First day of school, minus one

Now, here's the kind of thing that drives me crazy: I called the principal at my son's school this morning, the day before the first day of school, to see if I could find out who would be my boy's individual aide this year. There were three aides at the school that were likely possibilities, one much hoped for, the other two problematic, and I thought if I could get a name, I could prepare my kid and maybe myself. And surprise! The principal reported that he had talked to the special ed office, and they claimed that my son's IEP indicated no need for an individual aide. So, never mind worrying about which aide it would be -- there was no aide for him at all.

I did a quick double-check of his IEP, and "individual aide" was listed there, big as life. I called the special ed office and was told by a secretary that she knew nothing, nobody who knew anything was available, and I had to talk to the child study team leader. Called the child study team -- nobody there, left a message. Fumed for a while. The child study team leader, I will say, called me back pretty promptly, having straightened things out as well as they can be straightened on less than 24 hours notice. There will be an aide. It will be someone entirely new. Perhaps someone just hired. Maybe the aide will be in place tomorrow. Maybe not. But soon. I've made it clear that if my boy gets in trouble before he gets his aide, I will blame the school district. It's not like this aide is a new thing -- he's had one for the past three years. Why does everything have to be so hard?

So now I'm trying to figure out if this is a bad omen -- the beginning of a chain of screw-ups -- or a good omen -- the one messed-up thing that always has to happen, gotten out of the way early. Tomorrow may tell. I'll report back.