About School

After John Stossel's report on schools last year, I was pretty determined not to just settle for the school Boo was drafted into because we live within the boundaries. I began to research schools within about a 50-mile radius.

There was one thing that was troubling me about my neighborhood school. We relocated, Taz, my step-daughter about two years ago from another school to the school in my neighborhood, and although API scores and test scores were similarly high in both Taz's schools, I could see that the workload was much less at the new school. The skill building seemed to be less, and something was missing.

After studying my local school and several of the charter schools, I narrowed my choice to three schools, the local school, a charter school that emphasized an international curriculum, and a school that seemed to focus on character building along with strong academics.

The school with the international curriculum selected only by lottery, and we weren't lucky, so that ruled out that school as an option. Then I had the two other schools to pick from. The character-building school worked on a first come first serve basis, so I applied very early and we got in, but I still wasn't quite sure.

Here was my list of pluses and minuses for the schools:

Local School

PLUSES

1. It's close to home.
2. Friends would be close.
3. High API score and test scores.

MINUSES

1. Only 3 hours a day doesn't seem long enough.
2. Much focus on wearing the right label clothes.
3. No diversity. In fact, I've witnessed some racism.
4. It's overcrowded.
5. I am guessing maybe they teach to the tests, and do much red shirting, because Boo was red shirted out at a pre-kindergarten screening offered by the school, even though she can read and do some basic math. Her fine motor skills were behind, and when offered help, she told a teacher, "No, I can do it myself." The teacher said that she should spend another year in preschool. (I'd still send her to this school if I thought it was the best one.)
6. The school's main entrance is off a major highway, and there is often no parking except on the highway, so for many occasions, children have to be walked down by speeding traffic to the school.

The Charter School

PLUSES

1. School is 6 hours a day.
2. Children wear uniforms.
3. It's a diverse environment.
4. School focuses on building socially aware leaders.
5. School requires parent involvement.
6. The curriculum is individualized. The school takes every child of qualifying age, and if the child falls behind, tutoring is built into the program, and if a child is ahead, they move the child forward in those subjects.
7. The teachers start talking about the child's college path in kindergarten.
8. I get a great feeling every time I walk into this school, and meet the people running it.

MINUSES

1. It's a longer drive by about 30 minutes each way.
2. School friends won't be as close.
3. We will be the minority, as most of the students are children of color, and we are not. Should this matter?
4. Lower API and test scores, although climbing rapidly in the 4 years the school has existed.
5. People tell me the school is in the "worst neighborhood" in town. (I've never felt unsafe there.)

Well that's how it stacks up. I was a little uncertain before parent orientation the other day, but I thought the principal was great, and in my gut, I feel like this school is the act to beat. What would you do?