Withdrawing my son from his high school

[momz]

OP so glad to hear you found an option that works better for your ds. Good luck to him!

I wonder if this will be a turning point and the start of more and more families choosing online programs over their local public schools in the future.

I wonder too. I think we will see changes to the educational system one way or another. If I had younger kids, it would be a no brainer for me. But when my kids were small, I still had faith in the educational system. Having grown up in a small town and graduating with 93 in my class, I had a deep seeded respect for teachers and pre-existing ideas on how school is supposed to be. Well, I learned way too late that my kids' school experience resembles mine only in that there are chairs, desks and a teacher. Nothing else is the same.

For example, my DS went to school today to gather his belongings from his locker. He is still enrolled there. He entered when the doors unlocked, got his things and was returning to his car. They would not let him go to his car! He then told them that he left something in his car that he needed, but nope, could not exit the building. He texted me, so I contacted the school and told them he has an appointment, the attendance lady gave him a pass to leave for the alleged appointment.

Now, when I was in school, it was no big deal to return to your car for whatever reason. Now, I guess there just so many kids, they cannot know who's going to do drugs in the parking lot, or grab a weapon to bring back in, or whatever. Who knows what the school has to guard against these days.

I'm happy to be done with it.

 

[Funfire240]

OP I hope it goes great for all of you!
My kids (5th and 7th) are starting fully remote. DD (7th) started with zoom meetings yesterday and then will start instruction Thursday. We have teacher meetings tomorrow over zoom for both. DS then starts the 31st. I'm going in looking on the upside and hoping for the best. DD had the first zoom yesterday with about 300 7th graders only to have the meeting have to be restarted because kids figured out how they could "draw" on the screen and block out the slides - so they had to start over and change settings. Then, she had a 20 meet and greet, where the teacher put herself and mute and turned her screen off 3 times because her phone was ringing and she said she had a call to answer! I'm hoping for the best! We do live right on the edge of our county and the school system that starts down the road in the neighboring county is going all 5 days but I think it's too late to try for out of district otherwise I would consider

 

[sam_gordon]

There's good and bad about public schools (large and small). Granted, it doesn't fit every child's needs, but name something else that works for everyone 100% of the time. I'm glad there are other options for people to do "right" for their children. But I also don't envy the job of teachers & administrators. If all they had to do was teach, everyone would probably be happy.

I agree smaller school sizes would be good. My graduating class was ~100, and it was a good size I thought. My kids go to a school with 400-500 in each class. That's overwhelming to me, but the large school has a lot of class (topic) options that I didn't have.

 

[lanejudy]

They would not let him go to his car! ...
when I was in school, it was no big deal to return to your car for whatever reason. Now, I guess there just so many kids

Leaving school is a no-no even in pre-COVID times, but I think your son got caught up in a "bubble" -- once he's in the building, health-checked/etc., they are supposed to stay.

 

[mjkacmom]

I wonder too. I think we will see changes to the educational system one way or another. If I had younger kids, it would be a no brainer for me. But when my kids were small, I still had faith in the educational system. Having grown up in a small town and graduating with 93 in my class, I had a deep seeded respect for teachers and pre-existing ideas on how school is supposed to be. Well, I learned way too late that my kids' school experience resembles mine only in that there are chairs, desks and a teacher. Nothing else is the same.

For example, my DS went to school today to gather his belongings from his locker. He is still enrolled there. He entered when the doors unlocked, got his things and was returning to his car. They would not let him go to his car! He then told them that he left something in his car that he needed, but nope, could not exit the building. He texted me, so I contacted the school and told them he has an appointment, the attendance lady gave him a pass to leave for the alleged appointment.

Now, when I was in school, it was no big deal to return to your car for whatever reason. Now, I guess there just so many kids, they cannot know who's going to do drugs in the parking lot, or grab a weapon to bring back in, or whatever. Who knows what the school has to guard against these days.

I'm happy to be done with it.

There is no way any student at our HS would be allowed to leave the building for any reason without a parent being there unless they were 18 and had a form filled out by the parents, it’s been this way for at least 8 years. It’s a security issue. For a parent to get in the building, they must have an appointment, be buzzed into a completely glassed in area, put ID through a window, and then be buzzed though another door. When picking up students you give your ID and wait for your student in the glass box.

 

[RamblingMad]

There's good and bad about public schools (large and small). Granted, it doesn't fit every child's needs, but name something else that works for everyone 100% of the time. I'm glad there are other options for people to do "right" for their children. But I also don't envy the job of teachers & administrators. If all they had to do was teach, everyone would probably be happy.

I agree smaller school sizes would be good. My graduating class was ~100, and it was a good size I thought. My kids go to a school with 400-500 in each class. That's overwhelming to me, but the large school has a lot of class (topic) options that I didn't have.

My freshman class in high school in the 90s had over 700 students. It was an experience.

 

[monkeydawn]

My freshman class in high school in the 90s had over 700 students. It was an experience.

My graduating class, also in the 90s, had 17. *That* is also an experience. LOL