Our sons landed in a great school. For them, grandfathering is the best choice plan.
By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
Published August 29, 2004 Situation: Staff writer Curtis Krueger wanted to stay right on track as if "choice" hadn't happened.
(This article originally appeared Sept. 14, 2003)
My son Jimmy entered McMullen-Booth Elementary School in the fall of 1998 and landed in a kindergarten class led by a teacher who loves to help young children start reading. I liked that.
When Jimmy entered first grade, my wife, Vicki, and I were pleased to discover his new teacher was a Pinellas Teacher of the Year finalist, a reading expert who combines hard work and nurturing as well as anyone we've seen. I liked that too.
And then we learned good news about his second-grade teacher: Same as the first-grade teacher. I really liked that.
During all this, the Pinellas County School Board was pondering whether to give me the opportunity to send Jimmy, and our younger son Jackson, to some other school in northern Pinellas County.
My big question about this opportunity was how to avoid it.
I have no intention of criticizing the school choice plan here - and I'll let you decide whether that's because (a) I like the plan, or (b) this special section is only so many pages long.
But the bottom line is that Jimmy and Jackson had landed in a wonderful school. We didn't want to leave.
We're grateful for the "grandfathering" policy, which allows children who were enrolled in Pinellas schools as of June 2001 to continue in their school if they don't move, in spite of the choice plan. And we're also happy that as long as we don't move, we can make use of "extended grandfathering," which means the boys would be allowed to go to the same middle school and high school they would have attended before the choice plan.
But all this bears watching. Last year we discovered a computer glitch made it appear that Jimmy might not be eligible for extended grandfathering. A misspelling of our address had fooled the computer into thinking we had moved. When I tried to get this fixed last year, some very polite workers suggested I wait until the school choice pandemonium died down. I think it's time to try again.
In the meantime, we learned good news this year about Jackson's second grade teacher at McMullen-Booth: Same as the one Jimmy had in first and second grade.
Situation: Staff writer Curtis Krueger wanted to stay right on track as if "choice" hadn't happened.