[Crustedfilth]

Originally Posted by Anet

They finished the new facility in 2007, so about 2005 I believe...

In an area where even renewals had to fight for acceptance, it was a most impressive proof of one rural community's hope for a well rounded future for their children.

interesting.

My company designs schools and I know how hard it is to get a bond passed these days.

thanks

[Coldjensens]

I spent two years doing this before we selected a town and moved.

# 1 Get statistics (test scores, college matriculation rates, etc) from internet resources including Citydata. However that only tells you a fraction of the story. Some of the sources you have to pay about $50. Go ahead and subscribe to them. Even if they give you no new infomration, you will always wonder what you aare missing.

Ignore online comments from students and parents about the schools that are posted on school websites. These are almsot always from sour grapes parents/students or cheerleader types. You will nto get a rational picture of what it is like this way. You can find people at absolutely every school who will say that hte school has a drug problem. Why? All schools have a drug problem. America has a drug problem.

#2 Visit the schools. Make an appointment for a tour, but also just show up on some random day or time. The tour will be directed only to show you the best things. We spent hundreds, maybe thousands of odllars visiting schools (we had to fly from California to Michigan, but we visited relatives at the same time).

#3 Talk to some parents. As many as possible. Visit a PTO meeting or even just got to a returuant and listen to conversations until you find an appropriate one to butt in and ask questions. Most people will be more than happy to share their opinions, but take each opinion with a grain of salt, They are almost always exaggerated.

#4 Make a list of what is important to you. Test scores? Small School? Large School that offers hundreds of programs? Sports? Band? Choir? theater? Swimming pool? etc etc.

We left swimming pool off and later kind of wished that we had made that a major selection item. The only thing our kids will do for exercise is swim. The school has no pool so they can swim at home but only for part of the year.

#5. Attend some classes at each school if you can. However remember that you may encounter a really terrific teacher that is about to leave or retire. Talk to students.


#6. Discuss choices with your children if they are over 10 years old. It does nto matter whether you follow their preferences, but if you do not at least ask them and discuss with them, they may well be bitter and start school with a bad attitude.

#7. Talk with college recruiters especially about programs that are important to you. They will know where the better programs are. Do you care about debate? High Diving? Chemistry? recruiters can tell you which schools are considered btetter in a given area. You may have to ask for a recruiter for the particular program.

#8 POst queiotns on Citydata, but take responses with a grain of salt. You will get mixed responses, many exaggerated and some with no basis at all.

#9. If you have faith, pray a lot. It is a difficult choice and you will not even have an opinion as to whether you made the right choice until you have been there for several years. We have been here almost four years and we still are not certain whether we made the right choice. There are some tings that are absolutely great but other things (no pool) that make us feel like we maybe shorted our kids on some opportunities.

[Bydand]

One of the things you won't find on the test scores or evaluations is how the Principal and other staff interact and challenge the students. Take our little District, this morning the Principal greeted the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students from the roof of the school as they were arriving to school. At the beginning of the month he challenged the Upper Elementary students to read 3106 books (how he came up with this number I have zero clue). If they met that goal he said he would spend the night on the roof. Well, last night he spent on the roof because the three grades managed to read 4378 book. There are less than 400 kids in those grades combined.

Will that ever show up on a test or anything else? Nope. BUT... every time I stopped by the school this month there were groups of kids eating lunch and reading books, or waiting in the hall reading. The whole place was excited and fired up because THEY were able to make their Principal spend a night on the roof if they met the goal. My own kids read books like they were going out of style and we even had to make trips to the book store for new material.
Is it a gimmick? Yes it is.
Was it effective? Most assuredly it was.
Are my kids better readers even after only a month of trying hard? Yes they are, and it renewed their interest this late in the school year for just reading something for pleasure. (They read all the time, but the teachers wanted the students to go outside their comfort zone and try books that were a bit more challenging to them for this "contest")

Would I choose a school district based on this along? No way! But, it does speak to where the "heart" of the school is. Not some static number that doesn't grab the kids attention like other districts I have been involved with.

[Coldjensens]

Bydand is correct. The principals make all the difference in the world. We have unfortunately had our kids in a lot of different schools before we moved here. THe principals make all the difference and when the principal leaves, a good school can slide very quickly to fair or poor.

[jetengineman's wife]

Boy... thanks, everyone! I've been swamped with things to do so haven't checked out the forum in a while, and now I come back to all of your wonderful responses! Bydand, you are so correct about the "gimmicks" that principals and teachers can use.... they do work and they do keep kids interested! Coldjensens... I agree about the pool... I'd love to find a district with one available... although a YMCA in driving distance might work, also. Anet... any other info you'd like to share about New Lothrop... please, send me a message and you can give me the low down! Thank you! Also... does anyone know anything about Merrill? Their test scores are much lower but the town would be way more convenient for hubby's job. Thanks!