An Interview with The Man

Actually, the discussion with the principal went pretty well. I was pleasant and calm, and he mostly avoided any patronizing tones or moves to "blame the victim." Still, the conversation had its moments, such as my stunned silence when he offered to review the hall monitoring video tapes to see if he could observe any objectionable behavior. I was not aware that they actually have video monitors in the school hallways now. Apparently it helps to apprehend the five year old perp. Whatever happened to supervision and guidance provided by actual people? I don't know many young children who can respond adequately to a video review of their recent actions. I think that might be a few steps beyond what can be reasonably expected.

Of course we'll continue to monitor the situation, but I'm hopeful that adult supervision during the problem times of day (which are very predictable) will help stop the bullying behaviors. I'll try not to quiz Miles when he returns (we're trying not to make a big deal out of this), and no news will be good news. I also hope, however, that we didn't add to the other child's burden. That, too, will merit some attention.