Switching Schools

About a week and a half ago, I turned in Anya's registration for St. Catherine school. She will be starting there in the Fall for first grade.

There are a few reasons for this.

Anya would probably say her Kindergarten experience at Wedgwood Elementary has been great and I would agree with that for the most part. It's a good school, with caring teachers/staff and is run well...especially considering all of the budgetary limitations.

I have major issues Seattle Public Schools (SPS) itself. My introduction to SPS has been a stressful one. Every two weeks or so, there has been some announcement/information that has either been stressful, frustrating or downright angering. This started back in September, not knowing if we were even having school until 8PM the night before the first day, due to possible teachers' strike (totally on the side of the teachers, btw). The latest one from last week is that the central office is cutting all of the schools' budgets. For Wedgwood, that means losing 1.5 teachers plus the head teacher unless our PTA can cover their salaries. This is while the central office gives raises to their staff and has a huge amount of funds in reserves. I don't feel PTAs should ever have to cover basic teacher salaries, but it's what we have to do if we want to keep the teachers. Apparently, this budgetary BS happens every year. It doesn't matter how many levies are passed and how much money comes in from local taxpayers. There's of course the issue of the state not fully funding education either. Since the PTAs cobble what they can together, there doesn't seem to be incentive by SPS or the state to make any changes to the (messed up) system.

I didn't quite intend to turn this into a rant, but there have been so many other issues. Another major one for our family is that SPS let families know to expect school boundaries to be redrawn every year. Unfortunately for us, we are on the border now and *every* time there have been re-draws, we've been moved. I refuse to go through this stress every year. Chances are Anya would have been grandfathered into elementary (although you can't assume anything with SPS), but we'd likely lose bus service at some point. The boundary changes come because SPS is at a capacity crisis. There just isn't enough room for the kids, especially in NE Seattle where we live. They are about 5 years behind on any improvements they make. Our elementary already has several portables. Looking ahead to middle school and high school does not paint a pretty picture.

We only have one child, so are fortunate to have the option of sending her to a private school. St. Catherine seems like a good fit. Our dear friends' daughter, Eloise attends, and they've had so many good things to say about it. While we aren't Catholic, Chris and I were both raised in that religion. Chris (and most of his extended family) attended Blanchet, the nearby Catholic high school. We figured starting Anya in Catholic school early would prepare her well for Blanchet. It might be a difficult transition if we waited until middle school.

Anya spend most of a day at the school in December to get a feel for it. She had a wonderful time, made instant friends, and the teachers said she fit in well. Of course, now that she's been at Wedgwood for most of the year and has made friends, she's attached, and no longer wants to leave. Hopefully it will go alright for her the first few days this fall. We are going to try to join in any summer-related activities the school puts on to make things easier for her, and so we can get to know some families.

For now, Anya will enjoy her last few months at Wedgwood, and I will try to not stress about the next thing SPS throws at us.