7.5 years ago we bought our house exactly one year before our wedding. At the time I paid some attention to the area schools & thought we were in district for Bridge Elementary. After all, the kids next to us attend there. Looooooooong story short, rezoning took place & our neighborhood school is Locke Elementary which is overcrowded with more than 1100 students in K-8. There are other aspects of the school that I am not thrilled with as well. So, I learned all about CPS' Selective Enrollment program to see what our options were...
Testing for gifted (AKA Options for Knowledge) & entry into Magnet schools via a lottery system (insane details I won't even get into!!!). We applied for both & also submitted apps to multiple schools that had "open enrollment." Testing, deadlines, applications...NUTS! After all, this is only KG!
Jack missed qualifying for gifted by a small margin...fine, we had other options to hold out for...
He ended up wait listed for the other schools at #'s too high to ever get accepted.
Our LAST "free" option...an application to The Chicago Academy which is a CPS contract school located in the old Wright College building on Austin Ave. The accept children based solely on proximity...the closer you live, the better your chances of acceptance. I applied for both Jack & Molly not realizing Molly was only going into 3 year old prek & they only have 4 year old prek. So, from the start I knew Molly would not qualify which was not a big deal. We then had to wait....until the END of JUNE!
Around June 18th, Molly's letter arrived & it was a general letter stating "...due to the amount of applications we are unable to accept your child..." I knew it was because of her age & wasn't surprised by this. However, a letter did not arrive for Jack. I didn't panic & actually thought that maybe this was a good thing! Maybe he was accepted! 2 weeks go by...nothing. On July 2nd I called the school. The secretary didn't find his name on the acceptance list nor the wait list. I hung up & cried.
Then just today it occurred to me...would every kid who applied be put on the wait list even if they were #985? It seems to me they would fill their available seats & then place the rest of the children on the wait list in order of proximity, right? I remembered that when I handed in both apps, the secretary paper clipped both of them together with Molly's on top. I can't help but think that Jack was never even considered b/c his app was attached to Molly's!!!! It just doesn't make sense that Jack never received a letter. I considered going there, but what might they do at this point? I guess it wouldn't hurt to find out...
On the other hand, we've begun to explore the world of private/Catholic school. I honestly don't know how families do this...especially with two... let alone FOUR kids! It's honestly keeping me up at night & contributing to my gray hair on a daily basis.
Thus, I end with a photo of the man behind these wise old words...my wonderful father in law, Bill Conway..."It'll all work out!"
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