This reminded me of a humorous point in my conference for DS. Of all the things they seemed most impressed by, it was his "retention" from last year. I kept wanting to say, "but....but....he didn't DO last year!" I mean really, given that he skipped 4th, what WERE they complimenting him on?

Dottie - I'm laughing till I cry over here! I'm so proud of you for smiling and nodding at that moment. Isn't that what we are trying to teach our kids to do in those situations.

Life is so strange. BTW, I've hung out with our Dottie, and she is nothing like the people in that first town.

smiles,
Trinity

Gosh thanks, !

I'm off to the dentist...of all places! Ah, if only.........

(As luck would have it, DD13 is scheduled to be fully clothed and in gym class at our scheduled pick up time, !)

I just found out another wrinkle:

Our school (and district!) are over-crowded and the kids are assigned priority by their enrollment dates. For example, if there are not enough seats in 2nd grade at a particular school the children with the most recent enrollment dates are "overloaded" to another school. The overloaded students are bounced around, sometimes attending 2 or 3 different schools within the first two months! It's something I really want to avoid... Anyway, if DS skips to 2nd grade his enrollment date will be a year later than most of the kids in that grade. I heard from another parent that two kids who skipped from K to 2nd last year were overloaded.

Cathy

Oh Cathy!
Nothing is easy, is it? Although having a district where you know of 2 kids who skipped from K to 2nd in a single year is pretty amazing. ((Drooling on Keyboard))

Seriously, do the overload kids keep bouncing after the first two months? What happens the year after that?

Curious set-up, isn't it?
Trinity

I think they stay put after the first two months unless a spot opens up in their neighborhood school. Then they are given the option to stay put or take the spot.

The same kids can potentially be overloaded again the next year (unless some hapless soul moves into the district and has a more recent enrollment date.)

Cathy

Can you look at past years to get an idea of if the child faces this "overload" thing year after year? My guess would be that many kids do move into the district, and it would be unusual to be bounced year after year.

Reason I'm asking, is, that depending on the kid, and you know yours best, being bounced around for one year in 2nd grade for two months or less, wouldn't be more than a temporary inconviences. I think the kids are young enough that they follow the teacher's lead. For my own son, changing schools every few weeks would have been fine, if it was explained to him upfront that it was going to happen, and why.

That last chance to switch to the neighborhood school sounds both appealing and scary. One one hand, being offered a spot in the room of the least wanted teacher isn't appealing, on the other hand, being able to leave a bad situation without penalty is appealing. Too bad they won't cluster the "skippers" together as they travel from school to school.

Smiles,
Trinity

Ouch, Cathy, what an awful school policy!

Something like that would be extremely hard on my kids, DD has a great deal of difficulty just not knowing who her teacher will be until August. DS has enough trouble with new social situations that I don't think we would be able to get him to school at all.

You may not be able to effect a change in time for your decision, but if I were you I would be writing and speaking to the school board members, school superintendent, and relevant assistant supers (if any). Politely, of course.

As you can imagine, this is not a popular policy with the parents. Every year it is the subject of heated debate in school board meetings. It all comes down to finances. Using this scheme, all the classrooms in all the schools are near 100% capacity. That way the district employs only as many teachers as necessary and maintains only as many buildings as necessary. Yes, the teachers are jerked around like the students and moved from school to school or "let go" to maintain optimum efficiency.