I hate DODDES

I swear, I hate Dept of Defense Dependant Education Systems! There are three schools on post here, and all three are actually fairly close to each other. Well, I went to the school closest to my ex's goverment quarters, and asked if that was the school my kids need to go to (it is a new school, so I was not sure if kids that used to go somewhere else would be shifting over there or what). Well, they said no, that school is just for the kids in the new housing area over there, so basically, everyone on that side of the tracks (there is actually sort of a gate/railroad track appearance like you are crossing into a different area) goes to that school, no one else. They said my kids had to go to the school that is like a block and a half the other side of "my" housing. No biggie, will take their father five minutes to walk it with both of them if he wanted to. So I go, get the paperwork, fill it out, take it back two days before school is supposed to start (about a week, week and a half later, I found out at the last minute that school starts the FIRST week of August, not the last, here). I am told that I have to wait til Thursday to enroll the kids, they stopped accepting enrollments on that day. Hmm, school starts WEDNESDAY. So my kids had to miss the first three days of school. Ok, no biggie, they said those three days don't count, Monday is when they start really tracking attendance. So, I go back Wednesday and get them enrolled. Told come back Monday with the kids and she will escort us to the classrooms they will be assigned to. Come back Monday, kids dressed, photographer ready, camara charged... "Oh, I tried to call you Friday! Your kids are not in this school! You have to go enroll them in the other school!" The third school, the one that is even farthur down the road, is the school they go to. So now, if daddy wants to drop off instead of put them on a bus, he has to PASS the school I had originally enrolled them in and go about half a mile further down the road and a block down another road to get to their school. I am told this at 8:15. So, we load the kids up in the truck, drive down to the other school, talk to the person there that will take care of the enrollment/transfer stuff. They have to have a GA health screening to go to school here. It takes FOUR different appts. This post does mass screenings on weekends where a bunch of people can make an appt and get all four parts done in one day instead of coming back 4 times. Their appt is on the 23rd. The hospital and the first school I enrolled them in said, no problem, you got proof of the appt, sign this form saying it is a conditional enrollment and that you understand that you must bring the paperwork that following Monday, and they are good to go til then. All of a sudden, this is not good enough at the second school. She has to go talk to the nurse... oh, that is not true, they are not supposed to start without the screening, they are supposed to just miss the next two weeks... but we will give you an exception. WTF EVER! JP has a doctors appt this afternoon to screen him for ADHD, while I am there, I am going to go have a conversation with someone about the policy on kids being allowed to start school on post without a physical when they have proof of an appt for one at the military doctor office.

But, they got into their classes. We took JP to his class first, since I figured he might not handle the new enviorment well, since he actually has to learn, not just play, and he usually gets upset when he is not with his sister when he does the transitions like that. We talked to the teacher's aide, since the school day had actually already started, and he made JP feel comfortable right away, told him a "secret" - he had to "swear" not to tell any first graders that they have the same first name and both sometimes go by their first and second initials - and told me a little bit about the class and helped me figure out what supplies I was missing since I used a different school's supply list to shop. Then JP went and sat down on the rug, looked to his right, and gave a sly grin to the girl next to him... not even ten seconds and that boy is already flirting with his classmates! Then we took Arianna to her class, she just sat right down at her new desk, and settled in.