Back to School, Part Deux

Got the girls registered for school tonight. 15 minutes for Kat, the 8th grader. 1 1/2 hours for Tori, the high school senior. And Tori's fees were almost 3 times Kat's. And we are not finished paying them yet. And there will be senior pictures, graduation announcements, cap and gown, all night party tickets. But I digress. I did not intend this blog to be a gripe about how much "free" public education costs. I intend to gripe about how hard it is to change a high school schedule.

Let me start by stating some things about the school district that my girls attend. The fees, for the most part, are not bad. Activity fee, senior dues, locker fee, yearbook, choir robe cleaning fee. All pretty much standard. The two fees that I have an issue with are the picture fee and the participation fee. When I was in school, you had your picture taken and it went into the yearbook. When Sammee (the 19 year old) started high school, there was a fee from $1 to $6 photo fee. I asked, and was told that it was to put the photo in the yearbook. Strange. We pay for the school pictures, then pay for them to go into the yearbook? Oh, yeah, and pay for the yearbook! At Tori's school, the photo fee for seniors is $12. Not only do they put the photo in the yearbook, but they make a giant class photo and put it on the wall in the high school. A cool tradition (even though my class is the only one missing). There are classes from the 1910's on the wall at school. But, please! $12 for a picture that I will pay hundreds for the sitting fee? Ack!!!

The other fee is slightly ridiculous. The participation fee is for athletes, cheerleaders, and any other group who might use a bus for travel. It was implemented after the war started in Iraq and gas prices started to rise. It's purpose is to offset the gas and maintenance on the buses. Okay. But, the other groups who get charged for this are drama, choir, band, debate, all classes. And most of the time if there is travelling involved, it is for a grade. When Sammee started high school, the fee was waived for low income families, which were families who received free or reduced lunch. I am a single mom, therefore lower income. Sammee's junior year, I was informed that the waiver was removed, and all students had to pay the full fee. By the way, over 50% of the students in our district received free or reduced lunch. So the district wasn't getting enough money in participation fees. Unfortunately for me, Sammee was in band, choir, debate, and drama. There is one fee for the first activity, and one for all the others. So 2 fees in all. But, those fees added up to almost $100. That's a lot of money for a single parent. If Tori would have been in Senior Choir, no fee. But Gate City Singers (the show choir) required the fee. Again, Ack!!!

Again, I digress. This blog is about scheduling conflicts. We register. Tori gets her schedule. She has Gate City. But no Senior Choir, which is a requirement to be in Gate City. So off we go to the counselor's office. And we wait. For almost 1/2 hour. The counselor will see us now. It's a simple request. Put Tori in Senior Choir. Oops, forgot about the wrinkle. She is in National Honor Society. She must take at least 2 AP classes to graduate with honors. She currently has AP Statistics and English 101. Senior Choir is 3rd hour. AP Stats is 1st hour. English 101 is offered 1st and 3rd hour. Issue. The counselor is new to high school, so she doesn't realize that one AP class can't just go away. We argue and argue. Then the counselor in charge of NHS comes in, says that Tori can take English 101 online. We free up 2nd hour for her so she can do it at school (the laptop is still dead, and it will be a couple of months before it will be replaced). AP Stats 1st hour, English 101 2nd, Senior Choir 3rd, and she was even able to throw in a pottery class. Tori is happy, I am exhausted, and the counselor probably never wants to see me again. Oh, well. We will be back next trimester.

This blog is probably the longest I have ever done, but I had a lot to say. I am just glad that everything ended on a semi-happy note. Only semi-happy because Tori was half an hour late to youth group. Luckily the school is across the street from the church. But, like I said, the girls are registered for school. Next step, school supplies and Sammee's sophmore year of college. I might need a series on those moments.