Long, boring story to follow. If you’re not interested in kids or private schools, move on.
I just found out that eldest daughter was accepted to the second most prestigious private pre-school in town. Total enrolment for her age: one class, 12 kids, siblings of current students and parishioners get first crack (we’re neither). This school goes from 3-year old pre-K up to the 8th grade (roughly 13 years old for non-US Dopers). Princess Nrd is 3 and our plan was to keep her in this school all the way through, at which time she’d go to a private high school. (As an aside, I have absolutely nothing against public school, Mrs. Nrd and I both went to public schools, and both think that we received wonderful educations in very safe environments. However, neither of us grew up in this city. The city school district here is atrocious.)
This is a pretty big deal for us as we were told at the parents’ informational meeting last December that Princess Nrd would be at a disadvantage as, having been with a nanny, she might not be the type of child they’re looking for (the message was that kids with nannies generally aren’t socialized enough to be accepted to this school). This was a huge blow to us as we had just finished a tour of the school and were very impressed with the facilities, the teachers, and most of all the students. After the meeting we resigned ourselves to the likelihood that she wouldn’t get in, but decided to go ahead with the evaluation in February as we had already paid the $150 evaluation fee. On evaluation day, Princess Nrd was on her game, and kicked ass at the evaluation. Those with kids will know what I mean. Sometimes the kids are listless and blah, and other days they are ready to change the world, and could sell ice to the Inuit (Yes, I’m talking about a 3 year old). Princess Nrd was definitely the second on evaluation day.
About a week ago we got a letter from the school saying that Princess Nrd had been waitlisted. No surprise we thought given the number of people who were there on evaluation day and who already knew the admissions director (suggesting they were probably parishioners). Well, of course, today we get a call from the admissions director offering Princess Nrd a spot.
We’re not sending her. Tuition for 05-06: $5,675 plus an additional $1,000 “new student fee.” That’s for 4 hours a day.
If she stayed ‘till kindergarten, tuition goes up to $8,725 (as of today, lord knows what it would be by the time she got there).
It’s not just the money. We could pay the tuition, but there are other issues as well. First, the school is so whitewashed. I think we saw a total of two black kids on our visit, no Hispanics or Asians that I can remember. We’re white ourselves, and just don’t think that a 99% Caucasian school would give our daughters a very good preparation for real life. Second, the school is not geographically convenient. We would have to drive half way across the city to drop her off in the morning.
After the parents’ meeting in December, we enrolled Princess Nrd in a preschool that is affiliated with, and located within, the city’s science and technology museum. Current tuition - $2,610. She gets to do really cool things there. She’s been to the planetarium twice, the city arboretum twice and on Friday brought home a caterpillar in a plastic container. They are studying insects, and so they are all raising caterpillars into butterflies. She has informed me that we are waiting for the caterpillar to form a chrysalis. I’m impressed. Whatever happened to “Cocoon?”
Princess Nrd. will stay in this school until kindergarten, by which time we’ll have moved to one of the suburbs, and she’ll be off to public school. In the meantime, why do I feel like we’re making a mistake not sending her to the other school? I feel like we’re missing an opportunity.
Well, on the upside, we probably just made some family very happy. Their kid just moved from the waitlist and took the spot that was first offered to Princess Nrd. Congratulations kid.