School Daze

This is the time of year when the weeks start speeding by. Coming up is our last Saturday of respite for Alex. School trips (St. John the Divine, the Bronx Zoo, IHOP) are coming fast and furious.

Ordinarily we get through it and know that in the fall it’ll all start up again. But Alex turns 11 in June, and the NYC Department of Ed. considers him a middle-school student as of September. Where will he go? We have no idea. His school, which goes up to age 21 and has multiple sites throughout Manhattan, has two middle-school programs. We visited one and thought it was OK, but it has no spots available.

photo courtesy of Bill Ward's Brickpile (flickr.com)

Ned goes to a school that houses five different programs — his elementary school, four small high schools and a special ed. middle school program. Could my sons possibly go to the same school building, if not the same school? Maybe. We called the Department of Ed. placement office and were told they have no seats, but that we should call our principal and ask her to reach out on our behalf. We did.

Then Jeff gave a talk and someone from the Department came up afterward to talk to him and tell him about a language-based program that might be good for Alex, so we’re looking at that too.

A few weeks ago, when we started thinking about the fall, we just assumed Alex would stay somewhere within his school, or perhaps try the program in Ned’s school. I liked them because last spring one of their teachers told me they expect their students to reach for college, when possible.

About the only thing I do know right now is that the day after Labor Day, a yellow school bus will pull up to our building and take Alex to school … somewhere in New York City.