I wrote this for San Diego Uptown News, urging parents to at least *consider* their neighborhood public school before applying to every other option available. 

I’ve included a teaser below, but I can’t republish the whole article here. Please click the link at the bottom to read the rest at San Diego Uptown News…

Andy

Neighborhood Schools are the New Charters

This is the time of year when many parents of soon-to-“graduate” preschoolers are quietly freaking out. Until now, the idea of your babies going to elementary school had been like some distant, futuristic fantasy/nightmare. Now it looms large, imminent, and fraught with ramifications that seem likely to cascade throughout your precious progenies’ lives.

It’s the real deal. The big leagues. Kindergarten.

Although September is still seven months away, deadlines for school applications are fast approaching. And where to send one’s children to kindergarten can seem like one of the most agonizing decisions a parent must make. There are so many choices, and each one has its potential pitfalls. If he goes to the progressive charter school with small class sizes and yoga breaks, will he be isolated from the “real world” experience of typical public education? If she attends your neighborhood school, will she be terrorized — or worse, recruited — by the wild ruffians you see re-enacting “Lord of the Flies” at the local playgrounds? If you send them to the prestigious private school, can you still afford groceries? If you homeschool, how long can you expect your sanity to hold out?

Let’s assume that you have ruled out private or homeschooling. It’s still not going to be simple. San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) offers a large (and sometimes overwhelming) menu of options, including magnet schools that focus on specific areas of study, typical public schools in other neighborhoods, and charter schools, which are authorized by SDUSD, but are run autonomously and embrace a wide variety of educational philosophies not necessarily sanctioned by the District.
The deadline for applying to a SDUSD school outside of your default “zone school,” is Feb. 15. Unless the schools (you can apply to three) you apply to are magnets or “atypicals” (in which case other hoops may require your timely perambulation), you would then simply wait, perhaps gnawing your fingernails and developing an embarrassing facial tic, to hear back in the spring. Applicants are selected randomly, on a space-available basis, with weight given to considerations such as what the applicant’s neighborhood school is, where his or her siblings go to school, and so forth. Charter schools also use a lottery system to choose who may enroll, but they have a wide range of application windows, as well as policies regarding who is given priority.

But you already know all that, because you are an Engaged Parent who wants to make sure your child goes to the school that is the best fit for him or her. You have studied the District’s “Neighborhood Schools & Enrollment Options” catalog, perused the website (sandi.net/page/902), peered deeply into the abyss of the charter school universe, talked with your friends and neighbors, argued with your spouse or co-parent, and toured so many schools that they have become a blur of social philosophies and pedagogical perspectives.

There is, however, one school to which you have perhaps not given serious consideration. The one down the street from you. Continue reading on SD Uptown News…