Avoiding the Tardy Bell

Micah's school starts an hour earlier this year than they have in the past. I was told it was to save money because 2 other schools merged into this one, but I fail to see how a start time saves money. And for some reason, nobody can explain it to me, either. It's just so.

Micah rides a van to school rather than a bus, and I know from experience that this van company is lax in contacting parents about who is driving the route and what time they'll be at my house. Despite my vigilance in calling them a week prior to school starting (and even then I think maybe I should have heard from them, no?), I didn't get to talk to anyone until the day before the starting date. I was told that they'd pick Micah up at "quarter till."

You mean a quarter till 7, right?

"No, a quarter till 8."

But that's what time he was picked up last year, and school is starting an hour earlier this year.

"Yeh, but he doesn't have to be there until 8:00, and we figure it'll take about 10 minutes to drive him in once he's picked up."

The late bell rings at 8. If he gets there at 8:00, he'll be late. He should already be in class by then.
"I don't know. That's just what they told me." (I was talking to the mechanic, who was doubling as Micah's driver. The Man In Charge wasn't in.)

(:::headdesk::::) Okay, we'll see how it goes the first day, but we may have to revisit this if he's getting there too late.

Hand up the one who guessed that Micah got there too late.

So I called the van company again, who rearranged schedules and shifted vans and got someone here at 7:05 so that Micah could get to school on time. I now rank among the rest of the population that gets up before 7AM on a school day, and I have to say, I don't like your world. Just hush, I know I was spoiled.

I am not happy about this whole 7AM bus thing, but Micah is generally up at 6:30 anyway, so I figure it's all good. It just means that I actually have to get up to get him ready instead of laying there with my eyes closed and my ears open for twenty minutes, pretending to rest longer. (It's my version of a snooze button.) So this morning, when Micah walked into our room at 6:15 and got in bed with us, my first thought was, "seriously? Because setting my alarm 30 minutes earlier isn't bad enough, you have to wake me *before* it goes off?" And the boy promptly went to sleep.

People, I had to wake the boy for school. Somewhere in the universe, life is mocking me.