Toilets are Better than California Schools

Lets just think about this for a moment.......today's toilet is in better shape than the California education system. Toilets, while typically used for flushing money down them...have remained relatively stable in today's market. California schools, on the other hand, have created so much debt that has been washed in bonds, lottery money or taxes that should they ever be placed on the world stock market they would be considered one of the highest risk investments of all time.

So, I went to two meetings this month in my community. The first one was the community/parent/administration meeting to discuss the upcoming budget cuts for our district. The second meeting was a parent orientation for 8th grade students moving up into the local high school next year (our district is so small that there is only one high school to choose from).

The Budget meeting was as depressing as doing taxes. We brainstormed on all the ways we could ruin our children's education and came up with plenty of ways to make sure they suffer great setbacks. Our high school took these suggestions/recommendations and this past week they pink slipped 100 school district employees.......this included all guidance counselors at the high school, K-3 grade teachers that have recently been hired based on a 20:1 ratio classroom that is now being moved up to 29:1 ratio.........imagine almost 30 5 year olds in a classroom with one teacher..........how they are going to learn I do not know. High school classes and activities are being cut, intervention programs and advanced placement classrooms are at risk.......in a nutshell, its going down the..........you guessed it, the toilet!

So, we have debated now for the past 2 years about what to do for the twins for high school. Christopher is a sophomore and he has never been to school........ever........and has no desire to go to the high school. He meets once a month with a charter school facillitator and takes most of his classes at the local college and he is very happy. He has his friends, has even gone to a high school dance with his girlfriend and attends football games........he hasn't missed out. The twins however wanted to try school 2 years ago so we researched and found the only place we would allow them to go was a small (120 kids total K-8th) charter school. They got the only 2 spots available toward the end of 6th grade and are now finishing up 8th grade there.

Now we have to decide.......really decide what to do. We can go back to homeschooling......which would be tough now that I'm working and possibly going back to school full time myself. There is a private Christian high school 30 minutes away at $1000 a month for the two of them, hmmmm...........and then there is our local high school.

I'm just loving my choices here............not

We may be priced out of the private school choice just due to current economics of California these days, not to mention the 30 minute commute each way, twice a day. Homeschooling may be an effort in futility with time together being a premium between work and school schedules. The fact that the twins want to go to the local HS regardless of the bad conditions also makes homeschooling against their wills an option I'm not anxious to take.

So that leaves us with our local high school. Hmmmmm.........no guidance counselors (thank God I know what I'm doing).......limited Advanced Placement classes (which one of our twins is eligible for) and lack of intervention help (which our other twin is in need of)..........what the heck...........

So we have decisions to make. Tough decisions. This is when being a parent is tough......having to make decisions, sometimes against the will of the masses.....or sometimes against what you, as a parent, want to do. We will see........I still don't have the answers, but I keep hoping they will come......in the meantime we keep researching our options and try to keep all doors open.