Parents and school involvement
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| Thu, 08-23-2007 - 8:49am |
My question stems from a personal experience. My middle child is starting kindergarten next week. I've become fairly close with one of my dd's friend's moms- this is her first child entering the school system. She WOH, I do not, plus I have experience with the school, so she's been calling me with questions and comments.
It started to go bad when she called to complain that the kindy orientation is during the day- when she is working. Then it led to complaints about the parents' read aloud program (when the kids are in library) and other opportunities for volunteerism in the school. I get that these things aren't convenient for her, but I'm getting annoyed with the complaining. How can the kids have an orientation at night when they go to school during the day? None of these events are mandatory for parents or kids. And plenty of activities are scheduled for evenings: Back to school night, the PTA picnic, etc.
She thinks because she can't participate, no one should be able to, apparently. Plenty of WOHP do show up for these things. I think she's being unrealistic if she thought she could put a couple of kids through school without ever taking a vacation day. Am I wrong? Am I missing something here?

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Oh yeah, one mile to the west would put me in the ocean, too! So I guess it's a little less than one mile for me. I'm quite lazy! (Although I'm jealous of you being 200 feet from the water -- we aren't that close!).
Seriously, I drove about 30 minutes each way (more if there was traffic) to get to DS2's preschool. I would have driven farther if I had to -- it was the only one of it's kind in the area and he absolutely needed it. And we would drive any of the kids if it were really important. But we have a great school right here, so I'm not going to go driving all over town and spend an extra $40,000/year to give each child a "perfect" school education. Heck, I don't know if it would be possible to get a perfect school in any event.
If you felt it was better for your dd to switch schools I certainly won't argue with you. You would know best. I worked in an elementary school office for a few years and I was referring more to the parents who came running to the office during the first week of school demanding that "little Johnny" be moved to a different class. IMO, parents have to be careful about preventing their kids from experiencing a less than ideal teacher, because that is just not how the real world works.
Robin
After we had kids, the school district was the deciding factor on where we lived. I agree that researching the district should be done before you move to an area.
Robin
even if you know you're going to private educate,it's nice to be in a good school district for potential resale. markets are driven better in good school districts than not.
otoh,there's always the inner loop million dollar sprawls,too. fantastic neighborhoods. not so fantastic school district. public school doesn't matter for the doctor,attorney whose going to private educate anyway.
Edited 9/7/2007 7:23 pm ET by egd3blessed
Good question.
Robin
Beautiful pictures!
Robin
Hazel has stated many times that she is involved with her dd schoolwork on a daily basis.
Robin
Resale is definitely a consideration. Good public schools=higher home prices. It is a win-win situation to live in a good school district.
Robin
We have alot of the same people each month and some months it is packed out, which is nice. Sometimes it is less because of things going on with school and activities but there is usually at least 30 or more people there.
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