creative arts charter

we went to the creative arts charter school fall festival today. our son's schoolmate's mom gave us a little personal tour. i have to say, i liked this school more than i was prepared to, especially after 2 co-workers told me it was "crazy" and they "hate this school". part of the reason i liked it was that we were told who miles would have for k and 1st, and he is a teacher that even my school-hating fellow speech therapists said was wonderful. i like how the school building is huge but the number of kids is small. there is a big parent room. a very cool looking music room with a drumset, piano, and lots of space. they have a dedicated art and music teacher and kids get art and music every week. the k and 1 rooms looked more developmentally right than a lot i've seen in the district, with lots of blocks, toys, dollhouses. i talked to lots of parents, as usual, while keeping tabs on my kids who were smacking the rat, tossing rings, decorating pumpkins, jumping the the jumpy castle, and eating some damn good fair food. most parents seemed quite happy, but some mentioned that several families had switched to claire lilenthal or clarendon (hmm, eenteresting). the parents as a whole looked like a fun, tatooed, fairly diverse group. the school does project based learning and doesn't use the curriculum the rest of the district does. test scores are not stellar. the school is in a pretty sketchy neighborhood. they have afterschool clubs and a little bit of before school care. 8:45-2:45 i think. a little far from us. they have a separate enrollment process so i thingk we will be applying and will see what unfolds...

i'm still feeling lost about schools. proximity seems to be emerging as more of a factor as i imagine leisurely walk to neighborhood schools with my kids. i do think miles would enjoy this school, though. and immersion is still confusing me. should we go for spanish? cool and hip creative school with less structure? high test scores? school with super solid middle class base AND decent test scores but not great diversity? BLL BLL BLL. can the school fairy just decide this for us? sometimes i wish i didn't have such a talent for seeing all sides of everything...

(image is miles trick or treating at our neighborhood liquor store)