Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Skool Dayz

Last January I put Daphne into the lottery for three charter schools within 15 minutes of my house. By March, all three had replied that she did not get in. Her lowest position on their waiting lists was 23rd, and her highest was 78th. So since that time I've been scrambling to find a better school to send Daphne to than our local one (which sucks royally). I had finally decided on a public school about 10 minutes away that got exceptionally high scores on their national tests and got great reviews from the other mom I know who sends her kids there. I have been waiting since March for the final word from their principal to say she will be allowed in (they take out-of-boundaries kids, but only if there is space after the regular in-boundaries kids are registered).

Then this morning I got a call from one of the charters saying she was accepted if I still wanted her in. I was kind of leaning towards not. I'd have to buy uniforms (and in all likelihood would send her somewhere else for 1st grade, either because we had moved--hope, hope, hope--or because this charter was my least favorite of the three), and I just wasn't crazy about the school mission statement/curriculum. But I decided to take her in for her assessment testing anyway, just in case. You never know how things will shake down between May and September.

During Daphne's assessment, I read through the literature they gave me on how they run the elementary school, what her curriculum would be, what projects they would do, etc. It actually impressed me a lot more than the online mission statement had done. It looked pretty fun! Next I took the liberty of exploring the kindergarten classroom while Daphne recited her ABC's to the teacher. That's when I saw this...



Should I be worried???


**Ironically, not an hour after I got home from the charter assessment, the public school I'd been holding out for called to say that the principal had denied all out-of-boundaries requests! So I guess the phonics libary school is it. Heaven help us!

12 comments:

just call me jo said...

Ain't education grand! There should be something like spell checker for those things...

Kristina P. said...

Haha. Oh, the irony.

Tiffany said...

Charter school: FAIL!

I can hardly handle how funny this is.

Good luck finding a school, btw.

Nicki said...

I have James in a charter school and absolutely LOVE it...but...the first email I ever got from his kindergarten teacher had a couple misspelled words and I totally questioned my choice at the time. I think she is the most perfect kindergarten teacher now, grammar mistakes and all!

sevenalstons said...

It'll be okay (although that phonics library photo is pretty darn funny... to someone who isn't sending her child there!). Kindergarten is important but you can always supplement at home if you need to. I know... more work for mom (that's what I'd be thinking anyway :) Trust me, it gets a lot harder to supplement as they get older. And like you said, you can always switch schools next year if you need to.

bel said...

That's how some children pronounce it, right? So it's phonetic.

Mia said...

Ugh. Oh man that is funny (and disheartening). I remember thinking when we bought our house, and all the realtor could talk about was school districts (her son was a senior in HS), that there was no way I would care this much about the schools when my kids finally started going, and it turns out I do. Funny how that works. I so hope you end up loving this charter school, that Daphne loves it, and that if you don't you find a better option. Fingers crossed!

CaraDee said...

How's that for timing? I assume you are "hoping" to move because of your neighborhood and not your house? Where's abouts?

Jen Hoppie said...

As one of your neighbors, I hope you DON'T want to move because of your neighborhood, but rather, because of the house!

Anonymous said...

Ha ha ha, I'm sure it will work out...

Mrs. O said...

I would totally take a black marker and write an R on that sign. Maybe when no one was looking, but I would do it.

Financial Aid for College said...

And your mother, who can't spell, didn't catch the word until she read the comments. HORRORS!