Ok, so today has been all about education for me. And religion. Not in a good way.

This was my kid’s first day of school. It was fraught with chaos and disorganization, and a nasty case of religious enthusiasm I hope won’t happen again.

Lemme ‘splain.

Her new school is located in a church. It isn’t supposed to be affiliated, as it’s a publicly funded charter school, sanctioned by our county.

I’m sure it was an oversight, or failed communication (as in, “It’s your church, so why don’t you say a few words”) concerning this morning’s assembly, but the results were a relatively mild, but nevertheless completely inappropriate bible-thumping prayer session ending in “We thank you oh Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Um.

Then, there’s the “Go to this room. No, this room. No, this room. We mean it this time. And no, the real teacher isn’t here yet. It’s a paperwork problem. I know you understand…” thing.

I’m completely sure that a lot of this stuff is because it’s a brand new school, and there are things people are missing about how to organize a bunch of kids and their shell-shocked parents, but I’m really nervous now. I’ve sent a letter to the school’s board of directors about the assembly, along the lines of “I’m sure you won’t let this happen again.” If they do, DH will sic the ACLU on their butts faster than you can read this sentence, and I’ll be right behind him.

And there’s the visitation by Lt. Gov. Steele (who knows a good political opportunity when he sees one), taking the floor to pat himself on the back for getting the MD charter school law passed in the first place. Yeah, any chance to stump, I suppose.

Oh, and the photo opp, too. Have I mentioned we’re one of maybe three European American families in the school? I can’t say the percentage of African American or other, but we’re the clear minority here, as my friend pointed out to me, mentioning that my kid should be easy to spot. The photographer/reporter from the Post thought so, too, and he asked my permission to use her image in the paper. I smiled and said I suspected we’d be in that position, and his response? Well, there’s the obvious thing (the shade of her skin), and then she’s just so darn photogenic (yeah, I know…).

So, watch tomorrow’s paper, or maybe Thursday’s, if they keep the article for the PG Extra section.

[Edit: Today’s Metro Section (8/22/2006), actually: A Fresh Start in Pr. George’s – not exactly the front page, but darn close! And the photo’s gone in the archive copy.]