Noah in Kindergarten

For us as parents and educators one of the most important things is that our children love school. We want them to be in a fun and safe environment where they can gain positive social skills, explore various disciplines, and gain a strong academic foundation. And of course we want them to be good students, respectful of their teachers and peers, good listeners, direction followers, etc.

Noah is towards the end of his Kindergarten year in Hatch public elementary school. It has been interesting being on the parent side of the equation. Noah is actually one of the worst behaved kids in his class - and was when he was in preschool too. He is not bad in a mean way just in a disruptive way. He has always had a difficult time sitting in a circle setting. He likes to be the center of attention and likes to be moving. A bit of a class clown you might say. He rarely stops moving or talking. We of course have gone through the stages of questioning if he is ADD or ADHD, if he has learning challenges, etc. As a parent you do not want your kid to be labeled or have something wrong with them but at the same time you don't want to be in denial and miss an opportunity to help him at a crucial early stage in his development. I won't get into all we have gone through regarding this - including our recent weekly meetings with a therapist - who Noah knows from what we told him as the person who is teaching him how to be a good kid and teaching us how to be good parents. I will save all that for another blog.

Noah in general has settled down a bit in school as he matures but he is still a handful I am sure. For me he is proof that many boys should be out in the jungle hunting animals with sticks and stones rather than sitting in a classroom. But of course his rebellious nature may not have served him well in the jungle either as when his teacher told him to stay away from the big cat with sharp teeth and he chose to see what the teacher would do if he chose to do his own thing and prove he already knows how to catch a tiger - well maybe he would have been eaten or maybe he would have become king. Who knows but fact is his nature has to fit somehow into that of modern education - drastically underfunded public education to be more precise.

Recently we received notice that due to California State budget cuts, $2.5 million is going to be cut from our district. The same week we received a letter saying our school district was on some sort of probation thanks to the No Child Left Behind act passed by congress during the Bush Administration. NCLB bases a school's performance on standardized tests so our fear was that as the district needs to improve their test scores teachers will be under more pressure to teach to the tests. This combined with the budget cuts that will increase class size from 20 to 30 students in K - 3 grade, eliminate counselors in the High School (we are not there yet of course), take away athletic stipends, etc. This on top of the fact that the district has had to cut $8 million in the past decade and are already lacking much in the way of PE, art, music, and basic supplies even - our kindergarten classes are not supplied with things like writing paper or tissue paper. Taking away money and expecting improved results! The fact that 60% of the students are Hispanic and perhaps a larger % than that have parents without college educations is not of course considered by the standardized testers. - Such bullshit, this country's educational policies/priorities - Obama's included - his race to privatization - but I will save that for another blog too.

As private school teachers Anke and I both know that there is a better education available. One with a better teacher to student ratio, tons of music, sports, art, and all those extras which cost money. We cannot afford private school for our kids or if we chose to go that route we would barely scrape by to make it work. We did consider it when the budget cuts and everything became reality.

We applied to the private school in HMB and I began to get excited about all the cool stuff they do at that school, the opportunities Noah would have to learn an instrument, take drama, play sports, etc. While we were waiting to hear from them we had another factor thrown in to our decision.

Our elementary has a Spanish immersion program which most of the educated, progressive families in our area get their kids into. We moved to HMB too late to get Noah into the program but were drawn to the community in the program (which we felt was lacking in the English program where Noah was) and of course we thought it would be incredible for Noah to become fluent in Spanish!

We had questions if it would be too much for him. Noah was at the middle of his Kindergarten class academically and this was surprising to his teacher as Noah had educated parents which set him apart from many in his class. Noah was a late bloomer and really showed no interest in learning to read or write until only this year. At his Montessori preschool they wanted to tutor him for he was already labeled "behind". Also Noah is already bilingual - would another language be overwhelming for a kid who was already not the top student?

Knowing Noah is bright and that he could do it if he was interested we decided to get Noah tutored in Spanish when we learned he may be able to switch into the Spanish program in first grade. It turned out Noah LOVED Spanish. After his first tutoring session he proudly announced at our local Taqueria that HE wanted to order. He went up and announced "Uno burrito por favor. and uno horchata". He was quickly reading basic books in Spanish and telling us what things were called in Spanish. One day he told us he was "four lingual". He said this after he sang some song he learned in an African Language, I don't know if he really knew the song or made it up but it sounded real - I guess half an hour a week of music is better than no music.

So a week or two before we were to find out if Noah got into the private school we were told that a couple spots opened in the Spanish program and that Noah could move if we wanted him to - if he passed the test to get in. His friend moved right away and we did not tell Noah but he told us how lucky she was to get to move. Most of the kids Noah played with were actually in the class he would move into. We knew Noah would be excited to move but we were not sure what to do. Putting him in the Spanish program would commit us to the public school for a few years at least - a public school which was underfunded and becoming more so.

We met with the Principal and the salesman he is, he assured us there was not too much to worry about regarding NCLB. 80% of California schools districts are said to be on probation or soon to be and there are so many schools that are doing so much worse than ours that the federal government will not be taking over our school anytime soon - they have too much on their plate - and since our school is improving their scores already he felt like teachers will continue to do what they are and the school of course is looking at ways to further improve scores.

The cut backs and class size is still an issue. There is a ballot measure in the upcoming election to pass a $150 parcel tax in our district which would raise $1.5 million dollars a year and allow us to hire back the teachers that were laid off, keeping the class sizes at 20. If it does not pass then class sizes are 30 unless plan B works which would be to have parents pay an average of $2000 or so to attend the public school. Of course this would be voluntary and half the parents can afford to pay nothing.

Well what we want most for Noah is to be happy in school and since he was excited about the class with his friends and excited about Spanish we were leaning toward that. Then we got a call from the Principal who said he just found out how little tutoring Noah had actually received and he thought that Noah was not ready and should not make the move at this point.

You know how when you can't decide something so you flip a coin and then you are so bummed at the result that you realize what you really wanted in the first place? That is what happened so Anke called, said Noah can do it and we want to make the move and that is what we did.

The second day Noah said he wanted to go back to his old class and he hates his new class. He likes to say he hates things. But he got over that and in fact his teacher said he adjusted far better than many kids to being in a class where he does not understand what is being said. Noah is reading in Spanish now. (and in English thanks to Anke who has been doing Hooked on Phonics at home with him everyday.)

Now our job is to get the ballot measure passed. It needs a 67% yes vote to pass so we have our work cut out but there is a great campaign organized which we are a part of so wish us luck. In fact, we need $125,000 to wage the campaign and we were each asked to find 20 people to give us $100. If anyone wants to donate to help save our Coastside Public Schools let me know! It could be any amount.

So much drama and this is only our first year in Kindergarten! I just met with a furious Mother today whose child got a bad grade in my class - just wait till we are on the opposite side of that conversation.