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First, and this is not just for you, transferring into secondary school is far harder than moving elementary schools. A tremendous amount of scheduling, etc, is done with the existing student body in the late Winter and Spring. So for the kids that are already in the school or coming from the feeder school, the work is done by May.
So new kids have to be slotted in. And then things change etc.
Not excusing, but trying to explain the reality of middle and high school. No excuse for rude staff, though. And she likely survives because the school doesn't have a lot of advocate parents.
What grade is she in? And is she identified gifted?
As soon as we went under contract with this house I began emailing the school. It was a slow response, but it was the beginning of summer break, just after the school shut down. I didn't expect a fast response. No biggie. The assistant principal responded and told me that she'd have no issues registering in the two weeks of registration before school. She was in the gifted program in elementary, but Cobb ends their gifted program then. They just go into advanced classes. Looking back, I wish the school would let new kids to the district know about certain ways they implement classes. They could have a ready-made .pdf to send out with emails, or have it listed on their website.
Speaking of... Am I the only one who hates the website system for the district and individual schools? They were created during dial-up, I'm certain.
Anyway, i wasn't worried about her not being placed in advanced classes. I had already heard that class sizes were small, which is why those classes, supposedly, perform very high. This whole issue was over the fact that I didn't receive an electives/foreign language form from the rude office-lady, who later was annoyed and unhelpful because I needed a schedule change, and then questioned my honesty about never receiving it. In an organized school office, I'd probably question myself first, but that wasn't the case. This was my fifth encounter with this lady. Even my husband texted immediately and said, "You are right. She is ignorant and rude." Do you know how hard that was for him?
It seems like I was trying to rush to get things done, and I assumed they were inundated with new kids because it is such a transient area, but the office was empty except on open house and when she scolded that woman looking for a job. I just didn't want to wait until it was too late to switch her classes, both of those being important electives. The orchestra teacher never showed on Open House, so I never got any info on that class, but she has no choice anyway because once you start, you have to stay to continue being part throughout school.
We were at Palmer for one year. We were lucky that Dr. Giles was our principal while we were there. He left this year for another school. The kids loved and respected him, and he was there all the time. There was never a time that I was at the school where I didn't see him.
I love living in this area where we are now. We were spending every weekend driving to dine out, shop at Asian markets and for cultural events. I mentioned the commute earlier. Everything is great except that I wish more affluent people around here would support their public schools.
It helps everyone in the area to improve education for those who need it most. It helps people pull themselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty when they are educated. As being discussed in the other thread about the new Gwinnett high school, it's hard to watch certain schools get overlooked because there aren't enough people with education and money to advocate the needs of that school. That's why I am frustrated with the entire district.
But, as you mentioned in a previous post, many people don't want their kids to be miserable while the schools are struggling to get it together. It's well and good to say that people should be supporting public schools, but when it's your own kid who is unhappy, you tend to want to fix that problem and put your own child/family above others. I get what you're saying, but no one (my family included) plops down the kind of money needed to fund a private school education lightly. It's done after a lot of thought and deliberation.
ETA: Rude lady in the office wouldn't last very long in a private school. If enough tuition-paying parents complain, they sit up and listen and she would be out of there. That just doesn't happen in most public schools. At best, she would be "transferred" to some other poor group of parents who would have to deal with her at another school in the county.
Thank you for being supportive! I hope I didn't offend you with the "that mom" comment. I really mean the moms that attack everyone in school instead of working with them. Sounds like you're a lot like me.
The front office at our school is my major issue. Maybe it's because they are understaffed. I've only seen the one rude woman every time I've had to go, except open house, which is five times now. The first time I saw her, I took my daughter. It was during a week that was listed as a registration week on their website. We showed up during the time frame listed, as well. The office lady said she wasn't ready for registration yet, grabbed a folder and started grabbing some forms that she thought I would need, and told us to come back next week. This is where she forgot the scheduling and electives sheet. It wasn't like we showed up the first minute on the first day. Open registration was all week, and we went on a Wednesday around 11am. The second time I saw her was the next week, with the few papers mostly filled out (I had a question about one section and waited to fill it out there. There was another woman there that I assumed was a mom, who showed up after me. I asked her to go ahead in front of me, because I was filling out that last section. She was quite irate and had no patience for the office lady. She wasn't a mom, but someone who was trying to speak to a principal about a job. The office lady chastised her for showing up without an appointment. The woman said that she had been emailing, calling and leaving voicemails, with no response. The office lady said, "Well, you're not going to see anyone today, either." When the woman left, the office lady started going off on that woman to me! I seriously doubt she shared her resume with anyone. It probably ended up in the trash, but I'm speculating.
She told me that she would need my daughter's transcripts, and so I asked for her fax number. She told me it would be best to have me bring them. So the next day is when I drove to my kid's old school. They were happy to see me there, but said they could have sent it for me. I immediately went and dropped off the documents at the new school. None of these times was the woman pleasant. I saw her at open house, because I needed my daughter's new student ID to be able to pay for her stuff. She was nicer than usual that time, but it was the first and only time she wasn't alone. She was surrounded by administration. Then on the first day of school, I go to the school to get my daughter's classes adjusted correctly, and she was alone again at first. That is when she questioned why I didn't fill out a sheet that I never got, and then said, "Are you suuuuuuure?" That moment was the first time I responded in a similar rude fashion back to her. About that time, someone else who works for the school walked up. Her tag said "assistant". She spoke Spanish to the office lady, and then looked at me to see if maybe I understood what she had said. I'm familiar with this look. I'm half-Korean, and I get mistaken about my ethnicity. Many times, people who speak Spanish think that might be my language, as well. When I'm in Asian restaurants or nail salons, I get the same treatment when people start speaking in their native language. They say a few words, check to see if I understand, and then continue with their conversation. Oddly enough, I don't know Korean, but I minored in Spanish in college. I don't speak Spanish fluently, but I can make do. I let them speak for a minute, acting like I didn't understand, which mostly is true. Fast conversation between fluent speakers is harder to understand. I was able to get enough to know they were bad-mouthing someone. So when they ended their short, whispered conversation, I snickered at just the right time and they both quickly looked at me a little panicked. I just kept the "well, my my" look on my face, even though I don't know what all was said. That is when she wrote two email addresses down and said that would result in the quickest response. Mind you, it's Thursday, and I still haven't received an email back.
So maybe I'm crazy, but I think my ire is valid. I would actually volunteer to help the front office, but there is no way I'd ever work with that woman.
Look. You've turned this thing into being mad bc someone is rude.
Maybe it's the Northerner in me and excuse my French but who the hell cares about this lady? Stop whining about not getting an email response or who is not treating you nice and go around this lady and demand to speak to whoever you need to speak to to get all the issues handled at one time. People know who they can fool with and you are the one for this lady. You've been on this thread complaining about some incompetent woman for post after post. Just get up, go down there, demand to see the Principal RIGHT NOW and make it known what you want and you are not leaving until you get it. Stop shuffling papers and crying on the Internet.
We have ALL dealt with incompetent public school officials. People on this Board do not believe it when I say my niece did not even have a 7th grade counselor for half year bc they did not bother to hire one. Guess what? We still got done what needed to be done. Combination of honey and you sure as hell better get your butt in here and do this job. Yes, it worked. Sometimes you have to let people know you're really not playing around with them.
Do I allow my kid to be the guinea pig in the change I seek? Does possibly hurting my own kid's education for the greater good benefit her future as a citizen in this country? Do I grant her a possible better education as I create a bigger divide between the haves and have-nots? Will I be, in fact, creating a worse world for her to grow old?
I think you've mostly got the right idea here, and for what it's worth, I went to a terrible public school in Alabama because my parents were both public school teachers and they couldn't afford to send me to private school. I still turned out fine. Smart kids can thrive in just about any school; they're usually a lot more resilient than their parents.
And without a doubt, the social skills that your kids will learn in a diverse (both racially and socioeconomically) public school will leave them far better-prepared for real life than an academically-rich but homogenous private school.
Did you ever try to contact the guidance counselor. In our area the guidance counselor is the person who would assist with these types of situations.
When I initially emailed the assistant principal, the guidance counselor was included in that email. While we were able to get help with another assistant principal, who has been exceptionally kind and helpful, I never did hear back from the guidance counselor or the other assistant principal that I initially emailed. Thank you, though, for your advice. Had I not been given her email, I would not have thought to ask the guidance counselor, so your advice would have been very helpful. I appreciate it.
LovelySummer's not having a LovelyDay. Thanks for chiming in a week late. If you had read thoroughly, you would have seen where we finally was able to manage the situation. I even said that I posted out of frustration, and was basically just flat-out ranting. Thankfully, my rant helped me learn a lot. Hopefully your rant here will help you learn something, too.
Magnetar, thanks! After a solid week and two days, I think we are doing ok. My daughter likes a few of her teachers a lot. She is in smaller classes and with other students who perform well. She says the disruption level in her health and foreign language class is at a very annoying level, and that if her main classes were that way, she doesn't think she'd be able to manage. I think that is pretty typical for most public schools. I remember having PE with kids I never shared classes. I shared that class with this awful redneck girl who made my life miserable. She got away with calling me every racist name in the book, but she never dared to say anything to the black kids, only this half-Korean kid. Apparently that was ok to the adults. That is why I like diversity. I should go look up her FB. I'd be willing to bet she has a Rebel Flag profile pic. Lol
When I initially emailed the assistant principal, the guidance counselor was included in that email. While we were able to get help with another assistant principal, who has been exceptionally kind and helpful, I never did hear back from the guidance counselor or the other assistant principal that I initially emailed. Thank you, though, for your advice. Had I not been given her email, I would not have thought to ask the guidance counselor, so your advice would have been very helpful. I appreciate it.
LovelySummer's not having a LovelyDay. Thanks for chiming in a week late. If you had read thoroughly, you would have seen where we finally was able to manage the situation. I even said that I posted out of frustration, and was basically just flat-out ranting. Thankfully, my rant helped me learn a lot. Hopefully your rant here will help you learn something, too.
Magnetar, thanks! After a solid week and two days, I think we are doing ok. My daughter likes a few of her teachers a lot. She is in smaller classes and with other students who perform well. She says the disruption level in her health and foreign language class is at a very annoying level, and that if her main classes were that way, she doesn't think she'd be able to manage. I think that is pretty typical for most public schools. I remember having PE with kids I never shared classes. I shared that class with this awful redneck girl who made my life miserable. She got away with calling me every racist name in the book, but she never dared to say anything to the black kids, only this half-Korean kid. Apparently that was ok to the adults. That is why I like diversity. I should go look up her FB. I'd be willing to bet she has a Rebel Flag profile pic. Lol
LovelySummer's not having a LovelyDay. Thanks for chiming in a week late. If you had read thoroughly, you would have seen where we finally was able to manage the situation. I even said that I posted out of frustration, and was basically just flat-out ranting. Thankfully, my rant helped me learn a lot. Hopefully your rant here will help you learn something, too.
We were at Palmer for one year. We were lucky that Dr. Giles was our principal while we were there. He left this year for another school. The kids loved and respected him, and he was there all the time. There was never a time that I was at the school where I didn't see him.
I love living in this area where we are now. We were spending every weekend driving to dine out, shop at Asian markets and for cultural events. I mentioned the commute earlier. Everything is great except that I wish more affluent people around here would support their public schools.
It helps everyone in the area to improve education for those who need it most. It helps people pull themselves out of the vicious cycle of poverty when they are educated. As being discussed in the other thread about the new Gwinnett high school, it's hard to watch certain schools get overlooked because there aren't enough people with education and money to advocate the needs of that school. That's why I am frustrated with the entire district.
Do you miss Chestnut Hill? Or was it Thornwood?
Chalker-Palmer-Kell is a great cluster...and think you will continue to be happy as well with Sandy Springs-North Springs.
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After a solid week and two days, I think we are doing ok. My daughter likes a few of her teachers a lot. She is in smaller classes and with other students who perform well. She says the disruption level in her health and foreign language class is at a very annoying level, and that if her main classes were that way, she doesn't think she'd be able to manage. I think that is pretty typical for most public schools. I remember having PE with kids I never shared classes. I shared that class with this awful redneck girl who made my life miserable. She got away with calling me every racist name in the book, but she never dared to say anything to the black kids, only this half-Korean kid. Apparently that was ok to the adults. That is why I like diversity. I should go look up her FB. I'd be willing to bet she has a Rebel Flag profile pic. Lol
