Thursday, April 26, 2007

School mess

Very Herodotus asked, Ok, I'm confused. What do you mean when you say if you are late with the forms then you have to live with whatever you got from the district? Wouldn't your kids by default go to the nearest local school? It sounds like you're saying the school district will decide what school to send your kid to, and maybe your next door neighbor's kids are at a different school?

Exactly. It isn’t random, though. What happens is simple. We have 60 openings for kindergarten per year at our school. Some years, only 45 kids are coming in and anybody who wants to go to our school – even those who technically belong at other schools, are welcomed in.

Other years, we have 75 kids who technically belong at this school – but still only 60 openings. 60 will get in, the other 15 will end up elsewhere. They start at the next school out in the ring, but if they happen to be full as well, they keep moving outward.

“Usually” you will end up at ‘your’ school. But then there is that ‘occasionally’ that happens and you end up somewhere else. If you missed the sibling deadline but hit the regular registration one, you still get in line ahead of all the folks trying to an interdistrict transfer this year – but if you missed the regular registration as well, you’re at the back of the line.

Clear as mud? Good. Glad I could help out there.

Now. Let’s go over the various schedules for fourth, second and kindergarten grades, all over which overlap but none of which are exactly-precisely in sync…

5 comments:

Amy Lane said...

makes sense to me... my oldest (now 14) is in special ed classes--the best part of that? He gets put in special programs which dictate his school--and they're usually some of the best schools in the district. The bad part? His sister (almost two years younger but only one year behind him) has only been in the same school with him for the last two years... two back to school nights, two sets of registration, etc. etc. etc.

Science PhD Mom said...

Ug. You are not making me look forward to finding a preschool for DD for this fall. I am probably too late, and she will be doomed to mediocrity by the lackluster level of diligence displayed by her dotty mom (aka, me). *sigh* Will the injustices ever cease?

21stCenturyMom said...

Good thing you are moving - not that many other districts don't have the same problem but SOME of them at least attempt to coordinate their efforts. They also give you a reasonable amount of time to get your paperwork done.

Kate (Kiss My Frog) said...

I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for the NSW Dept of Education! That truly sounds like the most unbelievable shitfight of a school system! Maybe you should consider moving the Denizens to the wonderful land of Oz: it's not perfect, but it's better than that mess. Here, the school gets assigned teachers according to how many kids are enrolled, so if we get extra kids, they get an extra teacher.

Very Herodotus said...

Thanks for the explanation! My kids aren't in school yet, and I grew up in a small town so everyone for miles and miles around went to the same elementary school. Some of our grandparents even went to that school, when it used to be the only school for miles, serving all grades, and had dorms for boarding the kids that lived far away. My elementary school is now a historical landmark.