Well -  the speaker I got to address the teachers at the in-service was awesome!  They (the curriculum director and asst. principal)  plan on using her again at a follow up.   The assistant principal was very complimentary.  The principal never even went up to her to introduce himself to her.  She said that that was very unusual for a principal not to approach her.  He has had a lot of resistance regarding ANY mental health education I've tried to bring into the school so this is NOT surprising.  Whatever.  The unfortunate part of it is it's difficult to present everything that needs to be covered in such a short period of time, and it's only a tip of the iceberg but it's better than nothing.  Maybe a teacher/parent handbook is in order - kinda of like a "how to" type of resource book.  Another problem, and one of the reasons they chose this speaker at the last minute, is the school has had a number of bomb threats lately and because of these behaviors can indicate a mental health illness - that they thought this topic was rather timely.  They also said that the person or persons who are making these threats may not be mentally ill.  The speaker then mentioned TEENSCREEN - which was another "thing"  I would have liked the school to be involved in.  I thought it was a stretch, because of what I've encountered but now the idea is looking better.  The assistant principal actually came up to me about it and he told me he never heard of it and was open to it.  I told him that parents would have to sign a consent form for legal reasons, but he seemed open to it.  I've noticed that he's stepped up to plate and the principal has taken a back seat in these decisions so perhaps he is the one to talk to. T came home at a very normal last night and at a decent hour.  That part is funny because today all the kids are off from school.  So you'd think he would have stayed out longer.  He's so used to doing what he pleases, it wasn't a big deal.   The "adult" detective called me today to tell me that there are two other items that are missing from those homes and if I come across from them to let them know.  One item was a space heater.  Funny last night I commented to my husband that I would like to have one of them.  Of course, that is not the way I would want to go about getting one!