By Kristy Wilson
Twenty-some years ago my family moved to Champaign. Coming from a small town near Springfield everything seemed so much bigger. The town I grew up in had one elementary school, and the middle school was combined with the high school in one building; that’s a small town.
Everything about Champaign was bigger for me; bigger schools (having more than one school in a town blew my mind), bigger class sizes, and even the kids seemed a little bigger! Back then Champaign schools were districted so you went to school based on the neighborhood you lived in. It wasn’t until I entered middle school and high school (Edison and Central alumnus) that I realized just how many elementary schools there were in town. In fact, I honestly don’t know that I could have told you two months ago that there are 12 public elementary schools in town.
Then we started the process. Those of you who have school-aged children know exactly what I’m talking about — the decision-making process that is the Schools of Choice program in Champaign Unit 4. We’ve watched friends go through it and come out unscathed, but we’ve also seen friends come out pretty tattered and bruised. We don’t know how our journey will end at this point because the assignments haven’t been made. All I can say thus far is that the journey has been an anxiety-producing, educational, whirlwind of a time touring schools and talking with people about our options. Here are some interesting things I’ve learned:
–The schools aren’t really that big! This is all in perspective, right? As a 7-year-old entering Carrie Busey Elementary School, the building seemed huge. In comparison to the building in the town of 2,000 that I grew up in, it was. However, I recently had the opportunity to attend a Schools of Choice open house that was held in this building. The whole thing was quite comical in retrospect. I walked through the front doors just as I would have twenty-some years ago. This time well over a foot taller than last time and many pounds heavier. I walked through the doors of the cafeteria where the introduction to the meet and greet was held and sat at the not-so-comfortable lunch tables. I listened as best as I could to the information being given, all the while recounting eating lunch, having Girl Scout meetings on Wednesdays after school and the fun games that we used to play for P.E. in this room.
What I realized was that back then things seemed so big and it gave me perspective to remember that my kiddo will need me to empathize with these feelings I had of things being new, big and at times maybe even a little scary. I also realized that being 5-foot-9 and wearing 2.5-inch heels while attempting to sit at a cafeteria table was not a wise choice!
–From our experience, it doesn’t really feel like a choice. While I get that there is somewhat of a choice in comparison to when things were districted when I grew up, it still doesn’t feel like a choice. It feels more like a hope. If we choose not to rank our proximity school as our No. 1 choice, there is a good chance that we may end up with our fifth or sixth choice instead. Several years ago friends of ours who did rank their proximity school as their top choice initially received a letter saying they were placed at their seventh choice! All this said, I know that the process cannot be called Schools of Hope, but it feels a bit misleading to call it “choice.”
–We have to choose the best option for now. My husband and I have talked a lot about this. It would be easy for us to go and check out our proximity school, rank it as our No. 1 choice and hope for the best in the lottery system but it would not be wise. Each school offers something unique even if it’s only the environment, atmosphere and philosophy of the school. So we are doing our due diligence and visiting our other top schools. Thus far our proximity school ranks in our No. 1 position but we are open to putting something else if it is a better fit for our child.
It would be easy to get caught up in thoughts of how one school would be best for our older child but how another school might be better for a younger sibling entering the system in a couple of years. Knowing that the formula for school assignment weighs sibling priority you might think about how to choose a school that will best meet the needs of both kids. Similarly, if we choose a balanced calendar how will we manage having a child then move on to a middle school with a regular calendar while having one still on a balanced schedule? We’ve decided that factoring all of these things into our decision will not be productive.
–There are positives about each school. Uniforms, gifted programs, language learning school, balanced calendar, regular calendar, after-school activities, coding programs, STEM academies, etc. You name it and you can find it. The reality that I have found in visiting the schools, researching online and speaking with others is that every school has things that are positive.
–One school is not going to have it all. I started to touch on this above, but the reality is that there is not a STEM academy that wears uniforms, is on a balanced calendar, with a gifted program (just in case), that teaches a second language, and that is right up the street from our house. This is Schools of Choice, not some sort of “Build-a-Bear” for schools in which I can create the ideal school. Since there will not be a perfect school the reality is that we as parents will have to do our best to find resources and provide the experiences that we really wished the school we chose would have had. Our household believes that it isn’t the sole responsibility of the school to provide education, but rather that the school is the main avenue and our home and the experiences we give our children are the supplements that complete their education.
This process is not for the faint of heart. I thought that I would feel like I had more of an advantage being a townie and going through this process. What I’ve found though is that I knew very little about all the schools and that the only potential leg-up is knowing some of the administrators that my daughter may interact with on a daily basis. At the end of the day when I talk with other parents going through this process our anxiety is the same, our waiting to hear is the same, and our realization that our little ones are starting a new chapter and all the emotions that go along with that is the same.
Kristy Wilson considers herself a townie having lived in the community for 27 years. She grew up in Unit 4 schools and attended the University of Illinois. Kristy is passionate about her work with youth and families in the community and is interested in how nutrition affects youth’s behavioral health. Kristy is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) with a degree concentrated in community and mental health.