9 yrs. Grade 4

Things were fine with my son until this year, grade 4. I was warned about his teacher, that she favours girls and is hard on boys. My son thinks differently from other children; he is very well-read and is a sponge of information. Within the first few weeks of school, I was getting phone calls and emails about his interjections and questions, which the teacher didn’t approve of. We talked about it at home and that was when the school refusal started. The principal, who is new, also began to micro-manage the school and changed a lot of the structures and rules that my son was accustomed to. For example, this year, I was not allowed to walk him to his classroom, as the principal felt the children should get used to the separation from parents at the door. I understand they can’t have many parents in the halls each morning, but once it surfaced that my son was having trouble getting to school, I wished there had been more understanding. Things in December were the worst, with meetings at the school and a lot of tears and anger in trying to get to school. Things are still not great, but we are getting help from a lot of outside people, and I have written off the school for assistance. They have just left us alone – to arrive late; this, I guess, is their way of supporting us. We are counting down the days until the end of grade 4 and are considering changing schools next year.