We Interrupt Our Regular Programming

I've been told that my blog is too negative.  Ouch.  One of the people who told me this was someone who began the sentence with, "I have never read your blog, and don't intend to."  Hmm.  Well, I consider myself an optimist and a generally positive person, so allow me to correct any misinterpretation.  I think that Waltham is a great city to live in and to raise my family in.  I love the Fitzgerald and the energy of the parents (aka the Fitz FightForce.)  

When my husband and I bought our home, we didn't have kids.  Once we did have kids, friends and acquaintances insisted that surely we would be moving somewhere with *better* schools.  Somewhere like Newton or Brookline, Lexington or Belmont. Somewhere that gets featured in Boston Magazine on a regular basis.  

Once our kids actually started school, we were pleasantly surprised.  Not only was the school good, it was very good.  The teachers weren't just adequate, they were professional and dedicated educators and some of them are amazing.  Our older son started his school career at the pre-school program at the Northeast School.  His two years there were formative and he started Kindergarten at the Fitzgerald prepared and confident.  

Oh, and can I tell you how much money we saved by being able to send him to the Northeast?  When I changed jobs around the time that our second son started pre-school, and needed care 8-6, Monday-Friday, we were astounded at the cost of a private pre-school.

Thank you, Waltham.

When Kindergarten started for the big guy, he walked down the road to a beautiful facility that was one year old.  The school has an amazing gymnasium, an art room with a kiln, a music room, a state-of-the-art computer room, two playgrounds, a sprinkler park, and is adjacent to  Msgr. McCabe field.  Oh, and class size is 20 students or fewer.  AND the school secretary takes it upon herself to know the name of each one of the 500 students.

Take that, Newton.

And did I mention that Kindergarten was full-day and that it is free?

Looking at you, Belmont.

When his Kindergarten teacher noticed that our oldest had a speech issue, she addressed it immediately and our son has had weekly speech therapy with a Speech and Language Pathologist (whom he loves) during school hours.

For reals, Lexington.

With the collaboration with the Waltham YMCA, my kids go from their classroom straight to an on-site after-school program.

Um, Brookline?

I don't mean to sound snarky regarding other area school districts.  In fact, I am sure that we could learn a lot by benchmarking them and some local private schools.  These are the things that my husband and I say when we are out with friends from other towns, who, when they find out our Zip code, ask "Wow.  It must be tough to have two in private school."  And we are left to defend Waltham once again.

These are all great things about Waltham.  I am looking forward to working as hard as I can, as a parent, so that I don't have to defend our schools to people from neighboring towns.  This is all about putting the issues out there so that they can see the light of day and be addressed.  It's as apolitical as it gets, because it's real and these concerns are mine and, it seems, the same as other taxpayers and residents in the City.  Being realistic isn't negative; refusing to see that there is any reason to change is.