Kindergarten Decisions
Next week we will be attending the elementary school "round up". From what I can tell, it's a chance to meet the teachers and begin the registration process. With the "holy cows, that snuck up on me fast" realization that it's time to get serious and get my documents located for registration, I started to ask others with school age kids about the schools they chose.
Bad idea. All it did was make me second guess a lot of things. If you dare, weed through this thought process but in the end, unless something really sets the internal mom alarm off next week, Miller is going to the school a half mile from our house.
When we moved to this area, part of the reason was for decent schools. Little did I know that literally the year we moved, the school slipped from an A school to a B school. Meh, how bad can it be, right? My thought process on school is that it's the people your children hang around with and the involvement at home that helps make the child successful. My kid isn't stupid so as long as we can find a way to keep him challenged and engaged, he will be fine.
Second thought on the matter, did I mention it's a public school half a mile from home and has after care on site? Hello $$$ saver. Private school is a consideration for when he's older (and ideally it's called college not middle or high school).
Then the magnet school and charter school opinions rolled in. Luckily almost all agreed, charter is iffy at this stage in the game in FL. Magnet schools...seems the only people really interested in them have little girls that are definitely on the theatrical/performing arts track AND their zoned schools are questionable. I changed majors in college several times. I couldn't imagine putting Miller in a track at 5 years old!
One of the school teachers at day care said her kids went to the school we are looking at. She knows some of the teachers and had good reviews. The neighbors down the street also had positive comments. The only problem, both sets of kids are already in high school so things may have changed.
Coming full circle, I went on their website and found it outdated. I googled some other things on the school and all of the parent comments were good but again, outdated. The state test results had the school above the average for the state and the nation so I can't complain there (again, a few year old results). This had me second guessing myself.
This morning I looked at a few other schools and found the websites are basically a Broward County template. Some had newer info but most of the links didn't work. Whew, made me feel less annoyed with the school I was looking at.
I did also find out they have a new principal this year. That could be a good thing in bringing the test scores and school around if it was a staffing issue. So...as I mentioned, long story short, we are still looking at the school next door as our only option.
PS-they do require uniforms so I am glad Miller has gotten used to his. One less battle to fight next fall.
posted by Erin @ 8:05 AM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
It's too bad that here in FL we have to think like this and second guess the quality of our public school options.
I agree that family and friends are one of the biggest influences in the child's academic success, but at the same time, I think that early elementary school sets the tone for a child's attitude for his or her entire academic performance.
Either way, it's a tough call trying balance the choices in cost/convenience with quality. And like I said, it saddens me that we even have to make that kind of choice!
You're putting way too much thought and emphasis on Kindergarten...you'll find that all they do is color all day, go to the library and recess. Seriously, let the kids be kids until later in grade school. Kyle is engaged, thoughtful, respectful and learning just doing basic kid things in K....and trust me, you'll be shelling out just as much for "public" school as "private" with the NON STOP fund-raising this and that...UGH
Kevin, you wrote what I was thinking. I am glad Miller and Kyle aren't in the same school because those two would be in the principal's office too often.
The B rating might not be as bad as it sounds. When a school has been an A for a long time, it gets harder and harder to stay an A because you have to keep making a certain percentage of gains. At least that's how it worked when I was teaching. And that only applies to the 4th and 5th grade teachers technically so you have a few years to give it a try! :)
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