This is part 3 of 4 and just to give you context, we pick up the story when we are planning our move to Charleston about 5 years ago...
Its the first time I started looking at school performance websites and info... We'd just asked around at the University for recommendations near Cal, because it was fairly straightforward and there were limited choices... but moving to Charleston... wow- the number of choices... Mount P, W Ashley, Summerville, Goose Creek, James Island.... buy or rent... what neighbourhood within them... and ofcourse WHAT SCHOOL...
We looked at Great Schools and were really surprised about what we might find in some school districts... we hadn't experienced the rigors of standardized testing yet... having only been in the states for second grade... but staring us in the face was more information about where 3rd graders placed in the MAP and PACT tests, and beyond that... how many kids were on free or reduced lunch, class sizes and more...
But it still came down to finding a school that fit, so when we went house hunting, we also visited several schools in our chosen area - West Ashley...
We finally decided to rent, and to do it in the St. Andrews School of Math and Science district... and it was great - Robyn found a school with caring teachers, an emphasis on math and science and I found a wonderful PTA and a caring extended school environment with lots going on - with everything from book fairs to spaghetti dinners... Robyn made friends and flourished there and loved everything except ... uniforms...
The only fight we had to fight was with staying in the school... after Charleston County implemented a residence verification process.. just before we were going to move out of SASMS district... we verified for the first year while we were still in district and waited to see what would happen to the parents and students who petitioned to stay even though they were out of district... they granted exceptions for 5th graders and a few others for various reasons... but we now had hope...
We moved and waited til the start of Robyn's 5th grade year to make an appointment to see the principal - and told him that we'd moved but wanted to stay for Robyn's last year - we were sure that having already moved twice in her school career that starting over again wouldn't be in her best interest... and she'd be leaving in a year anyway...
We were fortunate that we didn't have to go before the board for an exemption - there was room for Robyn to stay... and one more educational hurdle was past...
All was well until.... November... when we started to shop for Middle Schools.... but that story tomorrow...
