much has been on my mind as of late. especially what we are going to do when isabel is old enough to start middle school. the current state of the school district has me in a tizzy. we purposely only looked for houses in royal oak because the district was a safe and enriching environment. i attended the schools, had numerous family members and friends who worked in the district, it was the only choice in our minds. then, isabel started kindergarten.
kindergarten wasn’t too bad, other than the fact that her teacher missed almost half of the year due to an elective surgery. oh and the principal chose to disregard the fact that another student in her class was being threatened by a classmate (whether or not the child would have acted on it is immaterial, it sets a bad precedent). attending functions at this school, what limited ones there were, was like walking through a wal-mart in hillsdale county. (not everyone, but enough)
we chose to pull her out after kindergarten and send her across town to the school based on the magnet and pod program. she has excelled. she has had wonderful teachers, with the exception of one tenured teacher who was suffering from alzheimer’s and a snotty long term sub while her 3rd grade teacher was on maternity leave. alas, the principal, who we loved and was the main reason we chose addams, is gone, and we are stuck with a neo-nazi in the guise of a barbie doll. we only have one more year there.
but what is starting to get to me is that everything is diminishing. the field trips are costing a lot more money (which we don’t have), even though prices of admission have stayed the same. do you mean to tell me that it costs $10 per student to transport them via bus? i doubt it, but as an example, one of the trips they went on this year in which they had parents drive was significantly less expensive.
but to be honest, i don’t mind chipping in an extra couple of dollars here and there to help offset classroom costs. in fact, i have said before i think it is ridiculous that the kids are not expected to provide their own paper, pencils, crayons, etc. and that the district supplies all of that.
i also wonder how much these consumable textbooks cost. for the district to buy each student one, each year…how much money and paper are wasted? what is wrong with them copying out of a hardcover book? the rules of grammar and mathematics do not change year after year.
enough with the money being wasted, what about money not being spent on the right things? did you know there are almost no honors programs at the middle school level any longer? i’m not saying my child is a genius, but one of the reasons i am digging in my heels about moving to the middle of nowhere is that i want there to be an array of educational programs and opportunities available for the girls. if we move to podunk, michigan the odds of them offering more than one foreign language or ap level courses are slim. but it turns out, royal oak may not be offering that many any longer.
and now on to safety.
my girls will not be going to the high school. when it comes time, hopefully we will be able to move. the stories that have come from staff at the school make me queasy. people who won’t even send their children to the school even though they live in district. guns? seriously? knives? numerous sexual assaults inside the building? these are crimes that have somehow not made it to the papers…why are the parents at this school not up in arms and storming the board office? this is royal oak, not detroit. one would think you could send your child to school without worrying if they are going to get caught in the middle of a knife fight or cornered in a classroom with tragic results. this is fucking royal oak! what the hell?
unless something drastic changes in this district, i don’t know how much longer we will be staying in it.
this is what has been weighing on my mind and i don’t know what to do about it. do i talk to administrators or board members? do i visit the schools or do i just throw in the towel and look at other districts?
