Monday, December 7th

I start the day with two classroom observations. In one classroom, the student did nothing but draw something completely unrelated to class for 20 minutes. After that, I put my name on the conference room schedule for counseling and testing in the middle school. After I get back to the office, I print out some paperwork and send some emails regarding the manifestation determination I have tomorrow. Then the internet goes out. But that is okay because 10 minutes later I get sent for a risk assessment on a kindergartener. The kid doesn't even know what death is but he definitely has something going on with him but not enough to consider a danger. While I'm at the school, I confirm the presence of the paraprofessional that speaks a certain language for another meeting on Thursday. I sure hope the district gets the language line approved soon.

After the assessment, I return and call the mother of the student to fill her in on my interaction with the child. Following that I have lunch and sit down to type up my classroom observations. Just as I'm getting ready to type up the risk assessment, another situation comes up involving a student from last week. The case manager and I go over to the school and my co-worker suggests that I handle the logistics while she handles the contact with the student. So I speak with the principal and the guidance counselor to get information and she meets with the student. The situation is resolved and doesn't require a risk assessment or crisis screening. After an extended meeting with the principal and classroom teacher, we return to the office.

The one thing that concerns me is the way the principal kept looking to me for answers. When we were all together (my co-worker/student case manager), the principal kept looking to me. I feel that it was a bit disempowering to my co-worker. I don't know if this is a product of being the older staff member or the male staff member or if I'm just imagining it. In the first two cases, I don't necessarily feel that it is a correct reaction to have. In the case of the latter, it is just my hubris. I'll have to talk about it with my co-worker.