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Friday, December 16, 2016

The point is not (and was not) to lambast a school

After my last blog about N's middle school and our resides middle school, a friend contacted me and was worried about her own choice to send her kid to N's middle school.  Did my post spark her worry?  Possibly....probably....and that wasn't my intent.

Lord knows, I understand the stewing that middle school decision-making unleashes so to think that I unleashed it in someone else makes me sad.  

I never said N's middle school is terrible.  It isn't.
It is overcrowded, and the layout is weird, and middle schoolers are just frequently assholes.
But that doesn't mean a school is terrible.
I certainly don't walk into her school and fear for my safety....or hers.

I had started this post anyway (before illness and death sidetracked my blogging), but I am compelled to say this in light of today's newspaper article about a small group of parents suing the school.  I am not saying these parents' children weren't bullied.  I know nothing about the case so it is entirely possible that their kids were bullied and experienced a living hell.  I have never personally witnessed bullying in my limited times there (subbing and volunteering), nor have I ever seen class changes when adults were not in the halls monitoring.  I can only say what I have seen with my own eyes.

Did kids buck me when I subbed there?  Yes, but it still didn't suck as bad as this 4th grade class.

N's middle school is a perfectly fine fit for N. It may not be a good fit for me because of the transportation, but I am willing (albeit with some whining on my blog) to transport because it is a good fit for her.

My post wasn't to lambast her school; it was to give kudos to the nearby school that doesn't get all the attention and "love." (Although given these lawsuits, N's school isn't currently getting any love either.)

My post was also to work through my own thoughts that N's school will not be a good fit for G.  They are entirely different people with vastly different temperaments.

I truly love my kids' elementary school, but there have been things and ARE things I don't like about it.  

I am definitely not liking the volume of 3rd-grade worksheets for homework, which are completely do-able when we have a normal stay-at-home evening.  But on an evening when we have something to do, having 2-3 worksheets (1 of which is usually 6 long-ass word problems) just about makes me come unglued.

I haven't loved the inconsistency of the afternoon bus in the past.....which (fingers crossed) hasn't been a problem this year.

As a general rule, I don't love it when teachers misspell content spelling words that they give the kids and then mark incorrect on spelling tests when the kid spells it correctly  (this did not happen to my child but to a friend's child).

No district, no school, no administration, no teacher, no student and no parent is perfect.

The "worst" school in the district is sometimes a hidden gem with a long-held bad rep that no longer applies, and the "golden child" school is sometimes resting on its laurels and not as great as it once was.  

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