Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Getting schooled

Last Friday we learned that our youngest, Quinn, had "won" a coveted magnet school slot for kindergarten in September. You see, there's a lottery that the city school district uses to place children in four of their twelve elementary buildings. These four schools have either unified themes (Arts and Humanities, Science & Technology) or particular instructional philosophies or techniques (Montesorri or Dual-Language). I think that the opportunity for students to be taught in a public bilingual setting, or using an established, but innovative method such as Montessori, is an option available in this area only in the Albany City School District. That being said, what I wanted for Quinn was the chance to attend the school which is literally at the end of our street. And, while I'd like to think that he has a talent for Arts and Humanities, his 5 years on the planet have not yet revealed that to be the case. Although, I do have some very fine examples of coloring from his "rainbow" period which I'd be happy to share upon request.

Our older boys were bussed across town to a school with which we've generally been happy, however, our ability to be closely involved with the school and its events, has been impacted by the distance. We initially chose this particular school, Eagle Point, because the kindergarten teachers were very highly regarded and the class size was amazingly small. School choice and small class size - try finding either of those things in a suburban district.

I am frequently asked where our children go to school, and when I respond "Albany City" the reaction is almost uniformly one of surprise. It seems that many (most?) people don't have confidence in urban school districts and elect to move to the suburbs rather than subject their children to an "inferior" educational experience. The district where I work is filled with students who attended Albany's schools until the-oh-so-dangerous-middle school days, at which point the families fled the city for a suburban, homogeneous educational experience. I've talked to these kids and, you know what, they were comfortable and challenged and happy in the city. I've never had a single one of them express fear or anxiety to me about attending a school with a diverse population. And, parents, FYI - middle school sucks everywhere, it is not just an urban issue. When you take a bunch of hormonal kids from various elementary buildings scattered around a geographic area and then throw them into a building together, please don't be surprised that things might be combustible.

Our kids go to public schools in the city in which we reside. Homes are less expensive in Albany than in many of the outlying areas, and this savings has provided us the opportunity to travel fairly frequently with our children. At this point, everyone in my home has a passport and is not afraid to use it. As a parent, I believe it is my job to expose my children to as many experiences as possible and I feel that placing my children in an environment in which they are surrounded almost exclusively by faces that directly match their own in skin tone, would be contrary to what I want for them. If we discover that our children are not able to be successful with our involvement and support, or if there is an opportunity that they are seeking which is not available in their respective schools, we will seek out options. Until that day, however, I will continue to believe in my family and in the city school district.

9 comments:

  1. Amen! And while we're on the topic of public schools (which you know I would philosophically love to send J. to if any special ed programs offered to us in NYC were appropriate) I'm also on board with making them pay for their own college! GASP! Let's penny pinch our whole way through their childhoods and skimp on experience so they can go to a "good" college? Imagine our college lives without jobs-- now THAT's a scary thought. xoxo

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  2. Erik's school has an abundance of diversity and I know for a fact that it has changed him as a person for the better. He enjoys the exposure and has learned a great deal from his peers. Juliana does not have as much diversity at school, but personally deals with it and has been exposed to diversity through our family experiences. She and Erik just love having 2 married uncles and do not know any different kind of life. In addition, we are hoping they are blessed with children. They have both learned so much about compassion, acceptance and that everyone is different. As a teacher, I have the experience of working with students who have not experienced diversity and I find it a very sad state of affairs. Those are the students who tend to bully others and just become down right rude. When you grow up in a school setting or a home setting that offers you the opportunity to see the world and the multitude of personalities in this world, you learn to accept all circumstances that come your way.

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  3. I'm all for diversity, and I would have loved it if my educational experience (k-12) was more diverse. But you can't fight the facts...BCHS graduates over 90% every year and Albany High graduates less than 50%.

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  4. @Anonymous - I agree that there is an incredible discrepancy between the graduation rates at BCHS and Albany High, but I believe it is really comparing apples and oranges. I would think things would appear a lot closer if we removed the disparity in household income and education levels.

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  5. I went to Albany public schools all the way through----didn't love them at all. I had some horrible grade school teachers who really turned me off to school. However there are resources at AHS that you don't find elsewhere upstate. If a kid is a good student going into AHS, he/she will only emerge smarter, more disciplined, and more self-sufficient. Might be true in the burbs,I never know and can say with confidence that I never will.
    Diversity is a priority for me. It bugs me that Gabe is the brownest and poorest kid in his nursery school. I'm ready to send him to pre-K.

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  6. We certainly considered sending our daughter to Albany public school, until they would not allow her into Kindergarten because her birthday is prior to the cut-off. After too many phone calls to too many administrators, we threw in the towel...Bureaucrats win!!

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  7. @Anonymous - It's too bad it didn't work out for your child to attend Albany public schools. I have friends who reluctantly moved to the 'burbs because their own teaching schedules made it essentially impossible for them to get their daughter to school and get themselves to their own schools due to start times. I don't really understand how her birthday being prior to the cut off was an issue - although I do completely understand the frustrations involved with dealing with any bureaucracy.

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  8. Several years ago I was chatting with a Social Worker who worked at one of my schools, and he related the fact that his kids went to Schenectady City Schools. My surprise at this was evident, and he went on to tell me that his kids had many more opportunities than some of the suburban kids and that both kids got into excellent colleges. Apparently Schenectady City even has an International Baccalaureate!

    A young lady on the news a few weeks ago said something quite profound on the subject of inner city schools. She was an Albany High student who was being interviewed after some incident there, and she said, "People need to stop blaming the school for everything and remember that a lot of the problems here have to do with a student's home life". Having worked in inner city schools as well as in Suburban Council I can attest that the young lady really said a mouthful...a school is only as good as the parents behind it.

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  9. we received the same response from the district as well regarding our daughters age for kindergarten, that she was 2 months too old to be enrolled and that she would go right into 1st grade. it's too bad that you didn't pursue this issure further bc after a few months and calls to higher ups, we found out this week that yes, our daughter can enroll in kindergarten. i don't know if it helped our case or not, but i told one of the admins that just bc it's board policy doesn't mean it's best practice. i'm glad we now have this option although in the meantime we have applied to private schools as well.

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