WTF?

Fairly frequently, I get calls to my room, interrupting my lesson. The calls are often for a kid to come to the office because they're leaving early. Harrumph.

Today, my last class walked in and I noticed one of my girls had red eyes. I beckoned her over and asked what was wrong. Then I noticed that her eyes were like, leaking. I asked if they itched or hurt. She said her eyes hurt, and that every time she blinked, she was crying. You could tell she was kind of wincing just keeping her eyes open and closing them.

I told her first to wash her hands, then go to the nurse, and then call someone to go home. She came back in a couple minutes and said the nurse was not there. I said, then go to the office and get someone to take you home. She came back a minute later, really crying this time, saying they made her come back to class. I think I sent her another time, because hello, she was clearly incapacitated.

Then the dean comes back with her and was like, oh, she can't go home, we have to keep her here until the bell.

WTF? This poor girl can hardly open her eyes without pain and/or discomfort but can't go home? Yet any parent can call and tell the school their kid is leaving early half the days of the week? Dude, it's called priorities!

Ugh.

Also, I've got a big pile of YA books I want to read, and it grew much bigger when the book order came in. But this week I finally started reading the City of Ember, and today at lunch I read that instead of marking papers.

Then the book got really good and the bell rang. I seriously considered telling the kids to just sit quietly so I could finish my good book.

Would that be a problem?