There are some people in town working on a Hebrew language charter school. The plan is for it to be public (free), not religious and open to all families, not just Jewish people. It's scheduled to open in the fall of 2012.
At first this sounded like a good idea, so I went to the town hall type meeting they had tonight.
The room was filled with Israelis and some non-religious Jewish families. The panel featured a woman who actually writes charters, a representative from the successful Hebrew charter in New York and New Jersey and some local volunteers.
After explaining what a charter school is and watching a video of very diverse kids speaking Hebrew, they went into some details.
1. The school is looking to locate in the Golden Triangle area.
I'm not sure how smart this is, actually. If the organizers want to show that they truly are public and NOT religious, it seems counter-productive to put the school in an area with so many synagogues and Hebrew schools. Also, if they want to attract people from all socio-economic backgrounds, why be located in a place with some of the worst traffic? Will a working mom from City Heights really sit in hours of traffic to have her kid learn Hebrew? But if a good school was put in her neighborhood, she'd probably consider it. Honestly, it seems like the location was selected because so many Israelis live in the area.
2. The charter isn't official.
They are applying to be in San Diego school district, which already has several language charters: Chinese, German, Spanish, Arabic, etc.
So that's a good thing. It seems like the Hebrew one will have the added issue of having to convince the board that the language and the religion are different.
3. They will have 25 to 30 kids in a class with two teachers in a room. Kids will get one hour of Hebrew and the language will be used in other areas, like during math, P.E. and lunch. School day is tentatively 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Priority enrollment may be given to Hebrew speakers. Jewish holidays will not be given preference over secular holidays but there is talk of planning the school year around the Jewish calendar. If kids are not at school, they don't get money from the district, so it makes sense to design a calendar with maximum attendance in mind.
Overall, I like the idea of the school. For me, though, I think that if I'm interested in Hebrew, it's because it's a part of being Jewish, not Israeli. I'm not really sure that I would want to leave religion out of that process. If I was truly interested in a language immersion, I'd pick Spanish. To me Hebrew songs, Hebrew stories, Hebrew names are part of being Jewish, so if thats the route I pick, I'd feel better just going with a traditional Jewish school.
I'm still curious to see how this plays out. By the time Ella is ready for kindergarten, the school will have been running for a year, so I can revisit the issue again later.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Explorer lottery date revealed!
Listen up, fellow parents. I found this on the Explorer web site today:
"The admissions lottery for the 2011/12 year will take place Thursday, March 24th in the evening. There will be a live stream video of the lottery on this website. For privacy reasons, lottery results will not be posted. Results of the lottery will be mailed or emailed on Friday, March 25th."
Um? In the evening? What does that even mean?
This is the final school I'm waiting on. Except that on assignment today, I interviewed a science teacher from High Tech High (the school Explorer feeds into). He has two young kids and even though he has priority for the lottery, it took him over a year to get his kids enrolled.
He also said this:
"The odds of getting into Harvard are better than the odds of getting into Explorer."
Good luck everyone!
"The admissions lottery for the 2011/12 year will take place Thursday, March 24th in the evening. There will be a live stream video of the lottery on this website. For privacy reasons, lottery results will not be posted. Results of the lottery will be mailed or emailed on Friday, March 25th."
Um? In the evening? What does that even mean?
This is the final school I'm waiting on. Except that on assignment today, I interviewed a science teacher from High Tech High (the school Explorer feeds into). He has two young kids and even though he has priority for the lottery, it took him over a year to get his kids enrolled.
He also said this:
"The odds of getting into Harvard are better than the odds of getting into Explorer."
Good luck everyone!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Finally, door number three is revealed
Between being sick, packing, moving, unpacking and organizing, I forgot to take my name out of the Urban Discovery Academy lottery.
And because I saw that the names were being picked today, and because I have Mondays off, I decided to go to the lottery and not only see how I fared, but how several of my friends did as well.
There were about eight of us in the school's main meeting room sitting on folding chairs. We were all there for kindergarten. So of course, they began with the highest grade (7th) and worked down to K. There were only about one or two spots for fifth, sixth and seventh, and no spots for fourth, third, second or first. The names they called were for waiting list only.
Finally it was our turn.
The way it worked was two parent volunteers put the applications in one of those giant, white mail holders and then pulled them out one by one. The principal was at the table with her hot pink laptop and she entered the names as they were called out.
There were 24 spots open and I'd say about less than 100 applications, which is actually pretty good. What made it awkward, however, was that because they knew we were all there for kindergarten, the volunteers would read the names and then look out at us for a reaction.
And, unlike the Museum School lottery, no one was being called. Not for a long time. Only one out of the eight of us actually got in the school. But they kept picking names for the waiting list and every time - every time! - they looked at us with a sad sort of face.
I got called #49. Others in the room where in the 50s. And many moms were pretty devastated, which would have been me just a few weeks ago.
And because I saw that the names were being picked today, and because I have Mondays off, I decided to go to the lottery and not only see how I fared, but how several of my friends did as well.
There were about eight of us in the school's main meeting room sitting on folding chairs. We were all there for kindergarten. So of course, they began with the highest grade (7th) and worked down to K. There were only about one or two spots for fifth, sixth and seventh, and no spots for fourth, third, second or first. The names they called were for waiting list only.
Finally it was our turn.
The way it worked was two parent volunteers put the applications in one of those giant, white mail holders and then pulled them out one by one. The principal was at the table with her hot pink laptop and she entered the names as they were called out.
There were 24 spots open and I'd say about less than 100 applications, which is actually pretty good. What made it awkward, however, was that because they knew we were all there for kindergarten, the volunteers would read the names and then look out at us for a reaction.
And, unlike the Museum School lottery, no one was being called. Not for a long time. Only one out of the eight of us actually got in the school. But they kept picking names for the waiting list and every time - every time! - they looked at us with a sad sort of face.
I got called #49. Others in the room where in the 50s. And many moms were pretty devastated, which would have been me just a few weeks ago.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Home
So, we're here. In La Jolla.
And even though we had to get rid of an entire garage full of clothes, books, CDs, furniture and backyard toys, even though we're living in a place that's under 1,000 square feet, even though we have to drive through the notorious traffic, we are pretty much loving it so far.
Our second morning here, Ella woke up and walked into the living room, which faces east and gets really pretty morning light. She sat on the couch and said, "let's never leave."
Another night, we got in our new Radio Flyer wagon (with seats!) (thanks Grandma) and walked to dinner, the girls singing songs and watching the sun set along the way. We've been counting the days for tomorrow's farmer's market so we can fill the place with fresh flowers and fruit and vegetables.
Because Matt and I have had the week off, it sort of feels like we're on vacation. We've been walking around discovering new restaurants and shops. Switching over to a new cable company and having no clue where the channels are adds to the novelty of it all.
I know we did this for the school, but it seems like the move is saving our sanity.
We moved into our old house because of the furloughs. It was a perfectly good place but we went into it feeling a bit defeated and it never really felt like it was ours. "The apartment," as Marina calls it, is much, much smaller but perhaps because we did it on our terms, it automatically feels like home.
And even though we had to get rid of an entire garage full of clothes, books, CDs, furniture and backyard toys, even though we're living in a place that's under 1,000 square feet, even though we have to drive through the notorious traffic, we are pretty much loving it so far.
Our second morning here, Ella woke up and walked into the living room, which faces east and gets really pretty morning light. She sat on the couch and said, "let's never leave."
Another night, we got in our new Radio Flyer wagon (with seats!) (thanks Grandma) and walked to dinner, the girls singing songs and watching the sun set along the way. We've been counting the days for tomorrow's farmer's market so we can fill the place with fresh flowers and fruit and vegetables.
Because Matt and I have had the week off, it sort of feels like we're on vacation. We've been walking around discovering new restaurants and shops. Switching over to a new cable company and having no clue where the channels are adds to the novelty of it all.
I know we did this for the school, but it seems like the move is saving our sanity.
We moved into our old house because of the furloughs. It was a perfectly good place but we went into it feeling a bit defeated and it never really felt like it was ours. "The apartment," as Marina calls it, is much, much smaller but perhaps because we did it on our terms, it automatically feels like home.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Charter school fail
The reason I have not written about the Explorer Elementary open house is because I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!
How did this happen? I thought I knew everything there was to know about all schools.
Earlier this week, Explorer - also known as the most magical institution of learning in San Diego - held an open house to explain its philosophy and show the campus to families that have applied.
I knew this was happening. The school said they'd be sending me an email with the time and date of the event. But the email never showed up. And because we've been moving, I sort of lost track of time and ended up missing it.
You dont even know how fast I picked up the phone. Apparently, they do have me on the list and if I get in, they'll have a tour just for accepted students.
From what I heard through other parents, however, Explorer is as amazing as its reputation. They don't have competition there. Or traditional text books. Or tons of homework. They encourage positive language and project learning.
It's the one school that could completely derail this La Jolla plan and I so desperately wish I hadn't missed it. If anyone out there attended, I'd love to hear your opinion.
How did this happen? I thought I knew everything there was to know about all schools.
Earlier this week, Explorer - also known as the most magical institution of learning in San Diego - held an open house to explain its philosophy and show the campus to families that have applied.
I knew this was happening. The school said they'd be sending me an email with the time and date of the event. But the email never showed up. And because we've been moving, I sort of lost track of time and ended up missing it.
You dont even know how fast I picked up the phone. Apparently, they do have me on the list and if I get in, they'll have a tour just for accepted students.
From what I heard through other parents, however, Explorer is as amazing as its reputation. They don't have competition there. Or traditional text books. Or tons of homework. They encourage positive language and project learning.
It's the one school that could completely derail this La Jolla plan and I so desperately wish I hadn't missed it. If anyone out there attended, I'd love to hear your opinion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)