And so it begins...it's the January before my oldest son is due to start Kindergarten and thanks to the crazy Arizona educational system I have my pick of a plethora of schools.  Somehow I must wander through the maze and find the perfect Phoenix neighborhood school for my son, my next son and me.  No pressure or anything. 

So, I decided to document the event in case others were in the same boat.  Now I am going to focus on Gilbert so the title of this article is misleading.  However, if any readers are on the same journey elsewhere in the Valley and want to write about it, I would love to post your journey as a guest author on my blog.  I think we could really help each other out with this foreboding process.

Now any reader who does not live in AZ would ask "Why don't you just go to the school you are zoned for, the school in your neighborhood?"  In Phoenix that is a crazy answer.  The school we are zoned for is over four miles away even though there are 3 public schools and 4 charter schools that are closer.  So, being the rebel that I am, I have made up my mind to drive less than two miles and find the perfect school.

We live in Country Lane, at Lindsay and Warner, in the heart of Gilbert.  Within easy driving distance the public schools are Mesquite, Settlers Point, and Ashland Ranch.  Also within easy driving are the charter schools Franklin Arts Academy, Benjamin Franklin Schools, and West Gilbert Charter School.  And so we begin...

I settle on Mesquite for my public school of choice to tour.  Settlers Point test scores are just slightly lower and I've heard Ashalnd Ranch is overcrowded.  Plus I met a mom at the park who's husband  knows the principal at Mesquite and thinks she's great.  You gotta work with what you got right?  And I really like how Mesquite is nestled in this rural area, I love the neighborhood it is in and hope that I will love the kids and parents that go there. 

I show up with my sister, a teacher, and ask for a tour.  They are very accomodating and one of the front desk workers leads us around.  We see the gym, a classroom or two, the library, and the playground.  Things I liked about Mesquite:  desks in groups not straight lines, a very nice library, PE, Art, and Music for all grade levels, no more than 24 to a kindergarten class, school doesn't start till 8:53 (I'm not a morning person) and it's the closest to my house.  Things I didn't like:  no full time aide in each class, felt disorganized.

Out of the charter schools I decide to check out Benjamin Franklin and West Gilbert Charter School because of the parent reviews I had heard from people I really like.  We show up at Benjamin Franklin and are informed that orientations will not start until the next month and no we cannot take a tour.  I ask if I can ask a few questions since this is the day I have scheduled to check out schools.  The front desk person dealing with us sighs and says "Yes."  The gist of the conversation is that Benjamin Franklin is a Back to Basics school that utilizes the Spalding Method.  Back to Basics entails teacher led instruction, no group work.  It also means straight rows of desks, strict organization, and no talking.  Because of these concepts, there are 30 kids to a kindergarten classroom with no aides.  Spalding refers to a way to teach reading and writing.  It involves memorizing phonograms and sounds.  All in all it's extremely structured, focused and disciplined.  The woman made a lot of silly comments that I will not repeat but let's just say that she was not the great representative of the school but five other employees heard her and none of them contradicted her statements.   Therefore it was easy to cross that one off the list.  Here's one quote that I just can't resist "one plus one is two.  Where is the creativity in that?  Why do you need independent thinking with that?"  But they do have some incredible test scores so if that's your thing...

Tonight I went to the West Gilbert kindergarten orientation.  All five classrooms were open and the teachers were available for questions.  Things I liked:  classroom organized in learning centers which fosters both independence and group work, many children can read at the end of the year, after school Spanish club, community pep rally on Fridays, older students that mentor the younger ones, school uniforms, five computers in each classroom, and the teachers were just plain nice as was the principal.  Things I didn't like:  not a lot of music or art.  Things felt kind of cheap. 

Recently I heard about a Gilbert public school that is a Traditional academy called Neely.  I have heard really great parent reviews so even though I was turned off by the whole Back to Basics thing at Benjamin Franklin, I think I'm going to check it out.  I think there is a lot of merit to the Tradional/Back to Basics/Spalding method and I think my oldest would do really well with it.  And like I said, two good friends have highly recommended it so I'll update here when I check it out.

Right now Mesquite and West Gilbert are my top contenders but quite frankly if I find out one of my friends is going to one or the other and we can carpool, that will sway the decision.  That's the bummer about Phoenix neighborhoods, most likely all the kids go to different schools.  My husband says it gives the kids a chance to have lots of different friends and I agree that's a good thing.  But it really leads to a decreased sense of community in my opinion.

What do you think?

This journey continues...and ends...with the next article.