Monday, August 25, 2008

Taking Incompetence to a New Level

This post is all about School District 25 - and their complete and utter lack of brains. Last week was Christian's first day of first grade; as seen in the pictures below (how cute is he!! so cute!). But to tell this story right it needs some background. Last year Christian attended a nearby elementary, Syringa, for kindergarten. Well he moved in with us in June and we are 1 block (exactly) from Edahow Elementary. I hear the bells and announcements and see the playground from my property, etc. Well, SD25 "apparently" is experiencing overcrowding and I had known there are lots of kids not making it in to Edahow. I was kindof expecting that but had hoped that he could transfer to a nearby school -- Syringa, Gate City, or Tendoy. Especially Syringa since he already attended there -- he knows the kids, the school, etc.

Well after registration on August 7, they call me back on the 15th and tell me -- get this . . . not only is there no room for him at Edahow -- but none at Syringa, Tendoy, Gate City, or Greenacres. But no worries, Lewis & Clark, which is more than 3 miles away has TONS of spots for 1st graders!!! And they will provide bus transportation!! Wow, they acted like I'd won the lottery. I called the principals and offices of all of the other schools -- finally I just asked, "Why? They never had this problem when I was younger, what was going on?" She said her school for a long time operated at its capacity at 500. Then attendance dropped down to 350 for a few years and they changed the boundaries. In the past two years their attendance has grown back to its original size of 500. So it sounds like a boundary issue if their numbers are ONLY back up to what they used to be. Ok.

So how come my kid can't go to their schools? Well the answer is that it's not fair for their neighborhood kids to get bumped to another school just so mine can come. Wait a minute. My kid is a neighborhood kid. What kid is going to Edahow that bumped him??? Well the rich kids that have houses up the new section of Satterfield. I get it . . . And Edahow says, we give neighborhood kids preferences over transfers. Well if I kept Christian when would he theoretically ever earn the status of neighborhood kid? Never. Right. Because he would always carry the transfer status. So why can't they bump kids that are closer to Lewis & Clark there so Christian can at least attend one of the nearest 5 elementary schools? Well that's not fair to those kids. Right. So my kid is bussed to the 6th closest school??? Right.

So I come to accept our plight and go buy the extra school supplies L&C asks for and go to Back to School night and meet the new teacher. All is well and good right? Nope. I call the next day to check on the transfer bus schedule. Their answer? Oh, it is just so confusing to figure out the schedule to get overflow kids where they need to be. You have to get your kid to school and pick him up until we can figure it out. Fine. I'll do it. Now what? Well we get a message on our answering machine from "the bus driver" saying they have the schedule figured out and Christian will be picked up from Edahow at 730 to go to L&C. Cool. So I go down to the bus stop this morning. At 7:30 am. Fifteen minutes later a bus driver says he is here to take 3 kids to Tendoy and Christian is one of them. The Edahow adult/teacher helping at the bus stop said, "Well there's probably a bus at Tendoy to take him to L&C." Right. I say no way jose. My kid goes to L&C and will wait to get on a L&C bus. So the teacher lady calls the "Office" on her walkie-talkie. I hear the lady on the other end say, "well it was so confusing I had to figure it out for a hundred kids". Well lady, I'm sorry you have some tasks in your job that are confusing. I run into a similar situation as an accountant. There are hard confusing things we all have to do at our jobs -- but accuracy is important and we're expected to double check our work. I swear if I had just dropped Christian off at the bus stop like other moms had my kid would be wandering around Tendoy right now looking for his class.

Now could this be solved by redrawing the boundaries? Probably. Could it be solved by bringing trailers to the school for the overflow classes? Very likely. I attended classes in trailers in junior high and high school and am none the worse for it. So what is SD25s brilliant solution? They are planning on presenting a new bond to voters for us to build additions on to Edahow Elementary (and whatever else they want to do). Now the Superintendent of SD25 makes more money per year than the Governor of the State of Idaho. Obviously she doesn't ask for excellence or accuracy from her employees. And the first solution that comes to mind is -- raise taxes to build more (which I'm sure they would keep some of that money to pad their salaries a little bit more, right?). And attendance is only up to the levels it used to be. Spare me. Please, Please, Please -- let Darik and I move out of this heck hole of a city before they tax us to death and then transfer Ellie to another county for school.

9 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!! That is absolutely crazy! It drives me nuts the way superintendents add to their salary every time the district gets more money!! And driving the parents bonkers mad isn't going to solve anything either!! URG! I'm so sorry!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my gosh!!! You have me so fired up right now!!! RIDICULOUS! As if it isn't change enough for foster kids to be moved around from home- they get the short end for schooling too. Again, I say, RIDICULOUS!. I'm so sorry- Keep us all posted on how things are working out. Best of luck to you in dealing with the crappy district.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh man, I think my nose started bleeding! What I nightmare! Poor Christian. I hope they get their act together so that you and Christian can have a good school year. Dang SD25!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You crack me up Kris!! That really sucks for Christian and you. I hope they get it figured out before long. I don't know how she can handle 100 kids?? :) Hopefully they will fix the boundaries soon and it will be better. But, it is Pocatello so you never know.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is the second crazy story that I have heard about the Pocatello School District this year. I can't believe everything you poor moms have to go through just to try to get things the way the should be. Good luck and take a deep breath!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm sure if you get enough mom in the office complaining something will happen. Even if it take you getting loud. That isn't right and fair for the kids. Build another school for crying out loud. Take a stand. I have been screwed over so many time and really didn't do anything about it. I have had to learn to speak up. For me enough is enough. I don't take it anymore. I fight back now. I have also learned when you do voice your concern, people do listen and try to work it out. Good luck. Go get em'.

    ReplyDelete
  7. You should go down to the district office and throw a fit. I mean majoy fit. That is really crazy. One reason I didn't want to live in Poky forever is the schools. I have been really impressed with the schools in IF. Remember how HHS used to have those aweful powdered soap dispensers? The schools here have read soap. And hot water in the sinks. Impressive.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I didn't know you felt that way about Pocatello! Maybe you should come back to the great state of Iowa! We miss you.

    PS. Ted says Des Moines is very similiar to Boise but better(biased I know!). And I know you love Boise!

    ReplyDelete
  9. So other than all of that - how does Christian like his school?

    ReplyDelete