When my children got to be high school age, we were not given a choice where to attend high school. Their programs were at certain locations, so that’s where we went. Many years ago, when my kids were young, I dreamed of giving them a Catholic school education and sending them to Cathedral Catholic high school. I really wanted that. Or at least, I thought I did. Over the years my children were diagnosed with Autism and we realized that a public school education was what was in the cards for us. They had no special needs services at Catholic school. It was a huge disappointment. But once we settled into public school, I started feeling freer in a way. My children got into the special education program and we found our niche. I found a social network and support group amongst the other moms of children with special needs. We don’t socialize much with general Ed families though, as they don’t “get” my situation or have the right amount of understanding and empathy for me. When my daughter Sophia was sent to the Seaside program at SDA it was a hard pill to swallow. She is in an isolated classroom with kids who have emotional issues or a tough home life, for the majority of the day. It was offensive to me and her father, when she was targeted to go into this program and I think she has the most idyllic home life of all the kids in her class. There isn’t enough inclusion with the general Ed at SDA high school. It’s disappointing. I wonder if they are trying to protect the general Ed kids from our emotionally challenged kids or are they protecting our kids from general Ed bullies, who target the different or the weak? I think it may be a bit of both. The general Ed kids at SDA, by and large, seem ok and they are definitely the same vibe as my daughter. They are an eclectic, inclusive group. Many kids look artsy. Many are LGBTQ. Many shop at the same store even. (Hot Topic)
The parents are a completely different vibe though. I have detested many of them from the start. You get nosy PTA mom vibes from the moms. If you don’t volunteer on campus, they want nothing to do with you. They wonder about you and gossip about you, trying to figure you out. If you are a single mom, they will be threatened by you and hold their husband a little tighter around you. You will be snubbed for sure. I was looking at them and their husbands like, lady, your husbands hair is completely grey! How old are we? I’m certainly not trying to steal your old fart husband, but you can continue to be threatened by me. It’s a compliment and a testament to my enduring hotness actually.
The other issue with SDA parents is them acting so pretentious like they are so wealthy and like SDA is an exclusive private school. I’m like lady, SDA is a public school! It’s actually free to attend this school. If you really wanted to pop your collar and surround yourself with wealthy people, you would put your child in a tuition-driven private school like Cathedral Catholic perhaps? If they attended SDA themselves, you will really hear the parents bragging about it. “You don’t say, your grandpappy went to this school too? Your child is from a long line of SDA graduates? So you’re child’s a legacy? Well good for you and your bloodline!”
Not to say there aren’t pretentious people who go to LCC high school. By and large that’s a wealthier area. We didn’t choose to go there either. My other children were sent there. I will say that there is more inclusion at LCC for my kids and most of my Sped mom friends are there at LCC. I want my daughter at SDA to be more included and to make friends. I don’t know if it will happen with the general kids who mill about freely, even though many appear to have very similar issues as my daughter. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference between a Seaside kid and a regular general Ed kid at SDA. Who decides who goes where? I do see general Ed kids milling about freely who may have emotional issues or be on the Autism spectrum. I also know that volunteering on campus at SDA wouldn’t help me necessarily buddy up with general Ed families. I can’t deal with the general Ed moms at SDA. I feel like I hate them. When they speak, it’s like nails on a chalkboard, like shut up already about everyone you know. There may be a tight knit community at SDA but most of those people are assholes. They seem to enjoy each others company though. Kids decide for themselves who they want to be friends with anyway. These are the types of parents who would try to force their kids to be friends with certain kids, but that usually doesn’t fly, by the time kids get into high school. Kids will decide for themselves who to include or exclude. The parents I keep noticing are so snooty, I wouldn’t want my daughter to be hanging out with their snooty kids anyway. If my daughter did make a good friend, I would definitely try to work with the parents. Until then, I am very happy to keep me and my daughter away from said parents/families, as I am sure, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. I want my daughter hanging out with other sweet, empathetic kids, like herself.
Considering the general Ed kids seem so down to earth, I really wonder why the SDA parents seem so detestable to me. I might have a slight inferiority complex, as I just don’t understand the segregation here! Like, thank you so much for allowing my child with mental health challenges, to be on the same campus as these other perfect, not at all challenged kids! (Sarcasm) There are many layers to my frustrations about SDA. I might appear be dealing more with my own disappointment, frustration and resentment, but I definitely feel frustrated and sad for my daughter too. It’s not a perfect school or situation indeed.
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