Today we went on our second annual pilgrimage to North Seattle Community College so we could wait around for 40 minutes and not have our number called. This means we get to be on a wait list longer than the one to get a Kindle in order to get Liam into a nearby co-op preschool. This year was no different than last — we were easily in the last 10% of the ~150 people to be called, and so he’s #18 on a wait list that might get the top five or ten sorted.
Thus, no school for Liam this year. And it’s starting to annoy us. Liam would definitely benefit from a school environment to meet some new kids, stretch his brain and give his overworked mom a bit of a break. It’s times like this that we begin to think about a relocation to a place where we don’t have to put up with a lottery system to deal with the fact that supply and demand are so heavily screwed up in the education system.
Don’t get me wrong — I’m okay with the fairness that the lottery system provides, but I’m having a hard time understanding why co-op pre school are missing out on a simple supply and demand discussion. There’s simply not enough spaces available where people live, so we either get to: (a) do day care, (b) do a private school (like Montessori) or (c) suck it up and deal. None of those choices seem appropriate — especially since (a) and (b) basically mean your kid goes somewhere five days a week — when, in fact, we want more like 2-3 for half a day.
So… who knows what’s next. Back to the drawing board and doing some more research. And Amy’s back to looking at house options to get out of our neighborhood.
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