Thursday, August 28, 2008

Going to school

One of the first things we (read: Cate) did after we got here was get the kids enrolled in school. I think we knew that coming into a new school system in August was going to leave us behind the 8-ball; we just didn't realize how far behind.

But we got a piece of good news yesterday, and parlayed that into a second piece today: The kids got into our No. 2 school choice here in Minneapolis.

First choice was a magnet school, and we knew that was a long shot. But there's a perfectly good school about nine blocks from us, that we thought we would get into. Instead, that school had a waiting list in both fifth grade and first grade and we were assigned to a school three times as far away, with a bus pickup time of 6:47 a.m.!

Chew on that, InsideOut!

But Tuesday afternoon, Cate got called by the placement office and offered us a spot for Elizabeth in our No. 2 choice. After a phone call to mom's friend who works in the school system and some researching online, we felt pretty confident. Cate toured the facilities and deemed them acceptable. And we got them to take Robert as well. Spanish classes, computers in the classrooms, etc.

And classes there start at a more reasonable hour.

I never saw the school that so turned us off, but let's put it this way: On their tour of the other school, Robert rattled off three things that he liked about Forest Grove Elementary in Sterling and asked the principal if this school had them. They were 0-for-3.

If the 6-year-old knows that the school isn't as good, what else is there to say?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What were the three things???