As you probably know, we are moving to Bogota, Colombia in August for two years for Jimmy's next assignment. This should be a remarkably happy time as we will all be together again as a family after this very long year apart. I am so stressed about it, though, and it's all because of school.
A couple months ago, I thought I should investigate schools a little bit. This was just a cursory review, just trying to really check out the mission, curriculum, and facilities, but I really wanted to see the calendar so I'd know when we needed to be in Bogota. I studied up on the American and British Schools, which seem to be most popular among the embassy set. I sent an email to the British School asking some questions and received a nice email back with answers to my questions but also a note that I should go ahead and apply for Mac's admission because currently there are no vacancies in the rising 2nd grade and he needs to get on the list.
What?
Now I will admit that we haven't been in the school-aged crowd for very long in the foreign service, but I just kind of assumed that we'd pick the school we wanted Mac to go to and the embassy would make it happen.
I contacted the correct office at the embassy (a couple times) and finally got a response that basically said we are responsible for applying at whatever school we want our child to attend, that the embassy has too many American families with schoolchildren to take on that job for the parents, and that we should apply to at least two schools because admission is very competitive and there's no guarantee of gaining admission.
This left a bad taste in my mouth for the embassy and the support that we can expect to receive as family members. But that is neither here nor there right now.
I did as instructed and applied for admission at both the American and British Schools. Our packages were completed the first week of March.
Now I will admit that I am not the most patient person for some things. One of them is hearing about school acceptance because this is my kid's future we're talking about. The earliest that I hoped to know anything at all was June from the British School - that's when they supposedly know which families are leaving the school and they'll at least know if there will be any openings in the 2nd grade.
Well, enter the need for Jimmy to complete the bureaucratic paperwork for his travel orders and we sort of need to know a date by which we have to be in Bogota. And the only push for our getting to Bogota is the start of school for Mac.
So I sent emails to both admissions officers just to ask when we would have to be there if Mac is so lucky as to gain admittance to these highly esteemed and highly sought after schools (and no, I wasn't a smart aleck in the email).
American School came back with August 5. WHAT? Jimmy doesn't get home until the last week in July. That date is a meet and greet so when I told the admissions counselor there was absolutely no way we could get there that early, she said no problem but that we really should try to make it by the testing day on August 10. Mac has to be tested and they can postpone the testing if we can't be there by then, but "there will be many families applying that day and although as an embassy family you will be given priority, if there are more embassy families than we can admit you will improve your chances if you are there."
The British School's first day of school is August 24. Mac will have to be tested for math and English and Jimmy and I have to meet with the school psychologist (?) before then, but I don't think it has to be as early as August 10. Based on calendar alone, I love the British School. But the admissions officer said yesterday that "unfortunately we still do not have places available, and we are waiting until families confirm their departure in June".
What are we supposed to do? Show up in Bogota and hope our incredibly bright child wows these people? Hope that some really rich Colombian suddenly decides to endow the school with so much money that they instantly build another 2nd grade classroom? What happens if there aren't any spaces available? Do we then choose a mediocre school where he'll languish for 2 years?
This is going to make me crazy.
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