The past few weeks have been a struggle with getting Honeybun set up for Kindergarten. After she received her 5 year immunizations, I walked over to the Elementary school to officially register her. Well, turns out all Elementary schools in our area are closed on Fridays during the summer though this is not noted ANYWHERE.
So we tried again Monday and after completing the paperwork the secretary asked me to sign her up for a pre-screening assessment. Unfortunately we are taking Doodle to visit my family and will miss the ONE day they are doing the screening. They also did screening in June but we were told she couldn’t do the screening until after she was registered and we couldn’t register her until after she had her immunizations which she couldn’t do until after her birthday (whew, that’s a lot of explaining!).
So basically we got screwed out of getting her screened and have been fighting with the school ever since to trying to get them to screen her another time as the screening determines which class she will be in and we strongly feel she needs to be in the high achieving class since she’s such a fast learner (she can remember tiny details from insignificant events over a year ago). For almost two week we have been told that she will be placed in a class and screened when school starts and if she needs to be moved she will be moved to the advanced class.
Two problems here: 1) She’s 5 and starting at a brand new school, changing classes after getting settled does not sound like something she would do well with (example, the director at her dance studio wanted to bump her up a level mid-year and Honeybun refused to leave her friends); 2) I assume they fill the high achieving class with high achievers and I am not confident there will be a spot in which to move her.
So after hubby talked to the Assistant Principal twice, I took to e-mailing the principal. I explained our dilemma and concerns and reminded her we had met with her a few months ago to discuss our concerns. Amazingly I got a phone call the next day. The principal was seemed very understanding to our concerns and explained the screening they do also has a parent questionnaire they use to place children. Our concerns were somewhat relieved when she offered to let me do complete the questionnaire prior to school starting and assured me they would take it into consideration when placing Honeybun. She also informed me they will be under enrolled so each class will be small and there will be room to move children around and while I prefer not to have to move her, I feel better knowing it will be possible if necessary.
Two weeks ago I was ready to just keep Honeybun home and not do kindergarten, but I feel relieved to know the school is at least listening to our concerns (whether or not they are taking us seriously it’s hard to tell) and I am hopeful that we will have a good kindergarten year. We still have to fight the uniform battle (see “A Uniformed Education”) so will remain on the “Parents Black List” but my children’s education is not something I take lightly. I want them to achieve to their maximum abilities but more importantly, I want them to enjoy learning.
