Monitoring: Day One

Tuesday, October 27th
The day starts off innocuously enough and pretty much stays that way. So much so that I really can't remember much of it. The monitors weren't scheduled to arrive until late morning. I began my day with an email check and then I started organizing things for my new counseling caseload. I began by filling out the NJ Special Education Medicaid Initiative Related Services Tracking Form for the month of October. Wow, now that is a title for a form.

Halfway to writer's cramp in my hand, I decide to look online for an electronic version of the form. I find it and then spend 45 minutes setting things up for my caseload for the coming months. Now I am ready. A lot of the time I feel like an acoustic guitarist: I spend half my time tuning up and the other half of the time playing out of tune. A message to any acoustic guitarist: no insult is intended. This was a joke that my very musically inclined cousin told me.

I finish about half of the October forms by lunch time. Around 11am, the monitor arrived. One of my coworkers joked that it was a rain delay. I asked if a bunch of guys came out and dragged a blue tarp over the files.

After lunch, I busy myself with other paperwork and also talk with one of the supervisors about a particularly sticky case and a series of emails that have been traded between the parent and one of the teachers. I really need to start having regular weekly or biweekly meetings with the teachers.

The monitors leave by 3pm. I go into the director's office to hear how things were going. The monitors asked to see a few more charts in a particular category that they are looking at. We discuss what sort of things the monitors are looking for without much outcome. We also learn that the monitors are going to interview case managers on Thursday. This brings things to a close for the day.