“So? Surviving?” “It’s hard to tell,” Rachel replied with a laugh. “Kindergarten, fine. Special ed? Not so much.” “This system takes some getting used to,” Rhoda agreed. “Alternating between kindergarten one day and special ed the next can get confusing at times. Small schools…we do what we need to do.” In small rural towns like Marshdale, the kindergarten students only went to school every other day. It was a long bus ride for some of them, and they stayed for the entire day as opposed to only half days like in some other places. Rachel’s “off” days were devoted to kids with special needs, and although she had training in the area, she’d never really had to focus on it much before now. “I feel a little bit overwhelmed. There’s an awful lot of paperwork to be done. Assessments, referrals, not to mention all the reading up I need to do on these kids.” “Definitely not my favorite part of the job,”
