re-entry to life in Northern Virginia, afternoon of day 2

Mac and I returned from the zoo on Friday in a highly relaxed mode, only to find the light blinking on the answering machine.  The answering machine comes with the corporate apartment and the only form I put that telephone number on was the school registration form.  Not even Jimmy has the number so the blinking light could only mean one thing.

The message was from the school secretary, asking me to call back as there was a problem with the registration once it was passed to the principal for her review.  I called back and was passed from the secretary immediately to the principal.  This is never a good sign in my very limited experience with principals and even more limited experience with public school registration.

The principal stated that they don't normally get 5th grade transfers into a bilingual school and she was concerned about his academic Spanish level.  (I totally understood this because I had the same concerns.)  She asked if we spoke Spanish in the home (no.  our names are Jimmy and Susan Story... fairly Anglo names if there ever were), if he'd studied math and science in Spanish in the past (um, no), etc.  She said he may have no problems if he's extroverted and willing to make mistakes in front of his classmates (he's extroverted and I think he's willing to make mistakes but maybe in a new school, he'll be embarrassed to make mistakes) and if I'm not concerned about grades because he likely won't make the same level of grades he's made before in English.  I didn't say anything at this point, but all I could think was "Houston, we have a problem".  Because yes, I do think grades are important for a smart kid who can make and is used to making good grades. When the principal was talking about dropping grades and whether I was okay with that, she mentioned another mom that for "the lack of a better term", is a "helicopter parent" who hates the falling grades (quotes are from the principal).  I kept my mouth shut and pretended like I was one of those cool moms who could just roll with failing grades all in the name of watching her child struggle to understand math and science in Spanish but let's be honest.  I am the Webster Dictionary definition of helicopter parent.

The principal said to bring him in on Monday and she'd let him read math and science textbooks in Spanish and see what he understood.  Jimmy was all in favor of this, but I was not.  Mac is fairly confident in his conversational Spanish abilities and the last thing I wanted was for him to be tested (although the principal said we wouldn't call it "testing".  whatever. it was testing.) and be told that he's not good enough.  He's already going to have enough culture shock and resulting adaptation going to a public school for the first time.  Why add self-doubt to the equation?

So we had a family discussion on Friday night and weighed the pros and cons.  I, of course, had already checked out of the Spanish school  because let's be honest again - I don't understand 5th grade math and science in English, so how can I help with these subjects when they're in Spanish.  No comprendo. Blank stare.

Jimmy was a little harder to convince but he finally came to the conclusion that maybe this door closed for a reason.   We've fought some bull-headed fights (against the world, not each other) trying to get doors back open that really, in hindsight, would have been better left closed.  So we decided to leave this one closed.

The big catch in all this is that we moved to this area in particular for the bilingual school, but also because it's a team school area, where you can go to any of the 4 elementary schools in the team as long as you live anywhere in the area.  Well that was the system until about last week.  The schools are overcrowded so the county just made the decision to limit school enrollment to your particular neighborhood.  Well, that bit of news came a day late and a dollar short.  We're locked into this temporary apartment for at least 30 days out, after which time school will have been in session for a few weeks.

We're zoned in this temporary apartment for the bilingual school, so what happens if the bilingual school doesn't want you?

I scoured the Arlington County Public Schools website on Friday night and found the golden nugget that said yes, the team has been disbanded BUT kids in the bilingual zone (who aren't bilingual) can go to the Arlington Science Focus School.

Whew.

So we registered for ASFS yesterday and thus far, we haven't had a call back from the secretary there to tell us we've been kicked out.  This school is "designed to develop extensive understanding of science content and process through inquiry-based learning.  Students embark on exciting adventures each day where science content is used as the catalyst to teach all subject areas by using natural inquiry to develop students' thinking skills for analyzing, reflecting, problem-solving and hypothesizing." I don't even know what all that means, but they have a space simulator in the computer room, for crying out loud!  Science was never my forte, but I'm so excited that Mac is getting this unique opportunity to continue his education at a school like this one.  

If you need to reach me, you better call me on my cell.  I'm not answering the home phone anymore in case it's the school kicking us out.