Day 4..."May I help you, m'am?"

Day 4...

"May I help you, m'am?"  That's what I heard about 5 seconds after entering the FWCHS office this morning.  It was busy and there was a staff of about 4 people at the front desk, including some (it seemed) student helpers, one of which is who asked me this question.  I went in this morning to turn in my son's proof of residency information.  It was nice to be greeted so politely first thing in the morning (or anytime for that matter!).  I was directed to the office where I needed to turn in the info.  While I was there I saw Mr. Hicks (principal) in the hallway as the first bell rang.  He was talking with students on their way to class.  I didn't bug him because he was busy, but it's nice to see a principal out conversing with the students. 

While I'm at it let me tell you that FWCHS seems like a very clean and organized school.  I noticed the cleanliness while there in the past attending school board meetings.   Whoever is cleaning that place is doing a good job!  You will find that at most Fayette County public schools (Southwest Elementary, OES and West Jr. High are my frames of reference), but job well done here.  It also smells good (weird observation, but often I think schools smell like pencil shavings!).  I didn't have a chance to visit the bathrooms, but hopefully they are in good condition.  Bathrooms are a pet peeve of mine in schools - some of them in FCS are in need of repair (OES).  The board needs to approve some money for updates (or maybe the principals need to ask)!

So...I told my son to go in this morning and finish switching his elective coursework.  Mr. Hicks told me to have him come in to meet with him.  I got a call from Mr. Hicks about 30 minutes after I left the school.  He was chuckling because he said my son's elective course wasn't until next semester and my son told him, "I'm just trying to get it changed early."  Mr. Hicks said that he had to call because my son was being so "mature" and "serious" about getting his class changed before January.  LOL In hindsight I guess we (meaning me) freaked out a little about changing my son to the correct electives.  It was nice to talk with Mr. Hicks on the phone and I'm glad he called me just to share something he got a kick out of.  He said they were going to go ahead and get things changed now so to not worry about it.  I can tell this man does not treat the children as just numbers within his school - he treats them as individuals.  I've heard this about him before.  He also explained to me that the "advisory" period on my son's schedule is on there as a point of state rules.  It's just to show what each student is involved in and that my son has an advisor at FWCHS. 

One thing of note...one reason why I am adamant about changing my son's coursework is to get him into a summer class program offered at SW TN Community College.  A friend of mine has a daughter who found out about the program a few years ago when she began attending FWCHS.  It is an engineering program and my son is good at math, so we figured it might be a good thing for him to take elective coursework along those lines at FWCHS in order to get accepted to/excel in a program of this nature.  I talked to this friend this morning while at another school and she told me that not only will her daughter be done with all graduation credits at the end of this semester (she is a senior this year) but she has nearly earned her Associates Degree from taking this summer coursework and will be completely done with that degree come graduation time.  Just think...graduating HIGH SCHOOL with an Associates Degree in (I believe it's electrical) Engineering.  What a benefit for immediate job hunting OR for scholarship/college applications.  I'm encouraged to hear that all of this began with FWCHS.  Hopefully we'll be able to have our son accomplish the same thing while he's there.  My older son took dual-credit courses while at FA to earn 6 credits towards college which is great, so FA offers college credit options as well.  

Yesterday afternoon I emailed the Cross Country coach regarding practices, etc. and this morning I had a reply email waiting for me. I still haven't received a response from my email to the 9th grade advisor from the the other day, but I'm not certain that is a working address and by this point the matter has already been resolved by Mr. Hicks.

Funny/Disturbing story...we were riding to the store tonight (me and all of my children).  My FWCHS son said, "Mom, a girl hit my butt today.".  I said, of course, "WHAT???"  Since I had both sons in the car with me I asked my oldest son, "Did any girls hit your butt at FA?"  He reluctantly said, "Yes, sev-er-al (do you hear the bragging) times."  I said, "WHAT???"  I went on to tell them BOTH (which I guess I never thought to cover previous to this date) that no girls should be doing that and they shouldn't do that either (which, reportedly they don't - only receivers of said hitting:).  My oldest (FA graduate) said, "But what if we sort of liked it?"  Oh boy......why didn't someone warn me about having kids (just kidding of course)!!!