Round 2 -- Skunked Again

In an act of amazing efficiency, the school district was able to get our Round 2 acceptance letters out one day early. Ergo, I received Booper's assignment letter today. If you can call it an "assignment letter." Essentially, it said, "You'll get nothing and like it." I mean, who do you have to fuck to get your kid into kindergarten around here?

Let me back up: The letter told us that he did not get a spot in the Korean Immersion program, nor did he get a spot in any of the other schools we requested. He will remain in a waiting pool for the Korean Immersion, but the chances of that working out are slim to none. It would require that a family that already has a spot relinquish it for some reason. Historically, this is rare, and rarer still in these highly coveted language immersion programs. So how do you say, "You're fucked" in Korean.

So my child has no kindergarten assignment for next year. If we wanted to, we could check out some of the schools that still have spaces like The Asbestos Laden School or Cripsandbloods Elementary. The only good news is that he does have a spot in the lovely pre-K program at his current preschool where they will teach him to read and write and where he will have a wonderful year of stimulating curriculum with his current group of friends. So we can go through this bullshit again next year.

The preschool is great. In fact, the Caboose's class is do a project on cultural diversity. The teacher made them passports to travel the world. Their first destination was Africa. This week they went to Korea! All the Korean moms of beautiful Hapa children in this class (there are 3 half-Korean/half-white tots in just this class) brought in han bok and treats for the kids. It was wonderful.

Alright, I'm going off to mope somewhere.

A teeny tiny update

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I called the Educational Placement Center today for a little more information. I have a few clarifications to report: 1) The Round 2 letters are mailed on April 28th, so look for me to post results on the 29th or 30th. 2) As of COB today, there are 6 children in the waiting pool for Korean Immersion. That's actually not too bad. Last year there were 10. And of that 10, 2 families got spots. But they are not finished yet entering all the applications, so this number "changes daily." What they could not yet tell me is how many spots at the school are open. (Those who were offered seats had to accept them by March 21st, or they are offered to families in the waiting pool. Naturally, I'd like to know how many, if any, seats remain open.)

I will say one thing: The people who answer the phone at this place are always really friendly. You'd think, after months of dealing with neurotic parents, they would be kind of fed up. Maybe they are just drunk with power.

Round 2

Lacking the aforementioned Korean secret handshake, I sent the Handyman downtown with our school enrollment forms last week as planned. He had an enlightening visit. I am reluctant to post about this, just on the off chance that some how some way some one should read this and it would torpedo our chances. But suffice to say, we made the necessary adjustments and filled out paperwork for Round 2. When the dust has settled, I'm happy to share all that we learned.

Here's where we stand: We are allowed to list ONE waiting pool choice, and we can submit a list of "alternative" school choices that we would consider for assignment as well. For our waiting list choice, we put the Korean Immersion program. Duh. I've heard that tenacity pays off with this process, so I'm in this for the long haul. Wouldn't you be? A chance to send your child to Korean Immersion for 5 years, capped off by a school trip to Korea and then another 3 years at a wonderful public middle school? For this to pan out, we need a family to turn down its assignment to this fantastic program in favor of another school or moving away. (In reality, we may need this to happen a few times until they get to us in the wait pool.) The chances are slim, but we have to try. For "alternative" schools, we listed our neighborhood school, which is a sweet little school that would be fine. Just fine. It's closeby, friendly, adequate. It's painted blue. If we should get a chance to attend kindergarten there, the tough decision would be to take that and run, giving up the ghost on Korean Immersion, or try again next year after a year in pre-K.

Results of this round of assignments go out on April 25th, I think. If we still don't get what we want, there are other chances later in the summer that we could be plucked from the wait pool. We can stay in that waiting place until 10 days after the school year starts (the notorious "10 Day Count" when they count the students and fill in any empty seats. We have heard that families will get a call 10 days into the school year telling them they can have their desired spot if they are okay with switching their kid. We would be willing to do that for Korean Immersion.)

To answer some of the questions you have posed: NO OTHER CITY that I know of in the U.S. runs their public schools this way. This is part of a program known as ""School Choice" which is really just a nice way of saying that they wanted to integrate the schools, but school assignments cannot be given out based on race as this was found to be unconstitutional. So we have this wackadoo system where you can theoretically choose your school, except that it seems the vast majority of people flock to the same schools, then many people don't get in to any of their choices and are all dumped in other schools that are totally unworkable. So if you don't live within the city limits of San Francisco, which is also the County of San Francisco, you don't have to fret about this.

I try to keep a level head on most things, but the frenzy regarding schools is outrageous. I know Moms who were literally in tears for a week because they did not get the school choices they wanted. I feel lucky that we have the option of pre-K, and also relieved that we did not go through the private school admissions process this year, which seems much more personal as they are assessing your child and you!

So here we are. What a pain in the ass! (hence the photo.) That, by the way, was the Caboose's caboose. Delish!