I should have mentioned this in my first post about my drawings. Sorry> about that, all.>

Deirdre M>

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More flooding, people dying. It's just so sad.>

Deirdre>

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1. We live in a bad school district. There are some good schools, > elementary and high schools (about two each), but no good junior high > schools. By good, I mean with good test scores and limited crime. Our > school district also won't let us open enroll in any neighboring districts > (there are two very good ones near us).>

2. Katie currently attends a charter school system (4th grade) that > contains an elementary, junior high and high school. These are excellent > schools with good teachers, but the owners are difficult people and > instate rules like no water bottles (we live in a hot, dry > desert--everyone carries water bottles and all schools require them), no > lunch boxes (paper bags) and no backpacks (they provide a tote bag). These > are new rules this year, with a new principal. They fired the old one and > her aide, both of whom all the kids adored, without notice after the end > of last year. See, they wait until they know people can't open enroll > anywhere else because it's too late and then they drop these rules and > other stuff on us. I only wonder what they'll do next. Last year they > spent the first two weeks of school screaming at parents, children, and > the principal on a daily basis. See, they tried to instate the > aforementioned policies last year but waited too late so they backed off. > We thought they were gone (the rules). No such luck. This time they sent > out a letter over the summer. I see at least 10 kids from Katie's grade > alone are not coming back (there's about 40 kids in her grade).>

So here is our dilemma: What can we do if Katie's charter schools head > even farther south? Notwithstanding the control-freak owners, said owners > could sell the school, or run out of money, or just about anything could > affect charter schools that probably wouldn't be an issue in a regular > school district. If she can't go there anymore, we don't have any options > in our current home. There are no other good charter schools (I've looked > at them all). Private school is too expensive and the good ones are > religion-affiliated­, which we don't want. We refuse to use someone else's > address to attend another district--I'm not a good rule breaker and I'd > live in fear of getting caught, which sometimes happens to others who try > it.>

My idea is to move about a mile south of where we are to get into the > better school district. I can see the houses in that district across the > wash to the south--we're that close. When we bought our home we didn't > figure on wanting to stay in it so long. Our neighborhood junior high and > high school are the pits, even though we live in a nice neighborhood. I > guess we just didn't plan ahead enough.>

Does this sound reasonable, or am I going off half-cocked? We love our > house, the neighborhood is safe and quiet, but there aren't any kids > nearby for Katie to play with and the houses are really far apart (1/3-2 > acre lots) so even trick or treating is a no-go. She also can't play > outside by herself because it's got a ton of open space and the wild > critters are everywhere. We also don't have any parks or amenities for the > $40 a month we pay in HOA fees (goes to the roads--it's a gated > neighborhood and the HOA owns them). Also, our house is too big for the > three of us (2400 sq.ft.) and I'd like a smaller home for ease of > cleaning and lack of wasted space.>

The neighborhood we want to move to is one of those experimental > neighborhoods where the houses are all close together with the garages in > back and they're all "green" construction. They're going for more of a > small-town, old fashioned feel with front porces, a lot of rear garages, > tree-lined streets, etc. There are neighborhood shops and parks and a rec > center and all kinds of things we don't have now. It's so close that we > would be near all the stores and things we have access to now. Here's a > link to the neighborhood web site: www.civanoneighbors­.com If you are > curious and want to see the homes, there's a link on that site to current > homes for sale and www.longrealty.com has an mls number search. Here are > some of the mls numbers of the ones we like:>

2623942> 2619421> 2620632> 2609916> 2621850> 2612086> 2616629> 2608063> 2627552> 2618944> 2623526>

Any thoughts? Maybe someone will come up with something I haven't thought > of. I am having a ton of anxiety over this. It's occupying my every waking > moment as thoughts roll around in my head, over and over. I'm the worst > decision maker in the world!>

Thanks so much if you read all this.>

Love,>

Dawn> -- > ========== Please DELETE this text block when replying! ==========> Contact the moderators at: asapm-board@stump.a­lgebra.com> The charter is available at: http://readystump.a­lgebra.com/~asapm> ========= This notice is added to each approved article ==========>

Todays question is being brought to you by one of our anon poster`s ­>

When you do listen to the radio, do you leave it on one station, or> do you switch when a not-so-good song starts to play?>

Jackie> ~*~Be kind, remember everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle~*~> ~~ T.H. Thompson>

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