Just another day in paradise...

I started Monday morning at my usual spot, the Special Place, an "educational complex," I learned that day. One of the secretaries had won our school site a promotion from a local radio station that at 10 am brought us huge platters of bagels and pastries and coffee - awesome! However, said secretary was a tad embarrassed when the radio host arrived at our site: a student had tried to attack her (a tiny little girl using only her fists), she was restrained, and we had to keep the doors locked until the police arrived; the radio host was locked outside for a few minutes with all of her treats. The men in uniform arrived quickly, and the little girl was picked up by mom in a jiffy, but the secretary apologized profusely to the radio host for having to see that...and then said very honestly, "But that's a typical day for us, nothing unusual."

I had to make a special visit to the same site today for a student I needed to do a hearing/vision assessment on. The student is severely autistic and rarely at school, the secretary described her parents as "tweakers." I arrived at the site for my assessment the same time Child Welfare Services arrived there for an emergency visit following a report they'd received on that student I needed to see. Just another day in paradise at The Special Place...