In my post last Friday I talked about waiting for those crazy school acceptance letters. The letters came and this is where we stand:
Jett qualified for the 6 gifted/classical schools that he was tested for, but like most kids who qualifiy he did not get a spot in any of those schools because there simply aren't enough seats for everyone.
Of the 20 "regular" schools that we applied for, Jett got an offer from one. He is on the waitlist for the other 19. I was hoping that he would get in to the school he attends right now, although I knew it was unlikely. He didn't get in and has no shot at it - he's number 346 on the waiting list.
But we're really lucky. Some of my friends didn't get in to any schools (so they have to go to their neighborhood school). The school that offered Jett a spot seems to be a good school, and is only 1.5 miles from our house.
Some background information: Jett goes to preschool at a public school, but the preschool doesn't feed in to that school. Also, the school he attends now is a neighborhood school. This means that they accept every child who lives in their neighborhood boundaries first. Then if there are spaces left they start taking students who have applied from outside of the neighborhood. Some neighborhood schools in Chicago are really fantastic schools filled with really involved families. Some aren't. That is why Chicago Public Schools allows families to apply to up to 20 schools. The problem is that there are not enough spaces in those good schools for all of the kids who apply. Finally, I should explain that students outside of the neighborhood get accepted to schools by random lottery. It's all just luck.
Kai was accepted to three (public, free) preschools. The school that Jett currently attends accepted him. A school near us accepted him. A public montessori school accepted him. I'm not really considering the school near us, mainly because it's in the opposite direction of the school that accepted Jett and they won't let me observe a class before I sign Kai up.
We are going to have trouble deciding between the montessori school and Jett's current school and teacher, who we know and love. I wrote a long paragraph debating the pros and cons of each school in fine detail, but I ended up deleting it because it sounded so ridiculous. I have two friends who didn't get in to any schools. Debating between two top-notch options just doesn't feel right.
It will probably feel right in about a week, because it's kind of stressing me out.
I also look down the road and have to wonder how long we are going to live in this condo. It'd be nice to walk to school, to know our neighbors, to go to school with our neighbors. We can't do that where we live. Selling our place would be hard. Should we consider renting in a 'burb? Should we consider renting in the neighborhood of Jett's preschool? How long will we be there? It would be so nice for Jett to start kindergarten in the school that he will finish in, years from now. It would be nice for all of us.
We have some decisions to make, and the possibilities are keeping me up at night. Still, we are really lucky. Jett got in to a good school and we have two fantastic options for Kai. I didn't think I'd be able to say this, but I really think everything is going to be fine in the end.
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