I've been keeping a little secret, only sharing amongst close friends and family. When I've had to tell people about the secret, I've been quick to list of my many reasons for our decision. See, we live in an affluent area with fantastic public schools. Our neighborhood school is one of the best in the district. Many think that the home prices here have retained more of their value than other parts of the city strictly due to the great schools.
And yet we chose to send our kindergartner to private school. Despite living in a great neighborhood with great schools with phenomenal parent participation, we chose to spend an arm and a leg on private school.
Before this summer, I honestly had never even considered sending my son to private school. I was a product of public education from kindergarten through my university years. When we bought our house in the real estate peak in 2006, we only looked in neighborhoods with great schools. While my spouse was on the fence between public and private, I stood my ground. Public was the only choice for our son.
Then the economy took a bad turn. And then the real estate market crashed. And then California went into a budget crisis like none other. Too many foreclosed homes meant less property tax revenue meant less money for public education. This summer, our district announced a 50% increase in class sizes for Kindergarten. Nearly 100 teaching positions in the district were eliminated. Suddenly, I wasn't so sure about our choice to go to our neighborhood school.
So we toured the school again. We talked to the teachers. I personally called the Superintendent. We were assured that the school would remain great. That teachers would be trained on how to adjust their curriculum to the growing class size. That parents would volunteer more, donate more, do more. That it would be the same.
But when my father, an Assistant Principal at a public high school, told me to really look at all my options, I knew it was time to tour the private school. In July we toured a few of the private schools in our area that still had availability. I immediately fell in love with one of them. It was a throw-back to the days when I was a kid in the public school system: smaller class sizes, incredible class room supplies, a curriculum that I trusted, a reputation of excellence, a safe learning environment. A week later, I returned with my son and watched as he fell in love with the school too.
In August, we waved good-bye to our neighborhood friends as they walked to school on the first day. When asked by friends and, yes even a few strangers, as to why Darius wasn't starting school with the rest of them, I cringed when having to reply. Our choice to send our son to private school was a private choice. We don't think that our public school is horrible. And we certainly don't judge our neighbors for sending their children there. Our choice was based on what was right for our son. That's it. We found what we believe to be the right learning environment for him. Plain and simple.
So I'm done with keeping a secret. There, I said it. The cat is out of the bag. Our son goes to private school. And we couldn't be happier.
Original post for the Silicon Valley Mom's Blog
