Charter School Plans [update}

[Update at end.]

Gary is busy filling out the form to get on the waiting list for the Charter School he wants to go to.

If Brian wasn't already going to a Charter school I would just be telling him no. Brian is going to a charter school because going to the big school was giving him major anxiety issues. Gary wants to go because he has friends there, especially one girl whom he is "wooing." Right now, now obstacle is too high, if you know what I mean.

The only plan we have for getting him to the school is for Roland to drop him off at one of the school's bus stops. It means an extra 10 minutes in the morning for Roland, but that is okay. Coming home will be more complicated. There is a public bus stop 3 miles from the charter school and a bus will come by there 10 minutes and 70 minutes after school gets out. Currently Gary's plan is to go home with a friend, preferably the girl he has his eye on with whom he currently spends hours on the phone, and then catch the bus.

I would rather he go to the local high school in part because I would like him to make local friends. On the other hand, I certainly see a value in him going to school with a group of people he has known for years. Kids in care have so many relationships severed. If he can make it work with nothing more than 10 minutes from Hubby, then we will support it.

Of course it effectively means no football. All the time in transportation may get in the way of other activities too.

He called the school this morning. The waiting list is huge. If I have the numbers right, and I might not, the class is capped at about 30. That class is enrolled, but some students will fail to show. The waiting list has more than 70 people on it, although a significant number of those will have changed their minds when they are called and offered a spot. The woman at the office was still encouraging though. She mentioned that the list is prioritized by credits earned. Since he has not failed any classes he won't be at the very end.

I am quietly hoping that he doesn't make it. I think it would be good for him to make friends here. I would like for him to be in football. And I don't want to have to drive 20+miles whenever I need to go to a parent-teacher conference or pick him up when he is sick.

Having one kids in school out-of-district is hard enough.

If it were Andrew I would tell him that if he wanted to go to the same Charter school, we would try to get him in, but otherwise he needed to go to the big school. That choice would make more sense for and to Andrew since Andrew's extra-curricular activities are music oriented and he likes drama and art. For Gary it is absurd. Dance for PE? You've got to be kidding.

We shall see. Right now I think the chances are slim -- and I am secretly happy about that.

Update: Gary called again today. Worst case scenario is confirmed. The sophomore class is fully enrolled, and the waiting list is twice the size of the class limit. Worst news yet, out-of-district students can only get in if there is room after all the students in district have a chance. He is, and will continue to be, at the end of the waiting list.

He has accepted that he almost certainly won't get it. He isn't happy about it, but you can tell this is a kid who has learned to roll with disappointment. Maybe he will meet a girl at Our Town High.