Note: This week on the blog, parents who have chosen a variety of schooling options will be sharing their educational wishes for 2016.
by Gerrie Biegner
I am a single working mother living in St. Lucie County, Fla. Here we have a wait list for magnet schools and open-enrollment schools. I put my daughter on the wait list for two elementary schools — Fairlawn Elementary and Fort Pierce Magnet School of the Arts — when she was two months old. Getting into the most sought-after schools required that kind of diligence.
When kindergarten arrived, we chose the arts magnet, because my daughter is definitely of an artistic bent. She was very happy there for two years, and all students felt supported to strive for excellence.
Then the school board decided to close our district’s only historic school building, in which our magnet school was housed, due to cost. A large community uproar caused the board to change its decision, but the board still decided to allow the size of the student body to double, make the school open-enrollment, and remove a principal who had a high level of support in the community.
Then my daughter’s safety become a concern. In second grade, a boy repeatedly kissed and harassed her. My daughter has always been small for her age, and would come home weekly with scratches, which she attributed to the largest boy in her class. One of my daughter’s classmates pulled the fire alarm on testing day, and the only punishment she received was to be sent home for half a day. My daughter felt that there were no consequences for actions in this “new” school of hers, and no one would protect her from threats and harm. Her grades suffered, and she went from hating days off from school to constantly having a stomach ache and not wanting to go.
I asked the school board to accept her in the only other elementary magnet school, for which we had been on the wait list. Our request was denied. I was now considering moving out of county, leaving our friends and support system, so that my daughter could feel safe at school. Then I found out about a local private school, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Academy, which accepted Step Up For Students scholarships. I applied. We were approved, and my daughter started there in third grade.
We were able to stay in the only community my daughter has ever known, instead of moving to a strange town, because of this scholarship. My daughter loved her new school from the first day, which she called “the best first day ever!” She felt safe, cherished, and encouraged in the school’s personal environment. I can see first-hand how rigorous the education she gets is – even compared to a magnet school. St. Andrew’s is in downtown Fort Pierce, and has many programs that partner with local businesses, artists and agencies, so she feels even more connected to her community.
Almost everywhere we go in town, she sees people from her school and is always proud. She loves going to school and is disappointed when there is time off. She is now in her second year there. She has been on the honor roll every quarter she has attended St. Andrew’s.
So that brings me to my wish. We hope every family, regardless of where they live, can have access to a safe and supportive learning environment that allows them to remain connected to their community.
Gerrie Biegner is surely a prime Example of a dedicated single mother in her search for an education for her daughter.