The private schools smell blood in the water… and they are turning the screws.

In an interesting case of “let’s shore up our finances while the time is ripe to do so”, the Saddle River Day School has taken out ads extolling the virtues of their [private] school while implying that the public schools in the area inferior/slipping.

“Skimping on science isn’t smart” says the ad.

And really, who would disagree that skimping on anything, when it comes to education, is smart?

BTW, who can argue that in public education these days, it’s not just skimping. Sheesh, we only wish that “skimping” was the term folks were using to describe what we are doing in our/to our schools.

Words like “draconian cuts/unprecedented devastation” are more likely to be heard from those in the know… not tepid words like skimping.

In Detroit, they are closing/bulldozing schools.
In California, they have pink slipped more than 20,000 of the state’s teachers.
In Arizona, Texas, Illinois… so I need to go on?

All across the country, public schools are being foundationally eviscerated and private schools – places that cost up to $30,000 a year – are seeing a chance to tout their own institutions by basically saying, “Public school can’t match us, they can’t keep up and if you are a parent that loves your kid and cares about your child’s education, you really ought to consider ponying up the big bucks to send your little angels to us.”

Talk about piling on… WOW!

But the thing is, they have a case to make. The schools of even decade ago are not the schools of today. From NCLB and the insane focus on bubble testing to the economic crisis and the insane amount of “cuts, cuts, cuts,” these private schools are making a very shrewd play.

And a hard case to argue with.

They see the blood in the water and they are doing what they feel they need to do to survive/ prosper.

Smaller class sizes. A culture of achievement. Diversity of curriculum. Enviable graduation rates. No, it’s not apples to apples at all, but that’s not the case they are making. They are making the case that if you can send you kid to a private school, you really ought to consider it because “we do it better than they do it”.

And less and less public schools in this day and age are able to stand up and say, “No you don’t.”

So it’s the first day of class this week — I am teaching ALL freshman this year in an attempt to try and get a whole host of kids off to a good high school start with the ambition that a good leap out of the gate will help carry enough positive momentum for them to really see things through and graduate. (And graduation rate is a percentage we’d really LOVE to improve ’round these parts. Seems 50/50 isn’t quite what the state is hoping for in terms of odds.)

So my little angels are sitting there in third period, about 5 seconds after the bell rings, in a combination of freshman-ic fear, hope, excitement and “HOLY HORMONES, woulddya look at how big this place is — and these other kids are” type of silence. They are waiting for me to begin and no matter how much I smile and try to be warm and welcoming, they still are some of the quietest little mice on the planet. Things are just way too new for them around a huge urban school like this and very few ninth graders come in on Day 1 carrying much of an attitude.

Oh, they’ll grow it — that’s for sure — but on the first day of school it’s pretty chill.

Anyway, two girls suddenly walk in my room and take a seat a wee bit after the bell has sounded. And one of them is pregnant. That’s right, she’s pregnant.

Now, I’ve had students get pregnant during the school year (happens all over the country) but I’ve never had a freshman walk into school the first day of class already in her 2nd or 3rd trimester.

Of course, everyone tried not to stare… but they did. So she took a seat, I smiled and said “hi” to both the girls and that was that.

Then 3 minutes later as I am butchering names while calling role (I swear the attendance sheets should be spelled phonetically) the two girls who walked in late stood up, came up to me and asked, “Is this 12th grade?”

“Uhm, lemme see you schedule,” I answered. “Nope, you’re in the wrong room.”

And they left, the pregnant teen having to cross the front of the room a second time parading her little bundle of joy twice for all to see in a space of less than 4 minutes

Talk about an icebreaker activity for the new fish in the tank. Sent a “hope that ain’t me one day” chill across the skin of every girl in the room.

Sometimes classroom lessons just appear out of thin air.