Well a few months ago, I was out to lunch with a few other women who live in my neighborhood, and one of them started telling me about the charter school she sends her kids to. This was the first time I had ever heard of charter school. She had lots of praise to say about it, and because it is a public charter school it is as free as the district public school is. So I started giving it some thought.
I asked people that I knew what they thought of charter schools. I people had both good and bad to say, but most people were a little wary. Here are a few examples of the cautionary reviews I got.
- "If they aren't under a district, who knows what they could be teaching your kids."
- "Not all charter schools in this state higher certified teachers. You need to check and see if they are certified."
- "I don't know that it really matters that much where you send your kids to school, in elementary."
Then the school had an open house. My husband and I went and visited and talked to people at the school. Of course it was a night that was geared to convince people to send their kids there, so everything I heard was good. I asked about some of the negative things I had heard about charter schools in general, and I was happy with the answers that I got.
- They have really good curriculum, and have to meet guidelines imposed by the state. They teach the kids on a higher level than what you find in most district schools. For example, in kindergarten the children aren't just taught the alphabet, but are also taught how to read basic words. In math they learn basic addition and subtraction.
- They require all of their teachers to be certified in this state.
- The school offers really awesome extra curricular programs for the older elementary students (3rd through 6th grade). They have a drama club, ballroom, chess, choirs and orchestra, a homework club, a Korean club, a Spanish club and a science club.
My husband and I left that night, feeling like enrolling our daughter there would be a good choice.
The school has you enter your child's name in a drawing, and they pick who gets to attend. Children who's parents were the founders of the school, or have siblings there are given first priority, then after that it is luck of the draw. So I entered Cinderella's name. Now I knew that it was possible that she wouldn't be drawn, but that she could be. So I continued to research my options.
From my perspective, the only thing that the district school had over the charter school is location. Our local district elementary is only .8 miles from my house, and the charter school is 3.2 miles. OK so 3.2 still isn't that far away, but compared to .8 which is close enough that we can walk there in good weather, plus when you take in account the time that it takes to wait in the pick up/drop off line, and possibly stop lights, it could take an hour out of my day just to take her to school, and pick her up. That is a lot of time in the car.
So I had pretty much decided that we would go with the district school.
Then in February, it came time for Kindergarten registration. Accept I never found out about it, until a few days after. Now I know it isn't that big a deal, and I can take her in at any time during school hours and register her, if I have healthy kids and remember. Which unfortunately hasn't happened to coincide since then yet. So I still haven't registered her. "No problem. I'll still do it." I think.
Then yesterday, I happened to be looking at the blog of my neighbor who's children attend the charter school. They had had a ballroom competition, and the mother had taken some pictures. This reminded me of the extra curricular options. The school district that my parents live in, has had some problems lately due to a split in the district. The split caused a major deficit. To make up for this deficit the district has been cutting a lot of things. Many employees, teachers and others and loosing their jobs. They are doing away with a lot of the extra curricular activities the students could participate in. I also am aware that in our current economy there just aren't as much funds to go around and a lot of state programs are getting a cut in their finances as well, and there is talk of cutting funding for schools state wide. Now I know that this will affect state charter schools as well, but this particular charter school, at least in the past, has tried to balance it's budget in other ways than cutting programs. In our district the schools don't do field trips anymore, because of lack of funding. But the charter school, at least of this school year, is still doing field trips.
Anyway all of this was tumbling around in my brain suggesting that maybe I should give the charter school idea some more thought.
And then I read a different friends blog, about trying to make the choice about sending her son to a charter school. A lot of her friends had some good arguments that I hadn't thought of before.
One is that you can start the year off at the charter school, but if you decide it isn't what you want to do after all, you can change your child's school to the district one. But if you start in the district one, you may never have another opportunity to get into the charter school.
Another is the sibling preference thing. If I put Cinderella in the charter school right now, when Guy gets to be school age, I will have an easier time getting him in the charter school, if that is what I want.
Also because the charter school moves at a faster pace then the district ones, the child won't have as hard a time trying to keep up, if they start in Kindergarten instead of a later grade.
So today I heard from the charter school. Cinderella was accepted. So now I have to figure out which is really the most important to me. And get her registered, for one of the schools. And I only have 2 weeks to decide.
I hope this post made sense and isn't just a bunch of ramblings. But if it confuses you, sorry.
7 comments:
Do the charter. We had B in a magnet school because we knew he was going to need to be challenged and engaged and figured that would be the best option. Kindergarten was great but he wasn't being challenged in 1st grade and we couldn't figure out why his teachers were giving him easy work in spite of me informing them about what he knew and was capable of, so we looked into other schools. Due to lack of communication from one the teachers, we were not aware that there was a power struggle going on for TWO MONTHS and B was not doing what was necessary to be challenged. By then, we were fed up with all the little things and decided to take a chance on applying for an International Baccalaureate school because I liked the program. He started last week and LOVES it. The classes are smaller and the program is established.
My point is, go for something extraordinary. Don't put her in a regular public school just because of the location. While regular public schools are great, other schools have so much more to offer, like smaller class sizes, varied approaches to learning, more carefully selected teachers, and extras. B is now getting Spanish lessons twice a week and is being taught by Inquiry-based learning (which his other school was SUPPOSED to be doing but wasn't) that allows kids to question and figure things out.
As you said, if you don't like it you can always move her later, but get into the more selective school while you can.
Take it! Remember you said you felt good about sending your daughter there! We only have public and private schools in our area, I would jump at the chance to enroll our children in a charter school.
Elementary schools DO matter. Not only for the curriculum, but also for the environment!
I think it's worth the extra travel time! Do it, do it, do it!
Just one shout out for the "public" school teacher. Whatever you decided please stick to it. The way that the state does funding for "public" elementary schools is they do a head count two weeks or so into school. Then the school are giving funding according to the number of students at that time. It always made me so made when parents decided AFTER that date to stick their kid back in "public" school. Because we were stuck with more kids and less money than we should have had.
There are so many good schools. Whatever you decided go for it 100%. A supportive parent is such a big part of education no matter where you go.
Ah! It made me "mad" not "made". :)
I have debated charter schools a couple of times, but gone against it once because we didn't get in and once because it just didn't work with our life at that point in time. So I'm not totally opposed to them. That said, there is a kindergarten teacher at our public school that is AMAZING!!! Two of my kids have had her and she is hands down one of the best teachers I have ever seen. If you do decided to do public school, please ask me her name so that you can make sure you request her. And as far as the after school stuff, our school does a lot of 4H programs after school so it's not officially school sponsored, but my kids have all had a lot of fun with it and you can't beat the value ($5 per club and they last for over 2 months). I'm really not trying to sway you one way or the other, just giving you more info so that you make the best decision for you. Good Luck!
Well, I for one, have had a great experience with my charter school (Itineris). Of course, it isn't a normal charter school, and doesn't have elementary school, but I love it! Even though we're grouped with Jordan School District, we get our money directly from the state, so we aren't bothered with the drastic budget cuts. Plus, its always nice to have a closer relationship with your teachers!!!
When I taught primary, all the kids went to different schools. Two were in different pre-schools, one was in a private school (challenger) and two were in different public schools. Because everyone went to different schools, it wasn't a big deal. But I think it might have been harder for a kid if everyone but him/her went to the same school. On the flip side, kids who don't attend the same school as the rest of the neighborhood may have more friends.
Congrats on Cinderella getting accepted to the charter school. I know you are facing a tough decision, but you will know what's best for YOUR family, whatever that may be.
Because of my daughter's diet restrictions, we plan to homeschool her at least through second grade. I found Utah Virtual Academy, an online charter school that looks great. While she will be learning at home, she will be able to progress at her own pace, and learn an accredited cirriculum. We also won't have to worry about her missing too much school if she has a gluten exposure.
We still have years to change our plans though. You are down to the wire. Good Luck!
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