More About the New School...

I am super-enthusiastic about the new school. I think the staff and the involved parents have tons of energy and have worked incredibly hard to get the place started. (This is only their fourth year.) IF they/we can raise enough money to move in January into the great site they've found, then this place is really going to be very, very wonderful. Currently the site is a tiny, cramped corner of a public elementary school. To put in perspective how small it is -- the school has had to rent a nearby apartment to use as the office. The only space onsite for an office is a tiny trailer about the size of my dining room. And anyone who has seen my dining room knows it's SMALL.

Because it's an incredible hassle having two separate schools on one campus, and the campus itself is old and nothing special, and additionally on a weird block in un-gentrified, decaying Hollywood, there are some logistical issues. One is that there is absolutely, positively no pedestrian access to the school for drop off or pick up. Last year apparently there were some quite serious issues of kids almost being hit by cars, parents getting into battles, etc. This is a difficult one for me, because my darling Boylee has never, ever liked being dropped off at preschool, kindergarten or camp. He doesn't like the whole "we roll up, you hop out" scene. It's just not the way he operates. He likes me to walk him in. He likes to hold hands. He likes lots of kisses and hugs. And i like that he likes all of that! But despite my plea directly to the principal at an orientation meeting this week, we've been told we have to obey the drop off policy.

So Boylee and I walked around the campus and talked it through: here's the driveway where I'll drive in; here's where a teacher will get you out of the car; here's the door that you will walk through; here are the two first grade classrooms (we don't know which is his yet); here is where I will be after school when they bring you to my car.

OY VEY! This is what is making me most tense about the start of the school year.