A big transition

I got a letter last Saturday that said there would be major changes at Haley's school.  It is one of the schools that didn't fare so well in the No Child Left Behind evaluations.  The letter told me all about the many changes that would be happening and focused on how wonderful the school would be when all of the changes had been implemented. 

It said there was a list on the back of the letter listing all of the teachers that would be leaving.  I turned the letter over.  There were a lot of teachers leaving.  Most notably Haley's teacher. her one on one helper, her back up one on one helper and as far as I could tell the entire Life Skill's staff.

Monday morning I emailed Haley's teacher and asked her if that meant that the whole Life Skills program would be moving to another school and if so what did that mean for Haley.

She emailed me back.  No, she was leaving to teach Kindergarten to autistic children and her staff had opted to leave the school as well.

So instead of having one more year before the big transition to high school Haley will have a big transition at the school she is used to.  I don't know if that will be something that she will take in stride, or if it will be hard.  She was in the same school with the same teacher for her entire elementary education.  I knew middle school would be a big adjustment, but as it turned out her one on one helper transitioned with her.  That made it so much smoother for her. 

Now she will be going back to the school she is used to but she won't know any of the teachers or the helpers.  I will have to train a whole new set of people.  Next year will be interesting.