Closer to School

[blairmacg]

While Dev was at work last Friday, I met with the guidance counselor of the high school I'd want him to attend.  The woman had been quite happy to set the meeting with me.  Even so, I went armed with print-outs of statutes governing homeschool/public school interactions, requirements and the like.  Experience had taught me to expect resistance at best and derision at worst.

When I was a high school senior, I had two required academic classes left to take: English and Government/Econ.  The school was too small to offer much in the way of electives, but one of the teachers had gained permission to do a Humanities class, so I signed on for it.  I took theater, which wasn't much more than playtime.  But the school said I was legally required to be on campus for five periods, so I signed up for the only elective that fit around the other classes: study hall.  Even better, that fifth period study hall came after lunch. 

So I spent about two hours of every school day of my senior year hanging out on campus.  The school refused any other options, including paid work, internship, or volunteer work.  If I wasn't on that campus for five periods, I was a truant.

Four years later, when my sis went through the same high school, my parents had grown savvy to the inner workings of school policy and legal options.  They came to the school at the beginning of her junior year, knowing exactly what their daughter was permitted to do.  After a couple yelling matches with school officials, after catching the school in outright lies, after threatening to sue the school for their lies and insinuations about my sister's character, Sis was able to do what the law said she could do: take some college classes in place of some high school classes.

The school wanted my sister to take study hall, just as I had, instead of College Composition and Statistics.  Instead, she graduated high school with 36 college semester units.  Four years later, she'd completed her Master's degree.

Fast forward to the beginning of Dev's school career.  That school counselor literally laughed at me when I asked about early enrollment.  She told me it wouldn't matter how high he scored on an entrance exam.  The school didn't make exceptions for anyone.  Realize, too, that Indiana didn't require any child to attend school until the school year following the seventh birthday.  Dev would have been starting school two months shy of his eighth birthday.

Three years ago, when I thought it would be a good idea for Dev to transition into public school, I had another official in another school district laugh at me.  No, the school couldn't really accommodate a part-time student.  And missing ten days out of the entire school year for travel?  Ridiculous!  How could he learn anything if he missed an average of one school day every month?

So layer all that atop what I've heard from parents and friends in this community, and you have an inkling of my expectations.  The only item tempering my dread was my decision to approach the small high school that's in our county, but not our district.  Though its academic offerings are limited, it has the best reputation for student behavior and social policy.  (More important for us, since Dev will still do core academics online.)  And it's actually closer to our home than the other high school.

Meeting with the guidance counselor took five minutes.  I didn't have much to say when her answer to my request was, "Sure, we can do that.  We just need to clear it with the principal."  So I went to the next office down the hall, was welcomed to have a seat and explain what I wanted.  Within five minutes, his answer was essentially, "Sure, we can do that.  Here's what I need to make it work."

I have two forms to complete and sign, and a brief action plan to write up.  Since the school hasn't had a situation precisely like this, the principal wants an outline of what Dev has done to this point, and what we want going forward.  He said he understands the changes happening in education, as well as the benefits of non-traditional delivery of classes, and wants to build school policy on what is best for the student.

Fancy that.

Barring unforeseen problems, Dev will take electives at that high school, beginning after the winter break.  As long as his grades--online and in-class--stay up, he can do all extracurricular activities.

I'm not certain which one of us is more excited about it!

Comments

[blairmacg.livejournal.com]

I think it's the school administration choosing to be the pioneers, actually. Apparently, it's the smaller and more rural schools that are embracing what technology brings to the education of their students, so they're seeing more of their students gaining a broader education than small districts are able to provide. Rather than say no to a situation because they don't have a policy addressing it, the school is choosing to create policy to cover new situations!

And this is a small school. Enrollment grades 9-12 is around 270 students.

With the rise in accredited, online education, there are indeed an increasing amount of options. I remember when online education was synonymous with fraud. As will all innovations, it takes awhile for the established monopoly to realize the changes can lift them rather than destroy them.

Start checking your state laws regarding homeschoolers and public schools now. Indiana statutes permit homeschoolers to take part in classes, extracurricular activities and sports *at the discretion of the individual school.* If the laws in your state need tweaking, that's totally possible with some lead time. :-)