Parents = school allies or school enemies?
Yesterday was the first day of public school Pre-K for my daughter and I left the building in tears. Before you think I am some overly attached parent, let me tell you that I wasn't crying because I had to leave her. I'm mortified to say that it was my awful interaction with the school principal that reduced me to a weepy mess.
I am sure my PMS didn't help, but neither did the principal's ugly, unprofessional behavior.
Why is everything so difficult here? Because despite the fact that we have a president in the White House who truly cares about education, I live in a part of New Jersey where the corruption is rampant, the schools are failing, and parents are routinely treated like enemies, not allies. And I should know, because I survived these mean streets myself. I am a product of the Jersey City school system - the first in the nation to be taken over by the state - and I know the ignorant way children and families can be treated here. I guess I naively hoped that things might have changed.
And it's not just the grammar schools where kids are falling behind and the test scores in a slump. The high schools are in rough shape too. According to one local paper, "The average SAT score in Jersey City is 86 points below the state average in math, and 91 points below the state average in verbal."
When my husband and I first moved here, we joked that Jersey City was the land that time forgot as we laughed at some of the sights (like the guy who walked down our street carrying a boom box! A boom box!). But you know what? It's also the land that time forgot in terms of education.
Yesterday is a simple story - the school district sent me a letter with details about my daughter's school, what to bring for the first day, where to show up, etc. It also included the information that parents were welcome to stay for the first day of school. For over a month I told my daughter she was going to leave her pre-school and go to "big kid's school" but that mommy would be there for the whole first day. She is four and a half. We would ride the school bus a few short blocks together and meet her new teacher together.
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