School Blues

It is raining hard this morning. I stood in line with Jacky bear in the rain at 7:45 am, for him to take the entrance exam at the public school that his brothers got into by some miracle. Jack was recently re-tested by his child psychiatrist for his learning disabilities, and they’re absolutely still there. He’s in the third percentile for math, whoop whoop! Good thing we all carry calculators everywhere we go and it absolutely is not going to matter to his life long term except that somehow we gotta get him through his education without failing, a process which has so far cost us tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket (probably approaching six figures at this point). We were able to use the report from that testing to get him significant accommodations on this entrance exam – he’s allowed to use a calculator (HUGE), he gets extra time, he’s placed in a small group and not in the big room with everyone else, etc. In order to keep his anxiety in check, I explained to him that this test was not a big deal, just that if he failed it we would be sending him to a new family and his time with us would be done, no pressure. In typical Jack fashion he rolled with it, and said “ooh, really? Will this new family WAKE ME UP AT 7AM ON A SATURDAY FOR A TEST, because if not then it sounds like an upgrade.” God I love that kid.

Side rant – I will never not rage at the unconscionable and blatantly racist/classist entrance exam for a PUBLIC SCHOOL, funded entirely by the TAXPAYERS of Orleans Parish, but right now that is how it works. If he got in, then he would be covered by IDEA and the school would be required to meet his learning needs (not so for the many affordable Catholic schools here, as we have learned to our great anxiety and personal hardship). So we have to be complicit in this total, utter ridiculous racist nonsense. He really wants to stay at his current school, which goes through eighth grade (he’s in seventh). Given his usually abysmal test performance, he probably will not pass this thing today and he’ll get to stay there. It is a wonderful school, the gold standard for learning disability accommodations – I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s about 2 grand a month though, plus we pay a few extra thousand twice a year for his learning accommodations there. So if there’s any possible way to get him into a school that is FREE and also REQUIRED to meet his learning needs (also for FREE), we have to try. I mean, I want to retire someday.

As another FYI, even if he passes this exam with flying colors, that doesn’t mean he gets in. It just means he gets a certain number of points on an application “matrix,” which determines his status in the lottery, and then his name has to get pulled in accordance with where he falls on the matrix. (I do not 100% understand the process, but the more points you have, the earlier you are put in the lottery. If you have way fewer points, you aren’t put in until a certain number of spots are filled, giving you a lower chance.) This is why it is frankly amazing that our two littles got in – they aced their entrance exams, but still had to have their names pulled and it’s something like a 1 in 5 shot. Liam got pulled pretty early but Craiggy’s name was the LAST NAME THEY PULLED at the lottery, I was almost in tears at the drawing until finally they pulled his name. (They actually pull an anonymous number, which you have to jump through hoops to apply to get – you guys would absolutely not believe the number of barriers this school puts to entry. All of which are set during working hours on working days.)

Anyway it really annoys me that my kids go to this stupid school, but their teachers are great and it is free. God bless New Orleans and the Recovery District and the stupid, awful “all charter public school” experiment.

Let’s move on to something more pleasant. Have you seen the “Korean Dad” videos? He has been described as a current day Mr. Rogers. If you’re feeling hopeless or worried or down, or for example raging about a racist school system, I suggest watching a couple of his videos! You’ll feel safer and happier afterwards, I promise. It’s better for the blood pressure than medication.

Craig recently received a school issued chromebook. We were offered it at the beginning of the year, but declined and let him use my Macbook instead for virtual school. However, (1) my Macbook is about six years old, and Craiggy’s sticky fingers and impatient pecking are not helping extend its life; and (2) once he learned he could have his own chromebook and we had said no, we began experiencing a daily drumbeat of questions about why and when he would get his own computer “like Liam has” and had we called his teacher yet about getting him his own computer and could we go pick it up now? We finally arranged to get it, and it’s been actually great. It is extremely locked down and also loaded up with educational videos and such, so he is spending his (too-ample) screen time watching Wild Kratts and Mystery Science Doug. This reduces my parental anxiety about the screentime we let him have. I just hope he doesn’t break it – we do have to turn it back in at the end of the school year.

Speaking of my six year old Mac, the battery life is down, and it’s about out of battery after typing this post. Rather than get up and get the cord, I think it’s a fine time to close up for today. Send good-test-taker thoughts to my oldest, and cross your fingers we manage to jump over all the hurdles to get him into this school. We probably won’t, and that will be ok, but man what a RAISE if we did!! Wishing everyone a great weekend.