If there is one thing my kids know how to do, it is to LINE UP! Line up, I need to talk to you. Line up, it’s time for dinner. Line up, we’re leaving. Line up, we’re taking a picture.

Yesterday was the Great American Cleanup and people all over town were participating in projects to pick up trash and clean up neighborhoods. I sent the kids that were awake across the street while I gave Echo a quick bath. When we walked over, I saw the man from the newspaper taking a picture of my kids walking in a row. LOL… The picture is in the newspaper today. There is also an article on the track team that mentions Mia.

I absolutely love that we do everything together, whether it is going to a track meet or picking up trash. I love that my kids think it is normal to eat every meal together and that they expect to see a group of people there supporting them at their activities.

There isn’t anything in this world more important than family.

Mia has run track for three years. We have watched her grow as an athlete and become a better person during that time. Although we might not have agreed with every decision her coaches made, overall they have done a good job.

And then Mica joined.

She does shot and discus. Over the summer she did very well in those events in the Junior Olympics with another coach. Once she started throwing for the school, it seemed like she got worse instead of better. The throwers practice in a different field than the runners and have a different coach. We would drive by and watch a couple of times a week. It seemed like it was more of a social gathering than a practice. There might be one or two kids throwing, but most of them were sitting around talking and laughing with music playing in the background. Once, Mike was watching her throw [standing outside of the fence] and the coach sent Mica over to tell him that he wasn’t welcome and that practices were closed.

School gets out at 4:00. Mia is done with practice at 5:30. We pick Mica up at 6:30. The logic behind the longer practice is based on the number of kids that need to get attention. It isn’t like running where all the kids can run on the track at the same time. They need to take turns with equipment. Mica started asking to stay later. She was told that in order to make varsity, she needed extra time after practice with the coaches. We let her stay once, but it didn’t sound like she did a whole lot while she was there. Plus, the idea of a freshman girl staying out for hours with a male coach makes me uncomfortable.

We didn’t like what we saw at practice. In fact, Mike was constantly complaining about it.  I thought that it was bad, but maybe not as bad as he thought. After all, there are dozens of throwers, two rings and only one coach. They had a volunteer that came out to help, but we didn’t like him much either. He was always joking around and acting like a friend, rather than a coach.

Yesterday, the news reported that the volunteer coach was charged with molesting a student. Today, he admitted it. This makes me sick. According to court records, he “admitted to knowing that what he did was wrong and that it got to the point that he could not control himself.” And that is a big part of the problem. There should be a distinct line drawn between teacher and student, coach and athlete. Once you start blurring that line and becoming more social, it is hard to stop. The point is not to start down that road. This is far too common. In fact, I’ve written about it before.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel like your kids are safe at school? What, if anything, do you do to prevent things like this from happening to your kids?

UPDATE:This morning, a coach in Alamogordo was arrested for the same thing. 

When we took Mia to Kansas to compete in the National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championship, Mica took the opportunity to interview her sister. She wrote up an article for her journalism class. The teacher liked it and asked to publish it in the school paper. Mica was so excited. We waited and waited for the issue to come out. I could tell something was wrong when she walked in the door. They had published the article, but it had someone else’s name on it. She was crushed. Mica has always enjoyed writing and she worked really hard on this piece.

She talked to the teacher about it. We were hoping that they would print a correction in the next paper. Instead, they printed it in the Mayfield Messenger, a newsletter that is mailed to the parents of each student. We got it yesterday and you should have seen Mica’s face. She lit up! The newsletter is folded in half and stapled together and they put her article so that it shows up on the outside.  I’m really proud of her.

Too hard to read? Click here for a large version. 

Mia did very well this weekend. Because she ran on Saturday, she got an automatic spot at Regionals and didn’t have to run on Sunday at the Junior Olympic meet. She chose to run anyway. “What’s the point of being there if I’m not going to do it?” The course was beautiful. The leaves were changing colors and the weather was perfect. In the young women’s division, only four girls ran. There were a lot of girls there from state and they all thought she was crazy for running two days in a row. That’s nothing. Last year, she competed in the Border Wars and the JO Regionals within an hour of each other. Now, THAT was crazy! The thing about Mia is that she doesn’t run because she has to or because she wants to get something for it. She runs because she loves it. [Las Cruces Sun News: Area Briefs]

This weekend she goes to Regionals in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you would like to donate, click here. Every little bit helps.

Las Cruces Sun-News – 1 arrested in art-class stabbing LAS CRUCES - An apparent altercation in an art class at Mayfield High School led to one student being stabbed and another arrested by police Wednesday.

This story hit a little too close to home. It’s funny that Gris sent her kids to live here to avoid the violence and there has already been a stabbing at the school. Not funny, but ironic. My mother-in-law was at the school when the office called for the ambulance and she let me know what was happening. Thank goodness for cell phones because the kids weren’t let out for lunch until after the ambulance left. The incident happened in Mia’s art classroom so she had to spend fourth period in the library watching a movie. Mica knew the boy who stabbed his classmate. She says that he is a really sweet, quiet kid, not the type to lash out like that. It is unfortunate and I hope the other boy is okay.

In semi-related news, those of you who follow me on twitter got a forward of a text that Mica sent me:

Fwd: Hey i found out dat a kid stabd a kid nd da kid dat stabd da kid is n my 3rd period clas

Is it just me or is that one confusing text message? I think we need to work on her communication skills. LOL!