting. Most of the time, I feel that I have all I can do with only my (demanding) full-time job, my 6-year-old twin boys and my household. And yet somehow I often end up saying yes to other things.
It’s hard to say no when you care about the other things! Having to scale way back on various types of volunteering has been one of the saddest losses I’ve experienced through becoming a parent. (Don’t get me wrong — I would much rather have my sons than be able to continue doing all the things I did pre-kids — I simply wish that there were enough hours in the week to do it all. There aren’t.)
About Air BnB, are you looking for someone to stay there the entire time you are gone, or would you be okay with having a series of guests? If it is the latter, then I don’t think you will have a problem filling it up, even if you don’t list it for a few weeks. The only issue would be is that someone would need to come and clean between guests. I am assuming your husband could do that for the period he is still in town. Maybe you can hire someone to do it when you are all gone.
And, while it doesn’t address your other issues, I’ve rented plenty of places on airbnb that didn’t have pictures of every room. I don’t think it’s required and made zero difference to me as a renter (I’m not sure I even thought about it until just now)
First day of time change. Not fun. Thank you.