Rolling with the Punches

So the 3 girls involved in the Cell Phone incident--namely, Nina, Julia and Sylvie--have all been suspended from Organization X for 2 weeks as of today. This was decided after a 2-hour-long meeting with Dr. Ross, the girls' parents, and 2 houseparents. And boy am I glad I wasn't there, because Maya and Cris seemed really stressed afterwards.

I don't know a lot of details, since I wasn't there. But what I'm hearing from Cris is that the houseparents (and perhaps even office staff) are trying to find grounds to kick Sylvie out of the program. She just isn't owning up to any of the lies she's told in the past few weeks (unlike Nina, but Julia isn't owning up, either). As I say all the time, this program is *NOT* for students with behavioral problems; it's an academic program, for scholars. We are not equipped to deal with psychological issues like the ones Sylvie clearly has. I have heard houseparents, scholars and even a few of the girls' mentors express that they would like Sylvie out of the program.

Obviously Nina and Julia are also at fault concering the Cell Phone Incident. The difference is, Sylvie has been in the program for 3 years and many similar situations have been linked to her. Nina and Julia have only been here a few months. On the other hand, they haven't given us a great first impression in that short amount of time.

Personally, I think Sylvie should be gone and Nina and Julia should get another chance. But of course, I'm biased because I have a good relationship with Nina. As of now, nothing is decided yet except the 2-week suspension. I think the final outcome will be either no one gets kicked out, or just Sylvie gets kicked out. But hey, you never know what the office is gonna do.

As for me, I'm a little stressed. On top of the drama, we had a shadow come today. She was nice, but I was so not prepared to give a house tour and entertain her while cooking dinner. Oh that's the other thing; I unexpectedly had to cook dinner. Sloppy joes, which believe me, I didn't pick. None of the girls even eat sloppy joes. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure I've never eaten one until today. It was kind of gross. I think 1 girl out of 8 ate them, and I don't even blame them...

PLUS Gloria had a meltdown. We had to usher all but the 3 girls out of the house, so the 3 girls could pack their things. We hung out at a past employee's house, where Gloria couldn't do her homework because the other girls were being too loud and their computer was too slow. She was crying and complaining and not letting anyone help her. For once, I didn't have very much sympathy for her. Sometimes unexpected shit happens and you just have to roll with the punches.


--Rebecca