Washblog

Well, I naively filled out the form, asking for full-day kindergarten, because so many people say, "oh, full-day is the way to go, everyone's moving to that". And I didn't think too much about the fact that some of the schools mentioned a "nominal fee", since our first-choice school listed no fee, and the District is at such pains to say that the majority of people who do early registration get into their school of choice.

Well, I'm equally distant between the two schools involved, but I'm in the "reference area" for the one that isn't free.

So, after not getting placed in our "first-choice" school, my daughter got assigned to go to our "second-choice" school full-day, and they sent me a gushy letter, talking about how "no one has any complaints" about their "Pay for K" program, and how, if they don't have the $400 deposit by May 4th, my child could "lose her spot"! (What happens then, she gets to sit in the street?)

So, I thought, well, if full-day is over TWO THOUSAND dollars, she'll just have to go half-day. I'm here at home, it's not a big deal one way or the other - it's kindergarten, fer chissakes!

The rub: They don't actually offer a half-day program at the school she's assigned to. Because "nobody wants it".

Right now, I'm waiting for May 1, when I can change what waiting list we're on, to get her on a waiting list for half-day at the school that has free full-day, since she's at the bottom of the full-day wait list. . . But at least, they have a half-day program. Of course, they don't anticipate any spots opening up.

Extra political note: I questioned Sally Soriano about this at the last 46th District meeting, and she was shocked, shocked, that parents were being asked for so much money. How can people be on the school board, and not be aware of outrageous fees like this? Hmmm.

And of course, the Legislature has passed something calling for full-day K to be provided, but since it just passed, I can only assume it's not going to be in force for this year, especially as they're already collecting the money. . . Just my luck.

Grrrrrr. Sorry for ranting, but having to pay about 5% of our last year's income for kindergarten "tuition" is outrageous. It's more than I paid for a year of college! (And no, we don't qualify for reduced tuition, we made about 30% too much last year to qualify. . .)