On Thursday afternoon it was "meet the teachers" night at Alice's new school (because we moved). I picked Alice up from her summer camp and took her straight to the school. This year, and until 5th grade (barring some redistricting) she will attend Dillard Drive Elementary School. Most of the schools around here are just named after the road they're on. It's very boring, but this is the south, so it's probably better than naming them after historical figures who tend to have some racist baggage.
I'd never been to this school, but Alice's friend from across the street, Parker, goes here and her mom spoke well of it. I was sad about leaving Cary Elementary, and nervous about this school since their test scores are lower. However, after visiting and seeing the other families roaming the halls, I suspect it is because it has a large immigrant population and many ESL kids (or kids where a different language is spoken at home so they have less exposure to English). Whereas Cary Elementary was mostly white and hispanic, this school seems thoroughly diverse. It will be great for Alice to (hopefully!) make friends with lots of kids from different backgrounds. Plus, the teachers all seemed nice and friendly and the school had a good vibe.
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We first found the class lists in the hallway to see who her teacher was. There was no suspense here since I don't know any of the teachers or any other students to hope for her to have in her class. It also turns out that Alice's 1st grade teacher, Ms. Jones, is best friends with the health teacher at my school. So that's a fun connection.
We visited the classroom and Alice got right to work with some shapes while I filled out paper work and chatted with the teacher a bit. I just wanted to make sure Mrs. Jones knew that Alice was new to the school (unlike most of the other first graders) and would need a little more help finding her way around the first couple of days.
We also checked out the library, gym, and cafeteria.
I got Alice signed up to ride the bus to school in the morning (leaving around 8am and arriving at 8:45--yikes that's a long ride!) but since we can't drop her off until 8:45 (way too late for our work schedules) we're considering the bus free before-school care. And she'll get to ride the bus with Parker, so it should be fun.
The after school program is run by the YMCA on site (meaning she stays at school and doesn't get bussed to the Y). It is more expensive than the in-house after school care at her old school, but probably much better quality. And anyway, what choice do we have?
She starts school on Monday and we're bracing ourselves for yet another transition and adjustment.
