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Joyce Kiefer |
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...FOR KINDERGARTEN?
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Parents struggle to get kids into exclusive school
of TheColumnists.com
It’s hard to get into a good school these days. Harvard, Stanford, you know the ones. You have to be brilliant, competitive, and able to promote yourself.
But what about getting into a good public school kindergarten? Right now on the San Francisco Peninsula that can depend on the endurance of your parents and extended family.
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dates from the 1930s and was done under the Federal WPA program. |
The welcome speech I imagine my granddaughter Emily’s kindergarten teacher will deliver on the first day of school explains it all:
“Good morning, boys and girls, and welcome to your first day of kindergarten at Baywood Public Elementary School. Do you know you are the luckiest kindergartners in San Mateo? I’d like to tell you a story about how you got here – no, not ‘that one.’ You’ll hear that in Fifth Grade.
"The story I’m telling happened this year at the end of January. I’m not making it up. Fortunately you are too young to think that if something sounds crazy, it isn’t true.
"Our school has top test scores in the district. Most of your parents are college graduates. They raise lots of money for a foundation that pays for special teachers like the one who did a Great Books program for First Graders. And they have time to help out a lot, too. Families move into our neighborhood just so they can send their kids to Baywood. They paid a lot of money to live here–the average price of a home is $2 million–imagine that!–but this year they had to do one more thing to get you into kindergarten.
"Your parents had to be willing to spend TWO nights in front of the school in the freezing rain to get you registered. All the other years it’s been only one night. You see, there were only 29 openings for kindergarten this year and they wanted to be sure to get one of those spots. We can handle 80 of you, but most of the spots are taken by kids with brothers or sisters already in Baywood.
"Did I hear someone ask why the principal doesn’t draw names out of a fish bowl to see who gets in and then nobody would have to sleep outside when its raining? I’m told that isn’t done because real estate prices would go down if people thought they weren’t sure to get their kids into Baywood if they lived in this neighborhood.
"Registration was set for Friday, Feb. 1. The line was supposed to form on Thursday but not in front of the neighbors’ houses. The city police would make sure of that. The principal told one of your moms not to worry–the line governs itself and there has never been any violence among the people who wait. Your parents planned different ways to hold their place in line. Some were going to hire students from the community college for $10/hour. One parent rented an RV at $160/night for a place to take breaks. A grandfather flew up from Arizona to sit in line and a grandmother came up from Santa Barbara.
"But on WEDNESDAY morning the father of one of the three sets of twins here in kindergarten decided he’d better come a day early to be sure to get both kids in. He arrived at 9 a.m. By 9:30 word got out that the line was forming. One dad closed up his shop downtown and joined in. By 10 a.m. there were enough parents to fill the 29 spots.
"The news media heard about this and showed up, too. 'Where will you go to the bathroom?' a TV reporter asked one dad. Fortunately, the principal had promised the bathrooms would be kept open–but that was when she thought people would line up on Thursday.
"On the 5 o'clock evening news, the reporter on scene reported a breaking story; The School District just sent word that parents only had to wait until 8 o’clock. Then they would get cards with their number in line and they could go home. They would have to be back to Baywood at 6 a.m. on Friday. Registration would start at 6:15. The principal originally said 7 a.m. but things changed fast."
"At 6 a.m. on Friday a line had formed in the dark. Two TV news trucks were present. The school took more than 29 registrations because some kids always drop out to attend private schools. That’s how some of you were able to be here today.
"The following Tuesday your patents voted for more money to improve all the schools in San Mateo. The District promised to install a modular at Baywood where kids could go to school until new classrooms are built. Look around to see if they kept their promise.”
In 2007 the Third Graders at Baywood took the California Achievement Test in reading and math. They scored in the 96th percentile in math. Emily should maintain the standard; she took arithmetic cards to the dinner table the other night. We had a hard time getting her to put them down and eat her meat loaf instead. Her nursery school teacher saw that same stubbornness when Emily refused to wash her hands, then decided she’d wash them finger by finger. This took up class time and the teacher told her mother she might not recommend her for kindergarten. It shouldn’t matter. Like the home in Robert Frost’s poem, the public school has to take you in.
After all, Baywood isn’t Stanford. Not yet.
©2008 by Joyce Kiefer. This column first posted Feb. 11, 2008.
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