No mas hablas in Espanol.

I received a call on Wednesday afternoon that the parent and family-friend of my new non-English speaker wanted a conference. They weren't sure that my classroom was the right situation for her. I had this feeling from the first day she arrived, but it's different when a parent says that your classroom is not right for their child.

Thursday morning comes and in the meeting, everyone wanted to know how she was doing. Basically, she is not ready for 4th grade. Especially 4th grade in a country where she does not speak the language. It was hard for me to sit there and say that regardless of anything I've done in the classroom, she's not at the level she should be in order to be successful. The dad and family-friend were completely understanding and mom was a bit hesitant. After all, we decided that the family would go look at the bilingual school in the district that morning to see if it would better suit her needs. If they did like this school, we would transition her over there beginning on Monday.

Around 9:00 (attendance time), I get a phone call from the registrar telling me not to mark her absent. She is withdrawing so that she can transfer and is no longer counted as absent. I was in a bit of shock. I didn't think things were going to happen so quickly. My class started to ask questions about where she went, why didn't she say goodbye, and would they see her again. Although they might not have spoken the same language, they understood her. She was a kid after all and kids understand other kids. They were quite disappointed that they were unable to say goodbye. I was also quite concerned that the parents were so quick to remove her from my classroom.

That was until I received a call from her new bilingual teacher. This teacher was already concerned that 4th grade was not the right place for her. We had a talk about what had happened and what I felt was going on with this child and her family. When all was done, I felt better knowing that my classroom wasn't the right place for her because she didn't belong in 4th grade even if they did speak her language.