This and that

I forgot to mention that we had parent-teacher conferences for Henry last week. He got an excellent report, with the only negative comment being that he needs to slow down and do his work more neatly. I am amazed at how much he's learned this year, and it's only January!

In news about me (because I know you all check out the blog for news about yours truly, haaa) I was asked to help out a local school district in covering a maternity leave this spring. I'll just go in and work on Fridays, which is nice for me because I get out of the house and back into the school psych world a bit and nice for Georgie because he gets to spend time with his beloved babysitters (who are not Sports Illustrated models, but still very cute). The problem is that I am not licensed in Wisconsin, so I have been dealing with the red tape and BS that goes with the state licensing agencies. They have about a zillion frickin forms on their website for various certifications, but not a separate one for school psychs. So I have to fill out the teacher form, where half of the questions on the form do not apply to me. For example, I have to have my institution (Indiana Univ) certify that I completed their teacher training program. So I call the genius at the DPI and try to explain this to her, that IU will most certainly not certify that I completed their teacher training program BECAUSE I AM NOT A TEACHER. The lovely person at the DPI says, "well, we won't process your application without that form completed." So I say, "So should I just write "not applicable" on the form?" She says, "No, it must be certified that you completed their teacher education program." What the "*/#? So I'm dealing with that little gem and about 16 other things on the form that do not apply to me (e.g., "where did you complete your student teaching?) Um, I am nationally certified, have licenses in 2 other states, completed an APA and NASP approved PhD program in school psychology and a 1 year internship, and I am still jumping through hoops and dealing with complete idiots in state licensing bureaus. Oh, and I barely made the deadline where I don't have to take any classes. I asked the lady, "If I had to take them, where would I take these classes?" She said, "oh, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has those classes." I was like, "Yeah, I know. I TEACH THOSE CLASSES." She was speechless. Fun times.