Choosing a School: Ask the Right Questions–and the Right People

By Steve Isham

Parents have more choices than they’re aware of about the education of their children from three years old through their twenty-second birthday. The clock is ticking away the opportunity for your children to receive an education that is appropriate for them during those nineteen years.

The debate over private school vs. public school vs. home schooling vs. parochial school is a starting point for your many decisions for your family. Never forget that you know your children better than anyone else does. You know how they act, feel, dream, need, and want, and what is in their best interests. It is as important to choose the setting and the people who will be working with your children every year as it is to decide which doctor will take care of their health.

Your children’s education is a significant and timely priority. Schedule a time to visit your choice of school settings, especially when class is in session. Observe the interactions of staff and students. Check the security of the school and how safe your children are while there. The ease of how you can walk right into and through a number of school campuses would amaze you. I have on several occasions gone into my grandchildren’s schools and picked them up without the slightest delay or interference from anyone. Once, the school “lost” my grandson for five hours during the school day and I had to come to school and call 911 to get them to do as little as address his absence. It scared me, and I have been in education for 31 years.

Do your homework. Talk to the people who truly know what is going on at the school, and not the people trained to tell you what you want to hear. Who are the people who truly know a school’s performance?

The children know the most. They will tell you the truth if you know how to ask them and how listen to them. Ask a few of your children’s friends, or the children of some of your neighbors, with their parents’ permission:

“Is Mr. Isham a good teacher?”

“Oh, yes! He is the best teacher at our school. We hardly do any work and he tells us jokes.”

Or: “Is Mr. Isham a good teacher?”

“Heck no! He works us all the time and rarely lets us have free time or goof around.”

“Yes, but is he a good teacher?”

“Yeah. He cares about us and helps us learn.”

Statistics and data will give you information, but look at data and statistics that cannot be played with, colored, or explained away: graduation rates, student performance, and student-teacher ratios, for example. Look up student and staff attendance rates, staff turnover and retention rates of teachers, police incident reports, occurrences of school vandalism, and the complaints filed with the Arizona Department of Education for your school and district. The types of complaints are more important and telling than the number.

Finally, know your rights as parents. If you don’t know them, please, for your child’s sake, ask somebody—and be sure to question every single thing you are told, because your child’s future depends upon it. Education is power and freedom.