My 11-year-old son believes in his neighborhood public school. I do, too.
I’m an old-school parent.
It’s what happens when you grow up in a middle-class household during the 1970s and ‘80s. I lived in a world where your address dictated where you went to school. You were proud of your neighborhood school.
Mine was Scott Elementary in Greeley, Colorado. We were the Raiders. Every Friday, we wore our colors: green and gold.
Families didn’t have too many choices within the public school district back then. If you didn’t want your child to go to your assigned school, you had to opt for an expensive private school.
So when my son was ready for elementary school, I didn’t think too much about what school he would go to. He went where the district said he would go based on my address. Fortunately, our neighborhood school in Union County is considered one of the best in our district.
For the last five years, there was never a time when I questioned his learning environment. He was being challenged in most subjects and introduced to new and exciting topics.
I never considered exploring options other than his home school within our district until this year — his first year of middle school.
Part of my job as the education reporter at The Charlotte Observer includes sifting through data, knowing how schools are graded and what those standardized tests scores really mean. But this year, the impact of an “A” school versus an “F” school took on a whole new meaning: my son went from attending one of the best schools in the district to now attending an “F” school.
For the first time, I started considering school choice and whether my son was receiving the best possible education afforded to him. I began questioning if I was being a responsible parent by keeping him in a school where its students didn’t perform well on standardized tests during the 2021-22 school year.
Keep in mind, our district doesn’t have near the robust school choice program of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Parents in CMS have dozens of magnet school choices and interest areas to choose from.
I had to consider one question: did it matter my son’s school was an “F” school? It meant that, according to state standards, tests scores were low and growth expectations weren’t met.
Through the first semester of school, he’s come home challenged. He’s being introduced to new areas of study, including agriculture. He’s happy.
Then I asked my son what he thought. Did he want to go to a different school?
Here’s his response: “Everybody makes a big deal about that school is an ‘A’ school and this school is an ‘F’ school. I go to a school. The kids are nice, the teachers are great and I feel like I’m getting a great education. Your school is what you make it. It’s not like we’re all Fs.”
It’s nice to know that at 11 years old, the kid is old-school.
And for now, he’s made his choice.
This story was originally published December 30, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
