Quality Education?

This is the last week of school for my kids.  Since this is the first last week I have experienced as a mom of a high schooler, I realized that there is much for me to learn.  First of all, that the final week of high school each year is plainly a joke--educationally speaking.

Not that I can blame the teachers or the administrators on this one.  They have to get grades done to certify the seniors' graduation status.  Book must be collected to assure all fees are paid before diplomas are handed out.  And I do remember that once yearbooks are distributed, the crowd becomes more and more unruly.

But The Girl tried all weekend to convince me that she needn't even go to school, as there would be no roll taken, and really no class held.  Today was yearbook day.  Tomorrow is Senior Day at a local amusement park, and Thursday is Graduation--which is held in the middle of the afternoon, and where the faculty is required to attend.  Friday is not even a real day, either, but a final lunchtime meeting for the faculty and staff.

As a die-hard public school supporter--and the meanest mom in the world--I disregarded her comments and pleadings and sent her to school anyway today.  After all it was a "school-day".  So off she went.

By about 11:30, while I was getting ready to help at the Junior High, The Girl shows up and tells met hat she is done with school and was there to visit with her favorite old teachers from last year.

What?!  Isn't this the same school district where I have to show my picture ID to pick up The Boy for a dental appointment during his lunch break?  But The Girl released herself to wander the city's streets alone?

It is crazy, I tell you.

I guess she was telling me the truth.  And while the faculty and staff at the high school can't "officially" tell the kids not to come to school, the kids all seem to get it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).  They are already out for summer vacation.

After spending some time at the Junior high today, I can see where the Junior High Administration might wish they has the same final week deal as the HS.  The Junior High kids were crawling up the wall, and the discipline issues there today were magnified ten-fold.  But I guess most parents don't want their Junior High Schoolers home this early either.  They'd be just as happy to leave them in the capable hand of the school until mid-July.

I don't see that actually happening, but I can see the reasoning behind it.