Chapter Two: The Real World (Almost)

Chapter Two: The Real World (Almost!)

At some point around the time of my “graduation” my mother saw a small, two-inch article in the Atlanta Journal (we always took the Journal, back when it was the evening paper and the Constitution was the morning paper) about a new program that Georgia State was starting. It was in their school of allied health, and the program was to start that fall semester. The program would train physician’s assistants in either mental health or pediatrics. The idea was that at the end of two years another two years of the program would be offered to make it a bachelor’s degree program. It could also serve as pre med. I hadn’t really made any plans for college and had not even taken the SAT. My mother asked me what I thought about this program, would I be interested, and I said I guessed so. I really had no clue. She called and got us an appointment to talk with someone down at Georgia State and we went downtown to the Kell Hall building. The Kell building had at one time been a parking lot. It was enclosed to make a science/laboratory building. The hallways had ramps that cars had once driven up and down. We talked to a woman there and she made arrangements to sign me up. She got me registered for the SAT and my application in to be admitted to the school. By early September, I started classes at Georgia State. I was still just 16 years old. 

I had never had to work hard to make good grades in school. Learning came easily to me. Things were a little different in the larger world of college. I did okay though, and made mostly Bs and Cs, with an A here and there. Of course I had to take mostly core classes to begin with. After a few months (we were on the quarter system then), the actual program classes began. The program group did their classes as a cohort. We had a variety of students.  I was, of course, the youngest. The concept of physician’s assistants had just begun to take shape, and I think was intended for returning Vietnam medics, nurses, and others who would then consider providing medical care in more rural areas that didn’t have the medical resources big cities like Atlanta had to offer.

The premise of the program was that physician’s assistants in pediatrics could provide much of the well baby and child services offered in pediatricians’offices. At the time, physician assistants were licensed by the state board of medical examiners, and they were licensed to a particular physician who had to provide a detailed description of what the assistant would be doing in terms of treatments, examinations, etc, under their supervision.  I was the 13^th licensed physician’s assistant in the state of Georgia, and the first female.

We were taught to know what was normal and what was not. If and when we came across something out of the normal range for regular growth and development the idea was to transfer the care to the doctor. This gave me a valuable background in childhood growth and development, and I believe it was the foundation for me to have a developmental approach to education. We were also taught how to treat minor and routine childhood ailments such as sore throats, colds, and earaches. Another large part of our training was in parent education, especially regarding newborn care. At the age of 19 I completed the program, was married, and thought I knew everything I needed to know! Even if I had wanted to continue, there was a small problem. The next two years of the program were not in place. In fact, Georgia State had decided to revise the program into more of a medical assistant training. This was in response to the more demanding programs that were starting up for physician’s assistants through medical schools, specifically Emory University in the Atlanta area. Emory would not accept any of our Georgia State coursework towards their PA program.

I had gotten married on the break between my final winter and spring quarters, then finished and graduated in June. I was in no rush to work and my husband actually did not want or expect me to. The following October I received a phone call from a prominent local pediatrician. He said he had been given my name by one of his employees, a former classmate of mine, was I interested in a part time position, and would I come in for an interview. I said sure. I went in, we talked, and I accepted the job. I had just turned 20 years old. I worked for that practice for two years. During that time a couple of other Georgia State PAs came on board. In actuality, what we mostly did was basic medical assisting, known as typical “back office” work. Eventually we did begin visiting new mothers in the hospital and had a whole spiel we gave about newborn care. I was the one who wrote the information all up into a little booklet we used to be sure we covered everything. It was my favorite part of the work. At some point, the practice wanted full time employees and wanted us to work in the front office too. I really did not want to do that, because I felt it did not utilize my training. I got the idea that the practice also was trying to back the Georgia State PAs down to office assistants and have only the RNs work the back office and hospital visits. I felt this compromised my values and I resigned. This was a precursor of things to come.

I went to work for another practice. I started out substituting for their back office nurses and their “phone nurse.”  Their phone nurse was out at least two days a week. When their phone nurse left I was not offered that position, and I was specifically told it was because I was not an RN. Once again I felt used. I was good enough to substitute and help them out in a bind, but not good enough for the real job. Ironically I suggested that if I couldn’t be the phone nurse I shouldn’t be doing back office work either and no longer wanted to substitute in the back. They offered me a regular position in the front office and I accepted it, having nothing else on the horizon at that time. It was not for long however, as one of the doctors left the practice soon after and my position, as well as one nurse position, were eliminated entirely. The office manager encouraged me to apply for unemployment benefits, which I did.  About two weeks later I found out I was pregnant. Needless to say, I didn’t look too hard for further employment. Although I did put in applications, who was going to hire someone obviously pregnant? I drew unemployment benefits the entire time I was pregnant.

Its time to skip ahead……our son was born in January of 1977. I did not work. I realized that although I thought I had known everything there was to know about babies, I didn’t know enough! I still had great respect for a particular doctor in the first practice I had worked for, and took my baby there. I suggested to him that everyone who worked in a pediatric office should be required to have had a baby!  As it turned out, my first “career” and the building block on which all of my other careers would be based had come to an end; but not to worry – the next was about to begin.

My husband and I now were attending Second Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, after the disbanding of West End Baptist. We were in a young couples’ Sunday School Class and brought our baby to the nursery. In talking with the nursery coordinator, I learned the church offered childcare for many activities, and they had paid child care workers on staff. They were also planning to start a Mother’s Day Out program. They already had a preschool – a developmental preschool, I might add. The nursery director asked if I would be interested in becoming a paid nursery worker, and then be the official Mother’s Day Out Physician’s Assistant. I agreed. Once again, I went into writing mode. I consulted with my pediatrician, then I developed and wrote health policies for the church programs. When Mother’s Day Out started, the director had me dress in uniform and stationed me in the foyer at a desk. All of the parents (or nannies, and sometimes even chauffeurs!) had to stop by the desk and get a little stamp on their hand before going to their classrooms. The stamp indicated I had looked them over, although somewhat cursorily, and questioned the parents about any possible contagious conditions they may have. During this time, I also had the opportunity to attend many educational workshops about preschool care and education. The Southern Baptist Convention is well known for their developmentally appropriate yet serious approach to early childhood education. I excelled in these workshops and eventually began leading them myself.

In due course, I found myself more and more advising parents and instructing preschool caregivers. I also found myself employed by another church in the same capacity. I once again turned to writing and developed a seminar called IDEAS – Infant Development, Education, and Stimulation. I presented this seminar for a fee for groups of parents or on an individual consultation basis. I also presented without charge for community groups. The seminar was based on sound developmentally appropriate activities to do with babies and young preschoolers.

A friend at the church with a son the same age as mine was starting a job with a new private school. One career door again was about to lead to another.

This friend knew about my experience. She said there might be some opportunity with this new school, and I contacted the director. Suzuki International Learning Center was about to open a private preschool and early elementary school, planning to add grades to the elementary as the children progressed. Unknown to me at the time, the school was actually a tax write off for a private company whose president knew Dr. Suzuki. Yes, THE Dr. Suzuki of the Suzuki method of music instruction. The premise was to apply the principles of Suzuki method music education to early childhood education in a quality childcare setting, especially for the employees of the company. Money was no object. The plan was to start an infant program. I was offered the position of directing the infant program. My son, who was two, could attend the preschool at no charge.

What an experience! The director had me meet with the contractors who were renovating the preschool building and just tell him what I wanted as far as the layout of the room. She gave me a credit card and said go buy whatever resources I wanted! She had me interview and hire my own assistant! It was thrilling! This all took place over a summer and the next fall my assistant  and I had six babies we took care of in a state of the art facility. It was fantastic. There was an assistant director who was a graduate student at Georgia State in Early Childhood Education, who used our program for some research, and one parent was a doctoral student there, also in early childhood education. This was my first exposure to the possibilities relating to further  formal education and what I loved to do. The first year and half went well. During the second year, things began to slide. It was obvious some cost cutting measures were being put into place. The magic carpet was about to crash land. We were told the school was to become self supporting, no longer affiliated with the company, eliminating the elementary division, and would increase class sizes according to day care licensing requirements, which would mean 15 infants for two teachers! Needless to say, I lost my enthusiasm, as a teacher and a parent. It was not terribly critical however, because I was about to take a leave to give birth to a second son. My older son finished four-year kindergarten when my new son was one month old, and I let the director know I did not plan to return.

With a child in public kindergarten and an infant, I returned to Second Ponce de Leon’s Mother’s Day Out program after being away for two years. The program was just as good as ever, although there had been a few staff changes in the program and at the church. The nursery coordinator was planning to retire in a few short months. She groomed me and I became director of the program.

I directed the program there for about four more years. Numerous other things were going on in my personal life, a husband with a precarious job on the other side of town (Eastern Airlines), a mother retiring, and a third baby boy. I continued at Second Ponce de Leon until my family decided to make a move to the other side of town. We home searched in Clayton and Fayette counties for something that would accommodate our family of five and have an in law suite for my mother. Financial realities dictated our move.  Although it was not my first choice, we bought a home just south of Riverdale in Clayton County. We moved in the spring of 1986.

We began attending church at another mega Baptist church in the area. The church at that time was undergoing tremendous growth. The preschool director there resigned shortly after we became involved and I obtained the position of Director of Preschool ministries, largely due to my getting to know the newly hired Children’s minister. Marcie Creech was one of those unique people that definitely qualified as a “character.”  I loved the job and was able to continue and expand my independent consulting work leading workshops. The position was supposedly part-time. I learned a tremendous amount from Marcie and other full time preschool/ children ministers at national conferences. The position continued to grow in responsibility, and I felt I was actually working full time as a minister. Others on the staff confirmed this. However, whenever it was mentioned that the position needed to be officially full time, the church administration declined to make it so. My frustration grew. The work of being at the church every time the doors were open, and the strain of placing my family under the microscope, for a part-time salary, eventually led me to conclude it simply was not working out. I loved the work, but it became overwhelming. I pursued something similar on a smaller scale, and in the summer of 1991 I found and was offered what I thought was the perfect position.

Thus began my work with a Kindergarten program in a nearby community in nearby  county known for its “excellent” school system. Excellent meaning high test scores and academic competition. The church weekday program included an actual kindergarten class and preschool classes for two through four year olds. It would only be weekdays during the school year. In fact, our family kept our membership and stayed actively involved at the church where I had previously worked. The former director at the new kindergarten was retiring after many years. The kindergarten had an excellent reputation of preparing children to enter the local system. Ironically, or maybe providentially, my sister had worked there a few years and had decided to go to full time work since her daughter had entered high school, so I had some connection and was aware of the academic climate of the preschool. Of course this grated against my developmentally appropriate philosophy, but I felt I could deal with it. Part of my responsibility as director was to be sure the transition went well from the kindergarten to the public schools. In that capacity I had contact with the then associate superintendent for the local County Board of Education. He came each spring to talk with our parents about the transition and together we monitored our curriculum for the kindergarten class to be sure the students were prepared for first grade, and also for the four year old classes to have a smooth transition to public kindergarten if the parents chose that route. This position also allowed me to continue my consulting and I did go on leading workshops, writing articles, and consulting with preschools.

I was beginning to realize this was what I truly loved doing, not teaching the kids but teaching the teachers! And I was good at it! This led directly to the encounter that set me on the path to public education. As I thought about how to make consulting my main pursuit I began to realize I would need more formal education and public school involvement. How to do this was problematic. My family was continuing to struggle financially. I had three children. How could I afford the cost and time required for more formal education?

One summer I was teaching a three-day workshop in Macon for the Georgia Preschool Association Conference. At one of the faculty dinners, I was seated next to a gentleman from Mercer University, a Professor of Early childhood Education. Somehow our conversation turned to formal teacher preparation programs and I expressed my desires to pursue that route but I had the extenuating circumstances of needing to continue working while I did so, etc. etc. Then he said the magic words,  “What if I could get you in a program whose classes are held at night in a convenient location, you could get financial aide, and you would have a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, and it could all be accomplished in two years’ time?” Of course I was interested! It was July, and I had to rush some things, but that is how I found myself enrolled in Mercer’s University College Teacher Education Program in August of 1993.