G.'s Story: Part 1

Well now you know V. my third child. Are you ready for my 10 year old son "Rocker's" story G. ? His story doesn't start out as intense as Snowflake's V. but eventually gets worse. My oldest two children were in a charter school for a few years and this year is their first year homeschooling.  Before I start talking about how to get out of a charter school or any school system I'd like to share with you how the process works here in Boston to try to get into a Boston public school as well as our experience of how I got my son into a charter school.   

 Before I get into Rocker's G.'s story here is a little Boston Public backround of getting into school.
It starts off with good intentions where parents are trying to find a "good school" to put their child.   For the locals you know how the story goes around here.  For those of you who aren't from around here this is what tends to happend in Boston kind of like a given life cycle or right of passage to shool searching hell..  This begins 1 year prior to when the child is actually going to start kindergarden.  Here are the steps.  In the fall  parents do the research  scores for the Massachusetts standardaized test scores( MCAS) and school rankings.  They talk to other parents, family, friends and get any information from word of mouth.  Based on this information the parents make a list of schools they would like to see.  All schools have an open house schedule in the fall  so parents can visit.  After visiting the schools, seeing classroms, possibly meeting teachers and/or principals the parents make a list of schools to put on the application in January of where they are hoping their child will be assigned.  In January parents fill out the application.  They then collect birth certificates to prove the child will of age to attend kindergarden in the fall.  They hunt down all the bills to prove residency.  Once the paperwork is submitted the waiting begins.  The lottery of where the child goes to school is I think around the end of February or beginning of  March. You can imagine the thick air of nerves around the city. Keep in mind that getting into any school is by  lottery.  But while the waiting is going on parents may consider one of the following a private school, charter school, metco program or just  move out of city altogether.  That in a nutshell what goes here in Boston to just get into kindergarden.  Remind you of any movies lately?

Much of this information is very stressful during the process especially for a parent going through this for the first time with their first child.  Did I go through this with my first born? Yes.  I took much of the same steps made a list, went to the open houses while dragging little ones with me, looked at test scores that didn't mean anything to me.  Then went on to list the schools on the application, collected and submitted the paperwork and then waited. 

While all this was going on information about charter schools came way and I decided to look into those.  I went to a charter school fair, submitted applications and then went on to visit one of the schools.  The parent meeting was interesting now that I think back.  It was quite impressive actually.  The principal gave us information, showed us slides, statistics and graphs. I was seduced.  At the time the school's student body was only a middle school.  The plan was to add on an elementary school kindergarden and first grade.  Then as each year goes by the student body grows.  What a great idea to get in there early on.  The principal was ambitous exctited about her program.  The grooming was starting to take place all the principal needed was the children in her hands.  And in the fall they would come.  I thought ok well this school will either be successful or a flop. 

In the spring I found out that my son did not get any school assignment for the Boston Public schools.  I had put down 7 schools as my choice and he was on the wait list for our second choice.  Fortunately he did get into the charter school. I thought great now he is in.
Little did I know at the time what I was going to be in for in the next few years.  My next segment should be called "True Adventures in a Charter school"