Introduction to Searching for

An Ongoing School

All of you will find satisfactory ongoing schools for your children. In fact, you may find quite a number you like very much. The range of choices, both in public and private (independent) schools is wide. In searching for ongoing schools, you can use the same strategies and skills you use in your own educational and professional lives: research, communication, observation, evaluation, organization, protocol, and so forth.

Timing: Tours, Applications & Reports

Tours of at least some private schools can be done in the spring as well as in the fall. This is a good time to make initial contact with those private schools that interest you. Tours of most public schools begin in the mid-fall. Do not call these schools until late September. (This year, the events of September 11 have held up all deadlines.) You can call district offices re Gifted &Talented & other district-administered magnet programs any time. Most school application deadlines fall into the January/February time frame.

Give preschool teachers and office the necessary forms ASAP, so they can get them out in a timely fashion. Once you have done you part, allow the teachers to work at their own pace. They are aware of the deadlines and are writing on behalf of many children:

• Please fill out the basic information (full name, d.o.b., etc.) yourself, and give teachers stamped/addressed envelopes in which to mail forms to kindergarten programs. All schools require that forms come directly from the previous program.

• Itemized and dated lists of materials help both families and schools record their progress.

• Once they have written the basic report on each child, it takes teachers at least several days to process each form. They have to compile information, make copies and file materials for all families requesting school reports. It is to your child’s advantage for the report to be written after quite a number of weeks of observation on the teachers’ part. Therefore, sending reports at the earliest possible date in the fall is NOT a wise idea. Ongoing schools are looking for a thorough portrait of your child, not a cursory sketch. At the CLC, in addition to sending recommendations in the mid-fall, we also send our mid-year narrative report in January to all ongoing schools where families have applied. This is, in a sense, the most complete report possible, and comes just at the moment when applications are receiving their final review.

General Reflections on School Philosophies

Remember that your child is still young and must be part of a family fit with respect to an ongoing school. As your child gets older, your relationship to the school (middle and high school) will become more attenuated. However, your own comfort and sense of belonging are important criteria in thinking about elementary school. Furthermore, bear in mind that what is “great” or “rotten” to one family may be different for you.

“Traditional” vs. “Progressive” labels are confusing. Traditional schools tend to have their immediate curriculum goals highly defined and provide a set schedule of activities and materials to help children acquire specific skills by specific times. Progressive schools may integrate their overall developmental goals for each age group in a more fluid way. They tend to offer repeated experiences with peers and materials to process a concept. Many schools have philosophies and practices that span both of these approaches. We are fortunate that current pedagogic fashions have converged towards a middle ground of various educational strains. It is generally acknowledged that rote learning and learning for meaning are not nearly as distinct as might appear at first glance. So, for example, many schools that encourage a flexible, creative approach to written work have also found that children need to learn to write legibly, and that to do so requires highly structured repetition and drill. Similarly, while understanding the principles underlying multiplication is essential, learning the multiplication tables by heart somewhere along the line is a substantial, useful and meaningful skill. Conversely, schools where children are expected to meet fairly uniform standards are also more aware that children often work best in small groups, with somewhat open-ended goals, on projects that are sustained over a period of time. Another way to think about this is that both process and content deserve attention. Neither one should be emphasized at the expense of the other.

It’s a good idea to visit a contrasting program to compare with your range of choices. For example, if you believe that single-sex education will be the next step, visit a co-ed program. Ditto for public and private schools.

First Choice Letters, Recommendations Written by Friends, Application Essays & Thank You Notes

The following is excerpted from Robin Aronow’s materials*, and applies to both public and private schools:

If you are absolutely sure that a particular non-catchment school is your first choice, you should let the school know. Get to know the principal, admissions director or head secretary. Let them know how much you want your child to go to that school and how much you are willing to do for that school once your child is in. Be involved in your nursery school so that the director can write how involved you’ve been. Finally, use any pull you have, especially an active parent who is already in the school, to let the school know that you and your child should be considered if any non-catchment openings are available.

Then be prepared to go. You are “morally” obliged to have the child attend that school. Obviously, if you have only involved yourself in stating this preference and you decide not to accept, you only hurt yourself if you decide to apply there for this child or another in later years. Where claiming a first choice and not accepting becomes more of an issue is when you have asked a relative, a friend, your school director or a PTA board member to make a phone call or write a letter in your behalf and then you don’t follow through. You have to deal with the friend or relative and they will be less willing to put themselves on the line for another family. It also ruins the reputation of the school director and the school itself in terms of trying to get other children in. So think carefully before stating this. If you don’t know by the time that you submit an application, send a letter stating your preference later.

At the smaller public schools, it is advisable to ask the parent of a currently enrolled child to write a letter on your behalf, if you are serious about attending that school. Similarly, use any “connection” you have to a private school at the outset. Even if you do not know anyone connected with a given independent school, you are often asked to call upon a friend to write a recommendation about your child and your family. Ask someone who will write very specifically and clearly. General-effect letters are not useful to schools, nor do they represent your child well. Most friends are happy to undertake this project; it is a pleasure not a burden to describe a child and a family one knows well. Choose a friend who writes comfortably but will not be overly or unrealistically effusive.

Similarly, in writing the applications, try to be as accurate and clear as possible with respect to your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Answer the specific questions asked, and do not treat the application as an opportunity to write your own memoir. The occasional concrete, telling anecdote can be useful to admissions people, but bear in mind that brevity has its virtues. Admissions directors are reading a lot of prose.

At the other end of the process, be sure to write brief thank you letters to schools you have toured, with specific details about what impressed you. Follow up with schools where you have been placed on the waiting list, letting them know whether or not you are still interested. It is a courtesy to any school and its applicants, whether public or private, to remove yourself from a waiting list, should you choose another school. Occasionally, families will have to put down a deposit at a school, which they may then lose once the dust settles and a preferable school comes through. This is unfortunate and costly, but unavoidable. It is terrible form to cancel a check. Don’t even dream of doing it. You are queering the chances for other children from your preschool for the foreseeable future.

Finally, approach the process with confidence and a sense of purpose. Seeing one’s child comfortably settled in kindergarten is a great rite of passage for all concerned. It will happen for each family reading this material.

*Many thanks to Robin Aronow, Educational Consultant, for permission to quote from her Life After Nursery School information packet.