Many of you already know that I have four small kids. The oldest is Amanda, 9, followed by Sarah, 7. Maddie will be 6 Thursday and Willie will be 3 in a couple of weeks. My husband and I are pretty solidly middle class, meaning we can pay our bills and buy our groceries, and get gas in the van, and go out to eat now and then. We live in Albuquerque, and are decidedly non-suburbanites. Our neighborhood is a good, quiet urban one. Lots of teachers, professors, professionals. Sadly not too many kids. But we love it. The kids are enthralled by our back yard's snail population, and we frequently have Bustelo cans with small, shelled inhabitants with names like Mary, Slimey, and Green Bean. We even have a turtle, Sheldon. It is a great place to live.
However, we have encountered a glitch. There are two nearby elementaries. One is a block and a half away, one is a mile away. The closest is a school with a lot of transient kids, lots of discipline problems, and a large ESL (both spanish and SE asian kids) population. When we toured the school with the principal she noted our children's natural curiosity and intellect (they were asking her questions about the curriculum, using the word curriculum...I was pretty proud) she suggested that since her school was just trying to get kids up to grade level we may want to consider applying for a transfer to the other elementary. We considered this good advice, since the principal made it, and we did.
Well, our fourth grader made it. She got accepted to the better elementary. This school is fabulous. High parent involvement. High test scores. Tons of after school activities involving music, arts, sports, etc. Great teachers, and a loving, proud student body. They are meeting and exceeding goals, and teaching kids to be citizens. It is a lovely place. However, my younger two kids, in the 1st and 2nd grades, didn't make the cut and are sitting on a long waiting list. I have been told that enrollment is closed due to overpopulation and they will not make it in.
My heart is breaking. My younger two girls are so incredibly smart, creative, and funny (they take after their mom). Sarah writes beautiful songs and draws complicated and lovely pictures, reads beyond her grade level, and is not being challenged in the least. Maddie, is so smart she invents games for us to play, for example, the Doubt Game. In the Doubt Game Maddie will start and say, "I doubt you like..." and fill in the blank with something I really do like, and I counter with something she really likes. Her rule is you can't use family, because it isn't fair. Well, she is in a class where the majority of students are ESL. I love diversity, and the better school is very diverse, but I also want my children to get an education.
Short of moving we have no options.
Initially I told the principal of the poorer elementary that I didn't believe in transferring to "better" schools because that is why neighborhood schools fail. I believe that parent involvement and neighborhood support is essential to a quality school. But I can't look at my two younger daughters and say to them that less is good enough, because they are so incredibly smart and good that they deserve the best.
What would you do?