My son's school suffers from a bad reputation as well. Why? Because 30 years ago, there was a housing project nearby, and they went to our school!
Those of us that are involved have tried to be cheerleaders for the school, and reach out to the business in the area for support. We've also made it clear to our last two principals that we wanted a more visible presence in the community. It has been a struggle, and we may no succeed. At least we gave it our best shot.
Just keep on telling everyone how thrilled you are with your school of choice.
Just be patient. We were that school 10 years ago. Some real estate agents went so far as to have their developments rezoned into a neighboring district thinking their homes would sell better. We were where the "poor" students went.
We are now busting at the seams. You can't buy land in this school district (we only have one elementary, one junior, one senior high). It is sold as fast as it is put up for sell. We have had so many enroll in kindergarten for next year that we are looking at 7 kindergarten classes. In addition, our juniors made the highest grade in the STATE on the state benchmark literacy test.
It takes time. It takes parents like you talking up your school. It will happen. Unfortunately, you might be gone, but you can get the ball rolling.
Thank you all for responding. I was not sure how that was going to go over. I try to be as positive as possible. In fact, if I run across someone from the other school on the board, I wouldn't be surprized. They may not even be aware of the problem. I would guess it's more intense right here in the neighborhood by the school because people have to justify driving past one school to go to another.
It's just frustrating. I am going to talk a lot with the board this summer to plan out our next auction so I think I'll bring up the PR idea then. You really do need to toot your own horn. I have a friend who does the PR for our church so I can get addresses and names from her of who to submit "Aren't our kids great?" articles.
I really like that idea. If I get the go ahead, I may need more advice on how to go about it.
OMG I can not believe you have full grown adults behaving this way. Yes test scores are important but good lord there is more to education then test scores!!!
I had no idea until I talked to a parent that was looking at last year's test scores and pulled her 3 children, unfortunatly they were doing better then they have before and after she saw the scores for the first quarter felt stupid for being so hast. The school got the last laugh, well, with a waiting list those 3 spots were filled overnight.
I feel for our Kindergarten staff also. You get the impression from the new parents "Okay, spin this straw into gold and MAYBE we'll come back."
