Last night we went to Missy’s 6th Grade Orientation. I have no idea what, if anything, these people (the school people) were thinking.

We arrived early and noticed a large crowd of people at the front of the school. They were almost in a queue but not quite. Most looked like they were hovering around a couple tables off to the side of the entrance. By the time we found a parking space and got up to the front of the school, there was definitely a line. A long LONG line. A line that we had no idea if we should get into because nothing on any of the paperwork we received about the orientation stated we needed to line up.

I went inside and found someone to ask if we needed to get into line and why. She said we most definitely did need to get in line because it was for picking up the schedule and other important information. I asked if it was necessary to have this BEFORE the orientation began and she said it was required. By this time the line had almost doubled and was wrapping around the school and going into the parking lot on the other side of the entry way. UGH!!! So we took our place at the end of the line and I proceeded to gripe about the ordeal to Jack.

I don’t usually gripe out loud around others when I’m not happy about situations, but yesterday I was sick. (I still am). I’ve come down with the chest cold that has been cycling through members of our family for the last month. On top of that it was HOT. Somewhere around 90 degrees. And our place in line was in direct sunlight… evening sunlight blaring hot in our faces. And the line was moving slowly. Others parents in line within earshot of me gave me nods and knowing looks.

People were getting so frustrated some just started cutting in front claiming they were in the wrong line. Wrong line?
It turns out we were all supposed to get in line by our last name but the signs they had up were falling down and one of them was missing entirely.. so I never even noticed that. There should have been one big long line that branched off to smaller lines organized by last name. Someone could have easily organized that!

After standing in line with the blaring hot sun for 15 minutes or so, the principle says over the intercom the orientation was about to start and they were going to shut down the lines. Um, what? Excuse me? You did NOT just make me stand sweating with the hot sun directly in my face while I’m sick for NO REASON?!? I said nothing though. I just went on ahead of Jack and the kids to find us a seat inside the auditorium. Where it wasn’t much cooler I might add.

It was a quick orientation. What they wanted was for the kids to get their schedules and a map. On the back of the map was a “passport”. The kids would go and find their classes and the teachers would stamp the passport to signify they found the right class. We didn’t have the passport or the schedule. So I got up and went to see if the lines to pick them up were still open and they were and much shorter since everyone was inside the auditorium. I got the schedule and passport and just as I was getting back to my family the orientation ended. So I got in the activities line so I could get her ASB card and yearbook prepaid. Then we set off to find her classes.

Guess what? Each room had more lines. And it was hot and stuffy in the building.. people were still cutting in and no one seemed happy about any of this. Even the kids looked stressed out. I heard that last year was much more organized. I wouldn’t know. But I was really disappointed that the whole thing seemed like nothing but a big pile of poo unorganized stress. It was at this point I felt really bad. THIS was the first impression our 6th graders were going to have of Junior High? And I realized I wasn’t helping.

So I talked to Melissa and reminded her that this is a new building for this school (well, new in the last couple years) so maybe they haven’t gotten all the kinks worked out. And I apologized for my own griping. She said it was ok and she understood. I still feel bad though. Yes I was hot, yes I didn’t feel good, yes the whole thing from beginning to end was total chaos and confusion, but I could have kept my mouth shut and done my best to make it positive for her despite the situation.

There was a highlight: popsicles for those who completed their passports. Except when we went to turn in our passport they never even looked at it and just gave us all a popsicle. We giggled at the irony of that. We could have found each class (they were all really close together in one wing of the building), skipped the lines to get the passport stamped, then left an hour earlier. Oh well. Live and learn.