Relief

Our high school is overcrowded. Student enrollment this year is 3300 and 1800 of those are sophomores. On the first day of school, Nathan was completely overwhelmed by the teeming mass of humanity. And he can see over the crowd. I can’t imagine how rough it was for the shorter kids. This problem is known, however, and there is a brand-new high school opening next year. The new school is one mile from our house which means that we are definitely in the boundary for the new school. School changes can have pros and cons and Nathan has been weighing them for months. The social pressure to stay at the current high school has been enormous, but Nathan has been very unhappy with both the choir program and the theater program (which encompasses stage crew). After much deliberation, Nathan has decided to attend the new school rather than submitting a permit to stay where he is now. He let people know about his decision today and the response from many other students and even the choir teacher (very unprofessional, in my opinion) has been very negative. He knows he has made the right choice (and Kevin and I both support his decision) but the social backlash has been considerable.

This evening there was an open house where parents and students could meet the faculty and staff for the new high school. Not all the hiring is done, but a considerable amount has been completed. Among those already hired are the choir teacher (who grew up down the street from me and is extraordinarily talented and a fantastic teacher besides) and the theater teacher (who is a good friend of the choir teacher and therefore comes highly recommended). Nathan and I attended the open house this evening and he was able to meet many of the teachers, ask a bunch of questions about academics as well as extra curriculars, get some answers, and generally get a feel for what he can look forward to in choir, theater and stage crew. He came away very excited.

I am more relieved than I can express. This decision has been extremely difficult for him in spite of the fact that he has been unhappy all year. He had such high expectations for choir, stage crew, and high school in general and he has experienced nothing but disappointment and discouragement. He has been involved and all that, but the emotional environment has been extremely toxic and he is suffocating under the weight of it. I can hardly wait to get him out of his current situation and into one where he can actually find joy again. Seeing excitement from him was a huge relief. Now the countdown to the end of the school year begins.