Another Charter School?
Gary has friends who go to a charter school in The Next Town Over. It is not the same school Brian goes to. Brian's school is on the north side of town; the one Gary wants to go to is on the south side. I've had so much anxiety dealing with one carpool that I just don't know how to even think about this. I have had two thoughts banging each other in my head.
1. It is absolutely, totally, completely unfair to make efforts to get one of your kids to a charter school and then tell the other, "sorry, you're going to the big school."
2. I absolutely, totally completely cannot drive Gary to this school. I just can't handle the stress of two carpools, even if we could get him in.
Roland has the sensible attitude that we should not worry about it unless he actually gets in. He has missed the lottery and so would have to be on the wait list. The whole issue could be moot. Of course not worrying about it is so not my style.
The issue is transportation. I looked again at the county public buses. They can get Brian to school easy peasy. It would be as quick and easy (for him) as if I took him. Getting home, not so much. This is a shame as it is generally easier for people in the car pool to do mornings than afternoons. Currently I am looking at the school bus schedule to see if it can drop him (and maybe the other kids) off in some location that is easier for pick up.
With Gary it is also complicated. The county public bus system just cannot get him there on time. Not possible. He can take it home, theoretically. The closest bus stop to his school is 2.8 miles away. It leaves 10 minutes after school gets out and 70 minutes after that. He also looking at the school bus routes to see if there is a stop where he can be dropped off and maybe picked up.
Gary is so excited about this right now. He is currently willing to do anything. Wait an hour for the bus, ride almost any distance on his bike in all weather. Mostly he is willing to look at maps and find solutions, which is great.
Brian will be willing to ride the bus as long as it isn't too difficult for him, and as long as I figure it all out.
ugh.
If it were difficult to get our child to the charter school, I don't know what we would do. Given gas prices now, I don't think I'd be so willing to sign her up if it were much of a drive.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it's close and I don't have to worry about that decision.
My kids used to walk from their school to the town library and wait for me for three hours. Luckily, the library was something of a teen hangout, and the library had installed a teen area, so they were occupied, but still it was a long wait every day and they didn't like it much. They could also walk around downtown, but it's a small downtown...they could have taken the train one stop home, or have arranged for a small town bus to take them right to our door, but they refused to do either one. Later they walked to work from school, a bit of a long walk especially in cold/wet weather. Around the same time, they started having friends who could drive who would sometimes give them a ride. Later still they had their own cars (finally!) The biggest reason I bought them cars was because of that damn three-hour lag between the time they got out of school and the time I got out of work. It was a constant problem. Why don't they just make a longer school day?!
ReplyDeleteHow does this relate to Gary's desire to play football? Does the charter school have a team? Could he play football (or do some other extra-curricular) after school most days, until a time when either the bus was more convenient or it was easier for you to pick him up?
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question. One of his friends who goes to that school says that if you go to a charter school you can still participate in team sports at the regular high school. I don't know if that is true given that he will be going out of district,and I have doubts that he will really be able to make the schedule work in any case.
ReplyDeleteWe will see.
Can they take the school bus to a bus stop? I'm so surprised there are bus stops near the schools! But then, in my town, there aren't school buses for in-town kids and a lot of them take the city bus to/from school. They even put extra buses out for the hour around the end of school.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it will help but when I was in highschool I wanted to go to a private school a ways from my house. My parents agreed to let me go but I had to find my own transportation. I did for 3 years and it was 1-1/2hr each way. If they really want to got they will find a way to get there.
ReplyDelete