School Change

While I like to keep this blog filled with fun childhood antics I feel it's worth noting a key decision we've recently made regarding the kids education.

We will be transferring Leah to our local public school in the fall. I have very mixed emotions about it. I never pictured the kids staying in Catholic school and thought of it as a temporary fix until we could sell the house. Given the amount of work we've had to put into the house it's apparent we are now here to stay. I've mentioned that I feel very disconnected from our neighborhood even after living here for 9 years. I feel like we need to do a better job of embracing our surroundings and that includes the schools. I want Leah to have friends in our neighborhood and not feel like an outsider.

I've only heard good things about the elementary schools and I know if more in-tuned parents send their kids to public schools they can only get better. I feel like it's in Leah's best interest if we make this transition now verses a year or 2 from now.

Scott has spoken to several people that rave about the School including the fact that the 2010 Teacher of the Year teaches 3rd grade there. The class sizes are small and a partnership with the local University provides a better teacher-to-pupil ratio. We have a meeting with the principle scheduled for July 1st . Hopefully she will have some preliminary results from the 2009-2010 proficiency tests and we'll discuss what the school and district are doing to address the 5th grade proficiency gaps.

We will be breaking the news to Leah tonight. Hopefully this transition will be more difficult on me then her. She's resilient and I'm confident if we do our best to stay involved she'll continue to achieve no matter her surroundings.