When I Become Principal

Not in this lifetime, but for the purposes of this rant...

I spent about an hour after Little Brother got home from school today dealing with all the paper he brought home. Not to mention all the stuff that was on the website that I had to print out, fill in and send back--and the $73 in checks that had to go in as well.

But I digress. I'm here to rant about forms.

I had to fill in a whole bunch of forms today. That in itself is not so bad, but it's all the duplication that gets me. That, and having to write my last name multiple times.

Wouldn't it be easier, since almost all of this paper is going to live in the main office anyway, if there were one form with several sections instead of separate forms for all of these:

Basic Information Form (name, address, phone, email, student day of birth, parents' work and cell phones, 2 emergency contacts, bus number, parish & sacrament information, doctor's name, hospital preference, insurance company number, special health considerations, signature)

Nurse's Information Form (name, address, phone, parents' work & cell phones, "which parent do we call first," 2 emergency contacts, doctor's name, special health considerations, "has your child received immunizations this past year")--note that all but 2 of these are covered in the Basic Information Form

Family Directory Form (name, address, phone, email, "do you want to be in the directory")

Permission to use child's photo on school website or in newspaper articles/ads

Technology Acceptable Use Policy

My last name is 12 letters long, with lots of pesky consonants. I have the feeling that if school administrators had a last name like mine, they'd be less likely to require all these separate forms with separate signatures.

Hello, new school year! Hello, writer's cramp!