Dudes, I've got a bit of a conundrum, a quandary. I'll try to lay this out simply. I don't know what school to enroll my kid in. Here's what I'm looking at:
School A—Disney School, one of the higher rated schools in the city, has given us an offer (meaning we can enroll Theo there). It's not in our neighborhood. In fact, we live at the extreme edge of where they'd bus him in (must be within 6 miles, and we're 5.98 miles away). It's kind of a big deal to get accepted there, and a bunch of my friends are jealous that we can get in. I've heard a lot of negatives about this school, from lack of compassion, to stressful environments, too much emphasis placed on percentiles, not on students.
School B—Brentano, a pretty solid rating (not prestigious, but good) is in our neighborhood, and we are on the wait list (9th place, which the principle says we are pretty much a shoe-in). Parents in the neighborhood rave about how much they love this school, and how the school focuses on more than just test scores and grades.
If I turn down Disney, and don't get Brentano, our closest school, for which we're in the attendance boundary, really sucks. I was really wowed when I toured Brentano today. I think it'd be so much easier to be involved, as it's closer. It'd be easier for Theo to make friends (and us, too) with other classmates, as opposed to all the kids coming in from all over town.
But what if Disney is better? I have a tour there Monday, and I have until midnight that day to accept/decline the offer. But even if it's as good, or better, I wonder if I'd be able to be as active? Would it be the right environment for him?
I'm leaning strongly toward option B, which is why I come to you guys. Is my thinking sound? What would you do? What should I consider that I might be overlooking? I've never done this before, so I'm all ears about whatever you think would help.
School A—Disney School, one of the higher rated schools in the city, has given us an offer (meaning we can enroll Theo there). It's not in our neighborhood. In fact, we live at the extreme edge of where they'd bus him in (must be within 6 miles, and we're 5.98 miles away). It's kind of a big deal to get accepted there, and a bunch of my friends are jealous that we can get in. I've heard a lot of negatives about this school, from lack of compassion, to stressful environments, too much emphasis placed on percentiles, not on students.
School B—Brentano, a pretty solid rating (not prestigious, but good) is in our neighborhood, and we are on the wait list (9th place, which the principle says we are pretty much a shoe-in). Parents in the neighborhood rave about how much they love this school, and how the school focuses on more than just test scores and grades.
If I turn down Disney, and don't get Brentano, our closest school, for which we're in the attendance boundary, really sucks. I was really wowed when I toured Brentano today. I think it'd be so much easier to be involved, as it's closer. It'd be easier for Theo to make friends (and us, too) with other classmates, as opposed to all the kids coming in from all over town.
But what if Disney is better? I have a tour there Monday, and I have until midnight that day to accept/decline the offer. But even if it's as good, or better, I wonder if I'd be able to be as active? Would it be the right environment for him?
I'm leaning strongly toward option B, which is why I come to you guys. Is my thinking sound? What would you do? What should I consider that I might be overlooking? I've never done this before, so I'm all ears about whatever you think would help.