The Year When Elliot Didn't Go To School

The school year is finally getting into full swing. Elliot is still tagging along with me everywhere I go. The most frequent question I seem to be getting from friends these days is "any news on the school front?" So, here's an update for everyone, curious or not.

Jack is still attending the third grade bilingual class at his new (public) school. He is officially enrolled in the English only third grade class, but the school has agreed to put him in the bilingual section, at least temporarily. The bilingual program consists of two classes for each grade. One classroom is English only; the other is Spanish only. The kids switch back and forth from one class to the other each Monday. The teachers do not repeat material week to week, so the kids receive half of their education in each language. They do reading, writing, math and science in both languages. The school purports to have a rule that no child can enter the bilingual program after second grade without some knowledge of both languages. Since Jack entered in the third grade, he had to take a Spanish reading test. They administered the test last Spring, which he "failed", in the school's words. (Don't even ask me about that one.) But, Ted and I have made it clear to the teacher and the principal that we are only interested in the bilingual program. We've been making that clear since last Spring, when Jack first won a spot (through the public school lottery) in the school. The difficulties started back then, when the principal was out on leave for a semester, and no one else at the school explained the policy in such black and white terms. By the time we were able to talk to her this fall, school was already starting, and Jack was there. She consented to let him sit in the bilingual section for now, but seems to feel strongly that he should not stay there. The third grade Spanish teacher asked to speak with me after the first few days of school, and suggested that we place Jack in either the English only class, or that we put him in the second grade of the bilingual program. As I have said, we have no interest at all in the English only program. We would consider the second grade placement, but not yet. We would like to give Jack a chance in the third grade, before we put him back one year. For any of you who don't know me well, I am bilingual, fluent in Spanish and English. I spoke to Jack in all Spanish until he was roughly 18 months old. Being sick and pregnant with Elliot was too much for me though, and I gave it up at that point. We have now resumed Spanish instruction. Since the first day of school, I have been trying to speak all Spanish to the boys again. It's not easy, but it does seem to be going well for the most part. All of the kids are picking up a lot of Spanish. We wrote a letter to the school explaining that we can speak Spanish to Jack at home. I offered to help him with his homework and classwork. I agreed to speak Spanish to him to help accelerate his progress. We promised that we would not let him fail. The principal listened to our hopes and our plans and said, "I know that anything is possible." She agreed to let him stay temporarily, but expressed concern over how much work would be required to catch him up to the other students. We asked her to give us a month or two. She agreed to give him 2 weeks. We are supposed to meet again next week. I don't know what will happen at that point. On one hand, he is in the bilingual class. And we are dilligently working on Spanish at home. We do vocab flash cards, we read Spanish books, I try to speak all Spanish to them. Ted even invented a new (and very popular) game called "Mamá dice." I know that there are many children in the class who are reasonably fluent in both languages at this point. But, I also suspect that there are several who are nowhere close. It will be difficult for me to hear (again) that Jack has failed another test, or is not welcome in the class. But it also seems to me that the school will not flat out refuse us, or force him to leave the program. I hope that if we keep insisting that he stay in the class, he will be allowed to continue. In the meantime, we will continue to work, and work, and work on our Spanish. It is both hard and exciting for me. The rewards of seeing my children advance in their Spanish keep me going. Cross your fingers. Say a prayer for us. Hope that the school appreciates the excitement, hard work and effort of a family striving to find a place in their school.

"And Elliot?" you ask. Well, we entered both boys in the same public school lottery last Spring. On the lottery form, each family is asked to list 4-5 schools, ranked in order of preference. Elliot was assigned to a school that did not even appear on our list. We had never heard of it before. For many reasons, we decided to decline his placement at that school, and stick with his spot on the waiting list at Jack's school. He has been #2 on the waiting since the initial school assignments last Spring. Since thousands of children participate in this lottery, a #2 spot on the waiting list is considered very high. Everyone assured us that there is always a lot of movement over the summer, and Elliot would undoubtedly get a spot before school started. He did not. Then everyone told us that there are kids who just don't show up for school every year. They said it would only be a matter of 5-10 days of school, and Elliot would surely get one of those spots. Well, tomorrow will be day #9. He is still #2 on the waiting list. I patiently and quietly waited for the first 5 days of school to pass, and then went to see the principal. I was hoping to hear that someone had not showed up for first grade. She told me that she had no idea about attendance yet, and told me that the Family Resource Center handled all waiting list issues. She told me that it is not up to her, and that she has nothing to do with waiting list assignments. All public school placements are handled through the Family Resource Centers. This is where you go to enroll your child in school, make any changes, etc. I called them to check on the waiting list status after the first few days of school. They were so busy, they had forwarded all of their phone lines to a Parent Hotline. But the Parent Hotline doesn't handle school assignments, so they couldn't help me. They suggested that I go in person to the Family Resource Center. I did that. They weren't much help. The man I spoke with told me, "we can do much more if you are here in person." So, I waited three days and went back again. This time, the woman I spoke with said, "You don't need to come here in person. Just call on the phone." Ahhhhhh. So, yesterday I tried calling on the phone. After being told to call a different number, someone took my name and number and said someone would get back to me. No one did. I called again today. Another nice (but completely unhelpful) person told me that the principal is the one who initiates movement on the waiting list. The principal, she explained, is the one who lets the FRCs know that there is an opening in the school. The FRC then goes down the waiting list to fill the spot. I am sure that that is right. But, the principal made it clear to me that she cannot help me. So, I'm back where I started. Elliot tags along with me. He told the woman at the FRC last week that he doesn't want to go to school ever. I wish I could say the same thing. I'm beginning to think that this year will forever be known in our family as the year when Elliot didn't have to go to school...