Friday, January 30, 2009

Light at the end of the tunnel

The Great Kindergarten Debate of '09 tunnel, that is!

I called our elementary school today to schedule a tour. The parent reviews on greatschools.com aren't favorable at all so I thought I would go & check it out myself. So I call this morning. Tour? Oh no! You just come in during the March "Roundup" (registration for Prek & K students) & you can look around then, if you want to. Um, no. I want to look now before I register her anywhere else.

What is interesting is that a friend of mine who is zoned for another school was given a tour this past week. Treated like a rock star & she left on cloud 9, forgetting that she had ever considered private school!

I called the school district to find out why the discrepancy in attitudes & was told that while they would like to think that ALL schools would open their doors to prospective parents/students, it was up to the principal to set the standard for their school. I understand the last thing any educator needs is a nutty parent walking around wondering if this setting was the right one for their little darling but really, if you don't have anything to hide why not let them come in & ease their worried little minds?

So I have written off this school & will tour what is known as "Choice #1" on Monday. I got a good vibe from the phone call I made today, was told to come by anytime & have spent time on their website & reading their Parent/Student Handbook. Let's hope it goes well & I can find something else to obsess over!

2 comments:

SissySees said...

Gah. I can see limiting tours (time spent, requiring a guide, etc.) but not doing them at all?! Pfst. Good luck!

knittingyoyo said...

The school I taught at would let parents drop by and get a "looksee" of classrooms and we also had a twice a year open day. I agree with you. I always wanted to know what was going on. I always said that my kids were to obey at school but they were my kids and I had the final say. Hope your tour goes well.