Archive for June, 2008
Torn Between Two Schools, Feeling Like a Fool….
Which School do I support?
I can’t help but wonder how it will make sense to divide my resources between our Neighborhood School and the New Gifted School (where our son will be attending this Fall.) I’ve been involved with the Neighborhood School for over 2 years now and I’m very emotionally tied to the place, even though I’m not currently a school parent AND I will on the LSC there for the next two years as a community member.
I also strongly believe that everyone in the city should support their neighborhood school. In a purely selfish sense, it increases all our property values to have a great local school within walking distance. It also improves the community aspect of the neighborhood to have the kids attending school together.
However…our son will be attending his new school specifically for the new Regional Gifted Program they’re opening. Even though it would be so great to walk to the Neighborhood School every day, we felt compelled to give the gifted thing a try. (Despite the occasional panic that he will promptly flunk out within the first month.) So of course I want to be actively involved in my son’s school. It certainly makes sense to be part of the parent group there and the “Friends Of” group, since all the fundraising and volunteer effort will make it a better place for my son. Also, after running up the learning curve at the Neighborhood School, I feel like I have a lot of ideas and input to share at the new place. So I was really excited to dive in over there.
About a month ago though, I had an interesting conversation with a mom who lives in the New Gifted School district but sends her kids to private school (New Gifted School is a neighborhood school as well.) She was complaining that the school isn’t doing much to attract people like her to attend. She noted that she’s always at the school playground with her kids, but the principal never comes out to introduce herself. She’s thought about going to the fundraisers, but all they’ve done is “leave a baggie on her door.” Basically, she was saying (truthfully) that New Gifted School just doesn’t get the marketing angle of the business. She’s right. There are very few CPS schools that really GET IT when it comes to attracting new families. It just isn’t their business. Education is. I admitted there was probably more they could do and promised her that come the Fall, I’d be eagerly doing my part to make it happen there! Look out school, here comes one Gung Ho mom!
Then after I got home, I started re-thinking it… why should I bust my butt to increase the property values in HER neighborhood? I’ve been doing it at the Neighborhood School for 2 years and my kid doesn’t go there! Shouldn’t she do the same at New Gifted School if she wants a good neighborhood school (which she claims she does… of course who wouldn’t if you can get it without lifting a finger?) Why doesn’t she actually step foot in the place suggest some ideas? Offer to help out at the school? Go out on a freezing cold night taping flyer to lamp-posts (OK, I just did that a few times, but the whipping winds and overly sticky tape still haunt me.)
It left me feeling torn. I only have so many hours in a week to help out. Where do I donate my time? My Box Tops? My school auction budget? My Target Red Card dollars?
I suppose I may have to wait for the Fall to see how I feel. New Gifted School doesn’t really feel like “our” school just yet but I’m guessing that will change after my son has been there a while.
For now, the Box Tops remain uncommitted in a baggie.
Add comment June 23, 2008
Oh God, what have we done? (Part 1)
I had a conversation today that put me into a panic about entering CPS (I am guessing what will be my first among many.) I had a nice young woman come over to meet us as a potential babysitter. She works as a Kindergarten/First grade teacher in CPS.. in a big, big school on the West side. Of course I had to ask her subtley interrogate her. I don’t get the teacher POV very often so I was a bit out of my element. The “insiders” have a slightly different viewpoint than the parents do, I’m finding (I was tipped off by her comment of “wow, I would hate dealing with all those parents” as I started giving her background in my school involvement history.)
She seems like an intelligent, capable person – the type I’d easily hire for a job in the business sector. The type who will probably have ideas about how to improve CPS that will never get heard, let alone implemented.
The school where she teaches exemplifies the problems of CPS. The student body is huge and she told me how the principal is busy dealing with things like gangs and fighting. Parents are not involved. Test scores are low, yet the principal can barely focus on academics when she’s trying to keep kids and teachers safe. (I remind myself that near here, the schools are smaller and safer, something I am grateful for.)
It was her feedback about the big class sizes was more relevant (and frankly frightening) to me. I asked about the experience of teaching a large class with no aide and she said it was “challenging.” “It’s all about the management” she said. It took her a few years to figure out how to do it. (No mentors? No advice from the principal?) She had continued with one class for Kindergarten and First grade which helped make classroom management easier in year two. It’s a good idea which I’d never thought about before. The kids know the drill right from day one which must help immensely.
So ugh. I’m sending my son into an environment where he will be “managed?” It just sounds a bit too much like the army and not the type of place where he’ll be inspired.
Oh, how much better I’ll feel if I run across a few CPS teachers who say “I LOVE my job!” Or a principal. I asked the Bell principal on my tour what the most challenging part of his job was and he said it was dealing with the bureaucracy of CPS. He has ideas that can’t be implemented for one rigid reason or another and frustrations with the systme abound.
Can parental involvement/interest/silent auctions/raffles really overcome this behemoth of bureaucracy and inefficiency? Sometimes I wonder….
2 comments June 17, 2008
Black Market Box Tops
One of the strangest things I’ve run across in my school involvement is related to the Box Tops for Education program. I run the program with minimal effort at our Neighborhood School. There is a whole web site devoted to this program where coordinators can share their ideas to increase participation. Some schools go hogwild, offering contests and prizes for the class or kid who bring in the most box tops.
I haven’t made this level of effort, although I did spring some cash to buy a giant collection box for the school office and some Box Top brand Ziploc bags for the kids to collect in. There are many lower-income families at the school who probably are not buying many name brand items and I don’t want to make any kid feel like they can’t have a fair shot at a contest. Actually, even I am buying fewer name brands these days now that I think about it.
I recently found out that people across the country are SELLING box tops that they save on ebay! They collect them and cut them neatly and sell for their face value or HIGHER! (That is 10 cents each.) OK, I guess I can see why people would sell them to get money, despite it being verboten by the Box Tops company. But why on earth would people BUY them?!?
According to the Box Tops message boards, people go on ebay to buy gobs of them to submit for these school contests so their kid can win the prize. Or so their kid isn’t the only loser in the class not submitting Box Tops. This is just too weird to comprehend. I don’t know whether I think its worse that the school puts enough pressure on parents to buy contraband Box Tops or that parents want to get an easy win for their kids.
Clearly I will never make it into the Box Top Coordinators hall of fame.
Add comment June 13, 2008
Private vs Public?
One of the big questions that weighed on my mind during our Kindergarten decision was the benefit of private school over public. Our situation was a bit different because our private school experience would also combine the Montessori method, making it hard to isolate the private vs public factors but I felt I needed to figure out whether the benefits of paying almost $11K in tuition would get us something worthwhile.
The obvious benefit of private school in Chicago is the class size. You can’t really argue with having 20 or fewer kids with 1-2 teachers compared to CPS who allow up to 30 with 1 teacher. I know (I KNOW!) that “a good teacher can handle a big class.” But let’s face it – the union situation with the CPS teachers ain’t exactly breeding the best of the best. If I were guaranteed of getting one of those good teachers, I’d be in for sure. To alleviate my fears, several people have told me that during the Baby-Boom era, elementary classes could easily have had 40 – 50 kids. “And they turned out fine.” Well, they turned out fine because the Boomers’ sheer mass has allowed them to dominate U.S. culture and policy for a while now. And BTW, don’t I want my kid, my child with UNLIMITED potential to be more than “fine”?! Of course I do! That’s why I’m sitting here writing this blog instead of watching Swingtime on TV.
I suspect that the teachers in private schools are somehow better because if they aren’t, they can be fired – unlike in CPS. On the other hand, I believe that private schools probably pay their teacher less than in CPS or the top suburbs so maybe the teachers AREN’T better. Or maybe they are better because they are doing for the love of the job, not the pay. Argh! I guess it’s impossible to say which are better. Subjectively, I’d go with private. I know (I KNOW!) there are fantastic teachers in CPS. But as my neighbor told me (who has a daughter in high school,) “She has had some fabulous teachers and others who… well, lets just say that if some of them were found dead in the parking lot with a drill in the head, it would probably be my doing.” This from a woman who I’d say is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. Yikes.
Certainly the smaller student body in private schools allows the staff and administration to really know each child and give them the personal attention they need. OK.. good. On the other hand, if your child is outside the norm in a private school (slow learner, ADHD kid) there are not typically the resources available to help them. OK… doesn’t matter since my kid will be perfect in school (ha.)
Let’s move to the important topic weighing on the mind of every parent of a 5-year-old. High school. According to a 2006 Chicago Magazine article, 14-18% of the kids in the selective high schools come from private/parochial school. Seems fair. However 30% of the kids at Northside College Prep (the high school with the top scores in the whole state) come from private/parochial. That seems pretty impressive, I gotta say.
The downsides of private school, in my opinion, are the small student bodies (can you really get an 8th grade crush on a kid you’ve been in class with since Kindergarten?), lack of diversity (both ethnic and socio-economic) and of course the freakishly high price tag that could be redirected into a college fund. Or a new kitchen.
On to CPS. The advantages often include bigger student bodies (more options for friends and activities,) definitely more diversity, its free!, and importantly, the chance to work with your community to build a great local school.
But the downside, CPS can make a mother break into a cold sweat. Bureaucracy. Budget cuts. Teachers union. Big classes. Yucky bathrooms. A general sense of chaos. Weird-smelling hot lunches. And worst of all, just today my son asked me if there would be bullies at his new school. At his private Montessori I could have given an unqualified “No!” (private schools can get rid of the trouble-makers.) Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same about CPS. It’s a scarier environment with lots of big kids running around, parents who are less-involved, and ultimately the school must take the neighborhood kids whether they’re angels or bullies.
In the end, my personal conclusion was that private schools probably have more a personal and academic focus (they better for that price!!) I’m just not sure if the benefits are worth paying thousands and thousands of dollars for over a decade. I have to believe that if we make education a priority in our household that our son can learn nearly as much in CPS. If we work with the school and work along with other parents to push for progressive education and engaging classroom activities, we can get pretty close to what we’d get at a private school. I don’t think it can happen unless parents get involved. But I’m hopeful that if we all demand it, we can get it.
Add comment June 12, 2008
Kindergarten Craziness
The Kindergarten decision. In Chicago, the stress involved is as great as applying to college. Or come to think of it, maybe more stressful. At least for college the child in question will share in the decision-making, sparing the parent the burden of single-handedly choosing the “wrong” school and messing up their kid for life. For now, it is up to us to make the call, wondering what the 8th grade version of our child will be like and what type of education/environment is best suited for this nebulous concept of a child. (Of course most of us are envisioning studious, vibrant, and talkative 8th grade offspring who have developed a true love of learning rather than the type who will roll their eyes at us, slack on their homework, mumble answers to our questions, and cause various types of trouble at school.)
And Kindergarten Chicago style is more crazy than any friends in the suburbs or other states can even imagine: Touring schools, sending out lottery applications, gifted/classical testing, application fees, play parties, reading message boards, shmoozing principals, talking to random strangers at the playground…. it is almost enough to drive one to the suburbs. Yet we persist. And pray to the Gods of the CPS lottery hoping we’ll hit the jackpot.
I have been preparing for and anticipating the Kindergarten decision for over 2 years. Half my son’s life, in fact. And now, with a brain full of knowledge and experience, I feel the need to continue charting my progress as we dive head first into CPS. I’d also like a place to share information with other parents who are going through this strange and interesting journey.
At the aquarium the other day, my son and I threw pennies into the fountain and made a wish. He wished for a machine that could transform him into a robot. I wished for a good school experience for him. Not to be selfish, but I hope mine comes true before his does (although I could put that robot to work around the house….)
1 comment June 10, 2008
