School Update

Elliot finally got into Jack's new school! Hooray! My stressed out, harried life as I know it is over. Well, probably not. I do still have four kids to take care of, cloth, feed, bathe, supervise, discipline, educate and love. But, I digress; that's fodder for another blog post. Today I'm celebrating! Life will certainly be much better and much simpler with both boys in the same school. The news came unexpectedly, after so much frustration dealing with the Family Resource Center back in September. I had really prepared myself for this to go on for months, possibly even the whole school year. Surprisingly, it was Jack who actually brought some urgency to the situation. We met with the principal last week regarding his provisional placement in the bilingual third grade program. She told us definitively that Jack could not stay in the program. His level of Spanish was insufficient. The school's official policy is that no one can enter the bilingual program after second grade, unless they are proficient (or fluent) in both languages. Because of my ability to speak Spanish at home, they agreed to let Jack try the class, but after 5 weeks, he just could not keep up in the Spanish section. The school wanted to move Jack over into the English onlythird grade class, which Ted and I would not agree to. They did, however, give us one other option - second grade bilingual. That option appealed to us in many ways, but I told the principal that we could not make a permanent move like that without knowing that Elliot also had a place in the school. She said she would talk to the Family Resource Center to see what she could find out. 48 hours later, we got an email welcoming Elliot to the first grade. So, yesterday Jack moved to the second grade classroom. Elliot said goodbye to his friends at St. John. Today, he will join Jack at his new school.

Tonight I will dream of my new daily routine, with only two pick up and two drop offs (one on Mondays and Fridays,) time to play on the playground after school, and a wonderful new school community where our family can truly feel at home. How do I feel? Thankful!