Get yourself a child advocate lawyer and take it to the next level.

Go to www.wrightslaw.com - site for special needs kids but you could learn alot about the legalese of public education.

We are a k-5, currently about 625 students, 4 classes per grade.

It just blows me away at some of the measures we as parents need to take to do what is best for our children! Our oldest has been tested and shown me she can read at the college level for several years but last year in eighth grade may as well have fallen off a turnup truck! She was bringing home all "F"s and not worried. Now, do you think I could get the school to hold her back?! OH my Gosh! That was my part time job this summer! SHe is repeating the eighth grade but that was not without having to take her registration and have them go back and manually put her in each class again (they claim the computer advanced her... rrriiiggghhhttt).
The first school she was in when we moved here, the teacher was teacher a class that was roughly 60% non English and my daughter was bored! Instead of making her a study partner to help others ("we don't do that in second grade") she bacome bored and talked! My favorite was the meeting I had and the Principal didn't even know my name or my daughter's but wanted to have her tested for ADHD by their staff! My peditrcian laughed! Second Quarter, Second Semester she started at her new school which is also a charter school that teaches phonics and basic (Saxton) math. What a difference!

What kind of open enrollment is there? I remember going to a school 15 miles from home (I grew-up in rural Iowa) mainly because my parents didn't want to go to parocial school (5 miles away).

My son also goes to the school you are referring to and my experience has been the opposite (for the most part). I in fact, chose to move to Bolingbrook from Michigan because of the Elementary schools history. The district on the other hand when my kids get older is another issue, but I've still got some time before dealing with that. I'm not saying things don't go wrong because they do - I just have not had the same experiences.

I have been the president of the PTO (not PTA) for 3 years now and the last thing we are trying to do is ask for money from the parents. I get hit up enough from the sports my kids are in, the neighbor kids, etc. and feel the pain of everyone else too.

In the past 3 years the PTO has removed ALL door-to-door fundraising except the fall gift wrap program (which we encourage NOT to go door-to-door with and keep it with family and friends only). We have replaced those fundraisers with family events (most of which we try to break even with).

When I started as president there were 11 fundraisers and 4 family events. Now we have at least 1 family event a month (many months there are a couple).

Budgets are cut with the district and one of the objectives of the PTO is to supplement funds, but our primary goal is involvement and has been the primary focus for the past 3 years. The PTO brought in $35,000/year when I started, our goal is only $21,000 this year, again putting an emphasis on more families being able to be involved in school functions.

<b>"Obviously, this particular school, does not have the funding, to actually teach. Each year, I hear of an additional decline in funding, because they refused to meet some standard. I got to all the PTA meetings, and they are constantly asking for more money from the parents, because, A. B, C funding got cut. Its actually pretty sad". </b>

<b>This school was just not accustomed to parent involvment, and saw it as an insult.</b>

I can not comment on what standard you are referring to that the school does not meet, but I can tell you our school scored 126th in the state last year in ISAT test scores - out of over 3,500 public schools in the state. Every child was provided with a copy of the award the school received to take home last spring.

But I can comment on the PTO (not PTA) meetings and I have never specified what has been cut - I don't know what has been specifically to comment on it. I do know overall budgets have been cut - but that is all I know.

I can also tell you that last year the PTO spent nearly $10,000 on instructional materials and are voting on the budget tonight which includes $3,000 for the reading program, $3,000 for 3rd grade SRA kits, $700 for ISAT Coaching books, $150 for science and social studies videos, $2,500 for staff development. In addition, $7,400 is being provided to the school for instructional materials for each classroom by the afterschool club. We also provide each teacher with an allowance for additional supplies, etc.

I am sorry if you feel the PTO has asked for too much from the parents in the past. That is not the intent of what we have been trying to do the past 3 years and I hope they if you look back you have noticed this change. We are trying to build community involvement while also providing additional funds to help enrich our kids education.

I also hope that you have had a positive experience at many of the things the PTO has done including the Back-to-school BBQ, halloween dance, movie nights, reading night, fall festival, easter breakfast, cookies with santa and holiday shop, valentines dance, fathers day mini-golfing, or even the adult only events we've done off site at places. You child has also experienced additional things like field trips, assemblies, and Field Day that the PTO has either paid for or contributed to.

If you've been to the PTO meetings for the past 3 years then you know who I am - and hopefully you also know that I have attempted to be transparent on the goals of the PTO as well as completely open to being communicated with (my email, home, work, cell numbers are on all communications and I'm at the school a lot too). I hope that if you truely have issues with the PTO you will bring them to board in the future. I do not feel is not the place to bad mouth what we have been working so hard to improve on the past 3 years with out first taking it to us.

We have a general meeting tonight at 7pm and will be introducing the officers for this year as well as voting on the recommended budget for the year. We have several positions still open and if you are truely interested in seeing a difference and not just venting please stop by and lets talk.

Yes, I agree.. Not all public schools are the same. Just like not all people are the same. I remember when I was shopping for a house in Naperville, IL, (they have excellent public schools, better than the private schools in the area) and I just could not afford to live there. As a result, I settled for the next town over, Bolingbrook. And their history was dismal, but I saw it as a temporary situation. I tried to be open minded, siting that its not all about numbers and test scores, but apparently, there are reasons behind this schools low test scores, as I found out the hard way.

I then did more research, and saw the ranking of ALL illinois schools. There are 2500 of them, and where my public school ranked. Not good.

So obviously there are huge variations. Saying all public schools are bad, is of course, just to general a statement.

We are looking at other public schools, in other areas of course.. or private schools. That was my only point.

Obviously, this particular school, does not have the funding, to actually teach. Each year, I hear of an additional decline in funding, because they refused to meet some standard. I got to all the PTA meetings, and they are constantly asking for more money from the parents, because, A. B, C funding got cut. Its actually pretty sad.

But it is giving me the where with all, to move to a community that values education more, and where parents like me are the norm.

This school was just not accustomed to parent involvment, and saw it as an insult. Unfortunately, that is why there are Sylvan centers on every corner here. The public schools here, dont work with Sylvan or other enrichment programs, because they see it as an attack, and for obvious reasons. Sylvan accomplished in three hours, what took them two years. I would be embarrassed too.

I am glad that you guys got it right the first time, and did not have to play trial and error with your schools. You guys did excellent planning. I wish I would've work harder to get into Naperville.

Thanks,

I agree, most public schools are not like Tammy's. Most work well with parents who are proactive when it comes to their children's schooling. Two points I want to make:
1. First graders learn a lot of non-academic lessons, too. Social skills are a huge part of a child's development. So don't consider the year wasted.
2. From what you have said, this isn't a problem for you at all, but children pick up on parents' attitudes toward others, so stay on top of your child's behavior in school. Learning to show respect to people we disagree with can be difficult.
Please don't let this bad experience completely turn you against public schools. I love mine, too.