Redistricting Meeting

Well, it looks as if Ali will for certain be going to a different school next year, the only question is going to be the exact boundaries of the redistrcting. They said that right now the map of the new districts is just a draft, but that the final version won't be much different, it will only vary by a couple of blocks here and there.

The one question I want to know is whether or not Alison will still be bussed. We live on the edge of the district right now and from what I have heard, the only reason she is bussed right now is because she has to cross a major roadway (Both Pilgrim Rd. and Appleton Ave.) to get to school. I believe the policy is that anyone who is within a (2) mile radius from school can be bussed, but it isn't mandated. We'd have to pay something like an extra $400 a year to have her get bussed. Now I don't know if that rule applies to all students, or just middle and high school students.

I wasn't able to ask the question because the meeting was dominated by Ben Franklin parents. They were all crying that their kids would be moved and they wanted them to stay at BF (the proposal has about 230 kids from BF being distributed to other schools). I had to laugh. These were the same parents who could have given a rip last spring when they were going to close our school (Riverside) and one other to merge into one large elementary school. The Superintendent (who I actually like very much) distributed questions from a previous information meeting the week before at Ben Franklin. In reading thru the questions I really hope they do redistrict just the way they are saying they will and move the kids from BF. The a-holes at BF were slamming RS, the students and staff saying they didn't want their kids going to a school that was as "troublesome" as Riverside. They also referenced state test scores. Apparently RS was something like the 75% while BF was 90% on that state testing scale. Well one reason could be that they stopped taking 220 kids and BF and sent them all to RS. Ben Franklin isn't a private school as much as they want to believe that it is, and if you don't like it there is always private school.

I have come to the realization that Ali is going to be moved, and that is fine. I'll miss the staff at Riverside, but there will be a lot of families moving from Riverside with us, so Ali will still have friends and I am sure we'll get used to Shady Lane.