PreK Magnet School

The state of CT is not organized like most states when it comes to local government.  We have 8 counties, but they are now relatively meaningless.  In 1960, the county government structure was abolished in favor of a town structure.  Rhode Island is the only other state that operates this way.  There are 169 towns in CT.  They vary in size, but most can take only a few minutes to cross by car.  Each one has its own government, police force, and in the more populated regions, school system.  Less-populated areas have regional schools that share amongst several towns.  The result of all of this is a town public school system which typically has a few elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.

In the Hartford area, there are a multiple public magnet school systems which are established with specialized curriculums and expanded, multi-town attendance regions to promote voluntary desegregation.  Our interest in these schools was fueled by the (in some cases) better overall academic performance and also a funded pre-school system which literally saves thousands of dollars in daycare.  It also provides a system of choice that we wouldn't have unless we moved to a desired school system.  The magnet systems are free, essentially subsidized by the public school systems for the town in which we actually live.

In late spring 2013, we attended an Open House event nearby where all of the schools were present to showcase what they had to offer.  We talked to a few people and came up with a list of favorites based on proximity, open slots, and curriculum/academic approach.  We entered into a lottery with first, second, and third choices of schools.  Unfortunately, we did not get selected.  But after that, the Hartford Magnet system learned it was at risk of losing funding due to not fulfilling its requirement to provide a diverse (urban v. suburban) attendance.  It decided to open additional schools and have another lottery.  One such new school was a PreK facility, and Jenn entered into that new lottery.  And we got selected.

And so begins our journey into public schools, bureaucracy, etc.  There was no avoiding it unless we chose to home-school or select a private school, neither of which were options for us.  We just began this journey a year sooner than normal, but there were a few benefits.  First, Evan gets into the magnet system, and once in, he's in for good.  No more lotteries.  One thing that concerned us was what choices/control we would have over which school he attends.  We were told he would get "a" magnet school once he graduated PreK, but it would not necessarily be our first choice.  We did have our own town school system as a fallback if that aspect didn't work for us.

In addition to getting in for Evan's academic career, we end up saving literally thousands of dollars in daycare, and we were promised a brand-new school for the pre-K students.  All of these factors added up to, "What do we have to lose?"

This project, like so many others encounter in their public school systems (yes, I've read about the Baltimore Co. nightmares with Common Core adoption), was another instance of government taking on a project out of desperation and making-do with what they could.  In August 2013, Evan started his first day.  The new school was indeed a new building, but it wasn't purpose-built for pre-K children. It was a newly-constructed middle school that did not need all of the room.  Allegedly, there is a Pre-K school being constructed, but it was never going to be ready for the start of the school year.  The plan was to temporarily set up in the middle school and relocate once the Pre-K school was finished in the beginning of 2014.

There were some growing pains.  We visited the school just the day before school started, and there was so much that wasn't complete.  Phones were still being installed, SMART boards weren't there, the classrooms had only half of their furniture, and the fire alarms were still being tested.  They had not thought about basic issues like cubbies (the hallways had lockers with combination locks) and many other things.  We brought him in with some trepidation, but the people seemed nice and well-intentioned.  We were only worried he might get a better education at his daycare.

Just a few photos from his first day.  I'll include thoughts on the overall experience in a later post.