Big day of testing for The Madster and 'Nika. We had to get them up early (for a Saturday) to get to Minnehaha Academy for an entrance exam. Yes, it has come to this. TOYH and I are fully supportive of Public Schools, but when our children are involved in the dismantling of a very good middle school program, we need to draw the line. Our frustration with the administration of MPS knows no bounds, and to be perfectly honest we're getting bitter. In some respects, I'd like to just stick the kids in a private school like Minnehaha to "punish" Minneapolis Public Schools. When kids don't enroll in the schools, the schools don't get reimbursement from the state. This is what is happening on the North side of the City. People are pulling their children from public schools and either sticking them in charter schools, private schools or sending them outside the district to another public school. All this flight from the district is precipitating a budget crisis in MPS, and their reaction, it seems, is to wreck a very fine middle school program at Emerson. I just can't get over the stupidity of the administration. If you have a strong program, you keep it, even build upon it. You don't rip it apart. All that being said, I'm not really, truly wanting the kids to go to Minnehaha. It's a fine school, but I'm not sure I want the kids there. I guess I'd rather have them mix it up with the hoi polloi of MPS than the slightly more exclusive M.A. M.A. is our "safety" school, meaning if our other options are unacceptable, the kids would be able to start there in the fall if need be. What are the other options? Seward Montessori, Field K-8, or staying at Emerson. All three are MPS schools. Entrance in to Seward or Field is by lottery, since they are not our "area" schools. That's actually how we started at Emerson. When we registered KyKy for kindergarden 10 years ago we put her in the Emerson lottery and won. Siblings get automatic preference, so the younger two followed her there. We're crossing our fingers for Seward.
The other test the two kids took was for the next level in Karate. They didn't move up a whole belt to purple from green, but they took the intermediate step to get to their purple belts. They passed the test. They are piling up mad skilz in this Karate thing.
TOYH received her official RN license to hang on the wall along with wallet sized portable license. I offered to punch two holes in the big one and put a string through them so she could wear it around her neck for everyone to see. She declined.
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4 comments:
So is this M.A. test designed to keep the special ed. riff-raff out of their hallowed halls? Or is it more a religion-based test to ensure that M.A. doesn't accidentally grant admission to the Anti-Christ?
Sorry for my cyncism. As a SpEd teacher, I've had my share of students who have been transferred out of private schools that don't want to accept responsibility teaching anyone who doesn't meet the Lake Woebegon criteria. I know you are a big supporter of public schools, which is saying something when you live in Minneapolis. And you gotta do what's best for your kids...
Ya know, you're probably right. On the application there were questions about applicants needing "special assistance" and whether the children had been the subject of "any major disciplinary action." Only the best and brightest for Minnehaha Academy! Hearing about "unwanted" children from private schools being shunted into public schools who are required to teach them makes me even more angry at Republicans (if that's possible). They want to, in the words of Dave Jennings former Republican Speaker of the MN House of Reps., dismantle public education. People like my girlfriend Katherine (I look like Elvira Gultch) Kersten claim private schools are the solution to all of society's problems. Her droning mantra of privatize, privatize, privatize qualifies her to be an education expert in her own mind.
Even I could run a freakin' private school cheaply if I could pick and choose my students and not pay my teachers squat. I could just tell the faculty that it is their "mission" to teach kids and not get paid well. Tracy, you think you're cynical? How about those schools that use their teacher's altruism to get them on the cheap. You spend your money on what you value. They claim to be all about values but don't value their teachers. Just use 'em, oh and bad-mouth the well compensated public school teachers.
In Georgia, a new voucher system encourages private schools to recruit kids who "need" special assistance. Yes, I put the "need" in quotes because the scam might be on. There is no uniform oversight in place within the law. The fear is that parents might have their kids diagnosed with whatever their public school cannot address so they can have the state pay for private school. BTW, this particular voucher is worth up to $9,000 per year.
Here's the rub: Georgia private schools do not have to meet all the same requirements as public schools. (Just ask Jen about her experience at that school-for-profit she tutored at.)
And to one-up the cynicism: what does the scenario of the "unwanted" being "shunted" into public schools that you describe, Scott, mean for public schools? What does it mean for the students? Might there be an increase in public school dropouts? I'll bet the army recruiter is waiting right outside the door. That's their target demographic these days. Is it going too far to say that public school dismantling is war machine building? Maybe. But I think we have wonder about that connection.
I need to add that a friend of ours teaches at M.A., and is somewhat cynical about it. It's her job after all. She says it's more diverse than you think, and I don't doubt that there as a modicum of racial and economic diversity. A modicum. I did notice that on a piece of their litertature they claimed 50 denominations were represented at the school. If that's the case, that's some kind diversity, I guess. 'Nika's best friend at Emerson is a Muslim. Wonder if that would happen at M.A.?
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