Montana Wegners

Stephen had a meeting with Ian's teacher and the SFA Family Support Coordinator. His teacher was surprised. (She was out of town on Friday, and we hadn't talked to her yet.) She pointed out to the SFA person that Ian was in the top of his class in most areas. Basically, Stephen just had to sign a paper saying that we would not let Ian miss any more days of school. The SFA teacher is supposed to send that letter to the tribal court and Stephen will not have to appear in court. There was no court today, as it was President's Day.
We decided to wait until the end of the week to make a decision about homeschooling. We are both leaning that direction, but don't want to do anything rash.
We have been really happy with his teacher, and he does have a lot of friends. It has been a good opportunity for him to be exposed to another culture. For the most part, everyone has been accepting of him in spite of the ethnic differences.
There are many benefits to homeschooling, though. At this point, I'm not sure if I can drop him off at school every day without wondering what is going to happen next.
Right now, I am researching math systems. I'm off to do that some more. I will try to post pictures tomorrow.

Who says watching TV is a sedentary activity? Isabelle is jumping up and down while watching the princess bride. Ian shows his ability to multi task by watching TV, playing Nintendo, talking and moving all around the house.

Kathleen takes a break from playing to watch the movie.

One thing about life in the Wegner household... life is never boring! I think I should change our blog name to "The Wacky and Wierd Life" or something similar. Before I get to the our latest adventure, here are a few things we have been doing lately.
#1. Ian had a field trip with his class on Tuesday. They rode the bus to Great Falls, and went to Barnes and Nobles and the Golden Corral. I met them in Great Falls, and spent the rest of the day with Ian and his class.
The kids all had to do a certain amount of accelerated reading tests to earn the trip. The school gave them each $10 to spend on books, and the bookstore gave them a 20% discount. After they finished in Great Falls, they went to Cut Bank to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks.
Isabelle and Kathleen spent the day with Mary Jo, which they thoroughly enjoyed. Mary Jo also fixed us dinner, and Stephen came to her house after work. It was so sweet of her, and we all enjoyed a yummy dinner and spending time with Mary Jo.
#2. Ian started wrestling this week. They meet from 5pm-6pm on Monday through Thursday. (They may meet on Friday some weeks, but not this week.) He only went 2 days this week. Tuesday he was too late getting back from his field trip, and Wednesday practice was canceled due to the weather. Today, he has a wrestling tournament in Valier. I think they have one every weekend, but he probably won't make all of them.
#3. We continue to have snow, cold temperature, wind, etc. I keep thinking it is still January because of the weather. I am always slightly shocked to remember that it is really mid-February. (This happens several times a day.) Isabelle and Kathleen have missed quite a bit of preschool because of the weather.
#4. Last night we had a family movie night with "The Princess Bride" and popcorn. (See pictures above.)
#5. Still no news on the adoption. We have a notarized power of attorney from Kathleen's father, so that we can make medical decisions, etc as needed.

Now for the strange news. Friday, just as Stephen was about to leave for work, there was a loud banging on the door. It was kind of weird, because no one who would normally come by would be beating on the door like that. It was a process server with a summons for Stephen to appear in court, or a warrant would be issued for his arrest. "What great crime has he committed?" you may wonder. Well, Ian has missed 15 days of school, which obviously proves that we are unfit parents.
I was confused. Before we left on our trip in Dec., I went to the school office, and explained the situation. I was assured that Ian's absences would be excused, and that it would be fine for him to miss. I was thinking that this must be some kind of mistake. I was so mad, I was literally shaking. I still took Ian to school, thinking we could work everything out.Once I calmed down enough to call the school, I talked to the family coordinator. Basically, she kept saying, "That's the school's policy." Then she would recite the rather lengthy policy. The policy does state that there is a limit of ten excused absenses and "A letter is sent to parents and Family Court following the tenth (10) absences. If appropriate, the letter may request prosecution for truancy and/or educational neglect." (Side note the "tenth absences" is not a typo on my part... Any letters from the school are filled with typo's, misspelling, and poor grammar. The summons from the court also misspells Ian's first and last name at the top, Jeffrey Wagner instead of Jeffery Wegner, and in the middle they misspell his first name, but get his last name right. Stephen's name is spelled exactly right, though. Kind of makes me wonder as to the focus of this investigation.) The policy never states that going to court is mandatory just that it "may result."
I explained to the Family coordinator that when we were going to be gone, the office said it would be fine if he missed. Her response was, "It is fine, but according to school policy..." I wanted to scream with frustration-- How is being summoned to court as a neglectful parent and threatened with arrest "fine"! Does she really think that something like that is no big deal.
Anyway, I explained to Stephen what had happened and he called her on his lunch break. He is more forceful and persistent than I am. He was really upset as well, and pointed out that we weren't deadbeat parents who were too drunk or lazy to take their child to school. Ian missed 1 day when he was sick, 6 days when we were in Seattle, and the rest when we went East at Christmas. The Seattle trip was for Stephen's CME, which he has to have to keep his license and practice medicine. Then we thought we were going to move, and if fell through, etc. and Ian missed some then. The lady basically acted like Stephen thought he was just above the rules. But we do have a meeting set up with her and Ian's teacher for 2:30 on Monday. Stephen has to go to court at 3:30 on Monday unless the school and tribal court can somehow resolve things before then. Only his name is on the summons, which is kind of strange. (not that I'm complaining). I am the one who has the most interaction with the school, usually picks Ian up, talks to teachers, etc.
We have been having some issues with the school anyway, and I'm wondering if some part of this is payback for that. I don't want to be paranoid, but the thought is in the back of my mind. We are the ones who complain when the class watches the Simpsons, or Elf, or something else inappropriate for 7-8 yr olds. Stephen called the principle and complained when Ian was left without adult supervision. (His teacher had to leave early, and they had a sub. His class went to computers, and when they came back there was to teacher or other adult. I came to pick him up, to find him just hanging out.) I'm also trying to keep up with his progress in reading block, meet various teachers, the librarian, his reading block teacher, the counselor, etc. I thought the school would view this as a good thing, but now I am beginning to wonder. I may just be second guessing things too much, but who knows.
The worst thing about this situation is that Ian's academic progress has not been mentioned one time in a positive or negative way. There is no concern over his education, only over his attendance. (We know that he is doing very well academically. We made sure that he had his work when we would be gone, or made it up after we returned. He has turned in 100% of his homework, he scores well on all of his testing. ) Stephen has enough interaction with children in the community to know of kids who are being overlooked when it comes to education. The emphasis is obviously on attendance and not on education.
The good thing is that in Montana all you have to do to home school is send a letter of intent to the county school superintendent. It is beginning to look like we will be doing this, but we will know on Monday if we will be able to resolve things with the school. We may end up homeschooling either way. Now that this is happened, I don't see how we can drop Ian off every day trusting the school system. Who knows what they will do next?
Keep us in your prayers this weekend. I will update Monday with the results and our decision.