Elementary 24 has a name....and other random school thoughts...

You might remember that a while back I participated in the naming committee for one of the three new elementary schools in Longmont. Well, tonight was the School Board meeting where they officially decided the names of the three schools based on each committee's recommendations. The name for Elementary 23 in Erie will be Black Rock Elementary School, a name which they say honors their extensive coal mining history. The name for Elementary 24 (we're in this school's new boundary) will be Blue Mountain Elementary School. The school is on Mountain Drive, in the Meadow Mountain subdivision, one of the main access roads to the school is Blue Mountain Circle, and, oh yeah, there's a real Blue Mountain near Lyons. The name for Elementary 25 in Firestone will be Centennial Elementary School - I guess the towns of Firestone, Frederick and Dacono all either celebrated their centennials last year or will this year so that's where they got the idea from. So, Black Rock, Blue Mountain and Centennial Elementary Schools are the newest additions to the St. Vrain Valley School District!

It was fun to play a small role in narrowing down the name choices and will be fun to tell the boys about when they are old enough to attend elementary school. :)

They'll hopefully have a preschool program there too which Connor could go to next year, but that won't be officially decided until the next school board meeting and that's cutting it really close to the deadline we're facing for deciding whether or not Connor will continue at his current school. We just don't know where to put him next year. We really like his current school in general and the academics are great - he's learned so much in the last 4 months - but we have some issues with his teacher and since she'd be his teacher next year too it's causing us to question whether this is the appropriate place for him or not. I hate to keep switching him but luckily he adapts really well to change and it is only preschool after all. :) We want what's best for him but we're still learning what that is as his personality and learning style blossom. We're also still learning what we like and don't like in teachers and schools. Shouldn't this be easier? Oh wait, don't tell me "How to choose the best preschool for Connor" was one of the chapters in that parenting instruction book we were supposed to get at the hospital! That book would have come in handy in many situations and for some reason I don't think I got one! :) LOL

And why do some people make it seem like choosing the right preschool is the difference between my child being a doctor or being a deadbeat? I know kindergarten is tougher now than it was when I was there so preschool is close to being a necessity now but I just wish there weren't "good" preschools and "not so good" preschools and that I didn't already have to worry about class size, standardized test results, the number of years of experience and type of education a teacher has, discipline styles, curriculum, amount of free play time, whether we should go with Montessori or Waldorf or private or public. It's just preschool, right? Ok, enough rambling for tonight. Just wish us luck picking the right school and then check back in 30 years or so and see if we made the right choice! :) haha