Meeting Le Directeur

Monday, August 30th we departed on the metro for the short ride (12 minutes door-to-door that includes a station transfer) to Nola's new school. We had been reading on expat websites about French public schools so that our expectations would be appropriately aligned. Based on what we had read, we expected a brief, cold, and formal meeting that solely focused on confirming Nola's placement at this school. What we got was something different. For those of you who know Ms. Terry at The Meher Schools, this directeur was almost (not quite) a male version of her. Oh joy! He was relaxed, warm, personable, interested, and spoke some English to us too. Soren's brain was grateful for this brief break from mental gymnastics.  Le directeur made us feel very welcome and he spoke very highly of the woman that would be Nola's teacher, Madame Christine. When he learned of our desires for Raelyn, he stated that if CASNAV agrees that she should be placed in elementaire, that he would like to have her at his school. He even took it upon himself to call CASNAV while we sat in his office to tell an official this himself. But the officials at CASNAV were not answering their phones. They were probably on a smoking break. We felt bolstered by the fact that he was ready and willing to advocate for us. By the time we left, we were feeling so grateful and lucky to know that Nola was attending this school. We reasoned that if le directeur has these kinds of people-skills, he probably  has great leadership skills and has a content, happy workforce at his school. Afterall, he was so complimentary of Madame Christine, we felt confident that we were releasing Nola into a joyful, well-run school. We also learned not to believe everything we read on expat websites. Even more on that later. And we are still waiting for Raelyn's letter to arrive. It is now three days until the first day of school. To be continued...