How Do You Get the Most Out of Your School Tours?

SO...I recently had the pleasure (or pain - depends on your POV) of attending school tours for elementary schools in both Maplewood/South Orange and Glen Ridge, NJ - both great towns with great schools, but also very different.  At my first tour, I found the experience to be chaotic and uninformative - which turned me off to the school immediately.  Oh, what was a mom to do?????

Upon further reflection, I realized that I was a poor advocate for myself - I chose a difficult time of day and an inappropriate tour guide and asked very few useful questions!  So, of course I walked away scratching my head!  So I have a few notes here that I want to share with you regarding school tours - just a few thoughts so that you won't have the same experience.

First, choose your time of day carefully - if you want to see chaos, go at lunchtime - this way you can see how they manage their traffic flow, recess class mixing and how the kids mingle during their downtime.  I was also pleased to see that at some schools, the children were in charge of various lunchtime duties for their class, which was nice.  If you want to see kids in classrooms, then avoid lunch at all costs - this way, you can see more class room dynamic.  In the morning, the kids seemed energetic, but I noted that in all the schools, by 2pm, they were walking zombies - don't let the post lunch energy dump be confused with a lackluster environment - it's probably just end of day.

Next, make sure you get a good tour guide - I got the chance to tour with principals, vice principals, administrators, as well as teachers.  I tended to get the best, most honest feeling answers from the teachers - they ARE the ones down in the trenches.  They had informative things to say about class size, inclusive classrooms, the struggle between teaching kids to learn vs. teaching towards the standardized testing - I really felt like many of the teachers could talk about these issues, while administrators and principals often have clearer descriptions about some of the bigger picture - new curriculum directions, ideas for further school improvements, etc.  Your best bet is to try to get a chance to talk to both teachers and administrators when you tour a school.

Technology is a big part of new teaching initiatives - smart boards, smart tables, computers in every room vs. computers centers...while I love the technology, I am not sure that my kid will learn better with all of this stuff.  I think they will certainly augment his learning experience, but I don't assume that his performance will suffer without these items.  Computers are everywhere, and I think a "typing" class is kind of a joke - I am assuming that kids probably pick that up from usage at home.  I think we shouldn't be stunned by technology as the be all and end all of modern education - I want to see a big, well-organized library full of ACTUAL books and a nice indoor and outdoor space for physical education and recess, full time guidance counselor/social worker and school nurse, art room, music class, and due to the reduced mandated hours for science and social studies (so that schools can increase their time for language arts and mathematics - see previous snarky comment about standardized testing...I despise No Child Left Behind...), let's see that material being integrated into the course work for Language Arts and Mathematics in a more "whole learning" approach. 

Lastly, there are questions that just kind of popped up that were extremely informative - things like:

- How do you handle bullies at school?

- How do you help new students acclimatize?

- What events or programs do you have that increase cultural awareness?

- Do you serve hot and cold lunch and if so, do you use a debit system?

- Do your teachers take initiative (grant writing, sponsorship outreach) in finding resources to fund special arts or science programs (as funding for these programs have been cut nationally)?

This is just a sample of questions - I welcome any and all suggestions for other questions to ask - I think that parents, myself included, can use all the help they can get in navigating, and getting the most of, their local public school system.