Square Peg, Round Hole
Some things are not meant to work. It does not matter how much you want it to work, it is simply an impossibility. I have a rather simplistic believe that if something can't be approached without great resistance, maybe God is trying to say, "Nope, not for you!" Sometimes I even listen.
Subject at hand is public schools and our charge. What a mess!
At the end of the school year the school sent home a transfer form stating if this was not filled out, Miss J would not be transferred to the district school closer to our home. Maybe we wanted a transfer and maybe we didn't. In either event Martin loses his job and we have no idea where we'll be by August. Only a couple of weeks before school is to begin he gets the job and we can now plan.
I do an internet search on the school she's supposed to go to this year and the few parent comments I can dig out about the school are very negative about the principal, specifically, and administration in general. It's still considered because there will be bus service, and who knows whether these negative assessments are exceptions to the general feeling. We go to the school to talk to the principal about some concerns we have about Johnna and are told the principal will not be able to speak to us this week, but if we write her a letter, someone will get back with us. Something is wrong here. The principal can't be bothered by parents??? Those comments are ringing very true. I tell Martin we need to run - not walk - away from this school. We do.
We next check with a private school I've researched and liked, but there is no after-school program. The few daycare centers who pick up at this school will charge almost another $100 a week to an already strained tuition responsibility. This school is out.
Go back to the school she's enrolled in - the "good" school. Only now, they say her enrollment is tentative based on the county's decision on her placement. The principal meets Martin to address the other concerns with only a 20 minute delay. As far as public schools go, we really like this one.
The county calls Martin back telling him there's no way Johnna can go to the school she went to last year, enrollment is at capacity. She'll have to go to the principal-who-will-not-speak-with-parents school. The administrator then yells at him for waiting so long to address this issue. Uh, we went on the information YOUR county provided, and Johnna IS registered in a school.
In the meantime, principal from "good" school looks into our concerns about Johnna's education and decides to ignore evidence published by the county and should she end up at this "good" school. the request we made WILL be denied.
For crying out loud! This is becoming a real nightmare. Two business days before school begins.
By this time we realize that the public school system has firmly encased Johnna into an assigned box and nothing outside the one-size-fits-all assignment will be considered. Forget the child, much more importantly, there's costs and objectives the school has to meet. No way is she going to go to a public school. We'll have to trust that God will provide the means to put her in the right place.
And so... since beginning this post - while running amuk otherwise - we've decided on a private school for Johnna. It's close, it has an excellent ASP, extremely low teacher to student ratio (1:6) and an interesting teaching structure she'll benefit from. It is not a faith-based school as we had hoped and only hosts students up to 3rd grade. Who knows where any of us will be two years from now - I might even manage to graduate college and find gainful employment in that time. It will be a scramble getting her enrolled by Monday (the first day of school in our county) but even so, will have all our concerns addressed and keep Johnna as a person versus a county statistic.
Square peg and now square hole. Mission accomplished!
Subject at hand is public schools and our charge. What a mess!
At the end of the school year the school sent home a transfer form stating if this was not filled out, Miss J would not be transferred to the district school closer to our home. Maybe we wanted a transfer and maybe we didn't. In either event Martin loses his job and we have no idea where we'll be by August. Only a couple of weeks before school is to begin he gets the job and we can now plan.
I do an internet search on the school she's supposed to go to this year and the few parent comments I can dig out about the school are very negative about the principal, specifically, and administration in general. It's still considered because there will be bus service, and who knows whether these negative assessments are exceptions to the general feeling. We go to the school to talk to the principal about some concerns we have about Johnna and are told the principal will not be able to speak to us this week, but if we write her a letter, someone will get back with us. Something is wrong here. The principal can't be bothered by parents??? Those comments are ringing very true. I tell Martin we need to run - not walk - away from this school. We do.
We next check with a private school I've researched and liked, but there is no after-school program. The few daycare centers who pick up at this school will charge almost another $100 a week to an already strained tuition responsibility. This school is out.
Go back to the school she's enrolled in - the "good" school. Only now, they say her enrollment is tentative based on the county's decision on her placement. The principal meets Martin to address the other concerns with only a 20 minute delay. As far as public schools go, we really like this one.
The county calls Martin back telling him there's no way Johnna can go to the school she went to last year, enrollment is at capacity. She'll have to go to the principal-who-will-not-speak-with-parents school. The administrator then yells at him for waiting so long to address this issue. Uh, we went on the information YOUR county provided, and Johnna IS registered in a school.
In the meantime, principal from "good" school looks into our concerns about Johnna's education and decides to ignore evidence published by the county and should she end up at this "good" school. the request we made WILL be denied.
For crying out loud! This is becoming a real nightmare. Two business days before school begins.
By this time we realize that the public school system has firmly encased Johnna into an assigned box and nothing outside the one-size-fits-all assignment will be considered. Forget the child, much more importantly, there's costs and objectives the school has to meet. No way is she going to go to a public school. We'll have to trust that God will provide the means to put her in the right place.
And so... since beginning this post - while running amuk otherwise - we've decided on a private school for Johnna. It's close, it has an excellent ASP, extremely low teacher to student ratio (1:6) and an interesting teaching structure she'll benefit from. It is not a faith-based school as we had hoped and only hosts students up to 3rd grade. Who knows where any of us will be two years from now - I might even manage to graduate college and find gainful employment in that time. It will be a scramble getting her enrolled by Monday (the first day of school in our county) but even so, will have all our concerns addressed and keep Johnna as a person versus a county statistic.
Square peg and now square hole. Mission accomplished!