Today, we had a conference with Lucy's new teacher, Ms. Aycock. Ms. Robinson moved up to the kindergarten classroom, and although we were sad about that, we think Ms. Aycock is sweet. What is not so sweet: the classroom's social dynamic. There are 12 girls and 2 boys in the class, and the result of all that girl power is something pretty ugly. We have discovered over the course of the last month or so that we've basically got a preschool version of Heathers going on.
Lucy has talked about being excluded and ignored, having certain girls say mean things to her. Ms. Aycock confirmed all this, making it clear that Lucy is the victim, not the aggressor (which both relieved and saddened me). Ms. Aycock and school staffers are actively trying to correct this unfortunate queen bee dynamic. Jason didn't seem as disturbed as I was by this situation — clearly he's never been on the receiving end of girly cruelty. My own experience with it in middle school was pretty traumatic, but I came through it a kinder person.
As hard as I try to imagine what the four-year-old version looks like, I can only picture some tiny version of uniform-clad Upper East Side girls, and it isn't pretty: