O’s last day of school...

The school year that never should have been is FINALLY over!! Last August we were meeting O’s new teacher for the first time and the teacher told me during that meeting that they never wanted to be a teacher. A week or two later, First day of 6th grade, same new teacher called O a nickname... O does not like nicknames and was not thrilled. Months of back and forth about ongoing bullying that started verbal and became physical with multiple kids ganging up on my kid. Many visits to Doctors, therapists, OT and a psychologist. Medication, a formal IEP and maybe a few weeks we briefly started to see our kiddo reemerging from despair just in time to self isolate for a global pandemic. Distance learning and social isolation took its toll but mostly things were good- we were away from the bullying for the most part. Then racial injustices were brought to a head. O struggled, wanting so badly to make a speech that would help end the racism and hatred that plagues our country. While we watched and read about the turmoil, we thought about how we can help. We also learned last week that the artwork O created at their school this whole year was lost/thrown away/ or discarded. It was yet another piece of heartbreaking news, as O worked so hard on it all. Listening to the other kids on the last day of school zoom meeting rave about their school year, I watched my kiddos face become down right depressed. O had a miserable year and did not get along with the teacher and many of the students. We will look forward with hope but are also leaving space to remember the pain and frustration we have continued to process this whole school year.