First Day of School

WOW, this is going to be very interesting! There are 3 adults in the class, and 24 students... and boy, are we going to need it. It's hard to say exactly how these students are going to be this year.. but it took me close to 15 minutes to convince one little boy to color a poster! Seriously! We have a lot of children with special needs and an equal number of students that are potential discipline problems. I think the most interesting part of the day is the focus on the bathroom. We have to schedule 3 times a day to take everyone to the bathroom, because the school policy is that students are not allowed to go by themselves. I asked Mrs Z, and she explained it. Apparently, last year there was a problem with some students acting out sexual behaviors with other students. These children were obviously victims of sexual abuse and were acting out the behaviors they had learned on younger students. There is also an issue with allowing them to be in the restroom unattended. I guess last year there was also an issue with students "decorating" the walls/floors and toilet seats with...."bodily fluids" and writing graffiti on the walls. I just have a hard time realizing that these are K-5th graders! I think it's sad that this is the case, but I guess if it's necessary, it's better than the alternative.