I’ve said it before and I will say it again, not being at school is the hardest part of being a teacher. Writing sub plans sucks. Reading the sub notes when you get back sucks. Realizing they didn’t do stuff right and having to do it over sucks. It’s just really hard.
I very rarely take days off because of this. I even go to work sick when I probably shouldn’t because of this.
But tomorrow I’m taking off to join my husband and son on the first of three middle school tours. We’re going on the second tour on Thursday and I’m taking off two block periods for that too.
(I wasn’t very worried about where my daughter went to middle school. She is a flexible, resilient kid who makes friends easily and does well in most academic environments. (Well, I guess it’s better to say academic environment doesn’t really affect her negatively, it isn’t what makes things hard for her). My son is more sensitive and he will struggle more to be successful in a school if it isn’t the right fit. That is why I’m taking off to join the tours, because I want to participate in the decision-making around how to rank our choices.)
It took an hour longer than I expected to get my sub plans ready. I barely made it home in time to get my son to the dojo before his class started. But I got them done and I stayed for Sparring Concepts and Sparring and did all the chores at home and now it’s 10:16pm and I’m waiting for my daughter to shower so I can make sure she’s going to be in bed at a decent hour.
I’ll let you all know how the tours go. And I’ll talk a little about the insane SFUSD lottery and what families do through to keep their kids in public schools in this city.
Yes, I know most teachers (including my husband and BIL) feel the same way. It’s easier just to go, than to make the sub plan.
Anyway, I’ll be interested to hear how the school tours went. I also want to hear how your public school system works! We have a lot of options here with “choice” schools (which have a lottery system) but I was adamant that both my kids go to our local schools that we’re zoned for, K-12. Of course, part of the reason this worked was that our middle and high school luckily both have EXCELLENT music programs, which is what my kids are interested in. If that weren’t the case, I would have considered making a change for high school.
I would love to read about this lottery situation.. I think they have it in NYC as well… In NJ I believe we have school choice but for now they are in a public school (and a preschool) that we are zoned for and I like them both. L’s school was just built two years ago so it’s brand new and she is learning a lot. I hope R will get Ms Harris as his kindergarden teacher – she’ll be good for him; sha had L last year and L learned so much.
Yes please re the lottery process and odds of getting into one of your top school choices.
What are your options if that does not happen?
Can you explain any algorithms used in determining placement as well.
Is the process the same for high schools in SF other than Lowell?
Does a SF Middle school student have priority in choice of high school over a student who has not been in SF public schools?
Does anyone know if any schools in SF will be closed for fall 2025 due to financial issues?
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR WRITING. Helps.
Our Middle School gets assigned by address and ours is decent enough. The kids like it and most of their friends went, too. The switch to high school was another thing. Some of my kid’s friends went to private school after that. They were and are missed but public school works for us so far. Curious to hear how the school tours went.
Fingers crossed you find a good one where your son would feel “at home”.
When I lived in San Francisco we didn’t have kids, so I kind of understand how it works but not really, only that people complain about it a lot.
I hope all goes well with the subs, I’ve heard that is a LOT.