All this for Pre-K?

Today was quite the experience…Jen and I went to an open house for Owen’s Pre-K class at St. Jude. No he hasn’t been accepted yet. You read that right, you have to be accepted into Pre-K. I thought that was only for movie stars who live in NYC, but apparently it is also for IT guys who live in BR. This application and acceptance process is stressing us out, but we just keep in mind that whatever happens will work out and we have to acknowledge that these are some of the trials and tribulations of being a parent.


So we go to the open house and see some faces we recognize from Jefferson Baptist and around BR and that was comforting. We took a tour of the school, talked to some parents and teachers and really like the school, even though one administrator left a bad taste in our mouths, overall, we feel good about St. Jude.

Now the bad news.

We found out that out of 48 spots for Pre-K, there are about 12 for outsiders who don’t have an older brother or sister already at the school. Awesome. So we have to have a backup plan (or 2). The program that Owen is currently in requires a $160 NON-REFUNDABLE deposit to reserve his spot at Jefferson Baptist and this is obviously due prior to when we find out if he is accepted to St. Jude. Awesome #2. So, we are now considering a 3rd option and yet another non-refundable deposit (is this even legal for churches to do????). St. George which has a Kindergarten class designed for kids like O whose birthdays fall on the cutoff line and could probably make it in Kindergarten, but would benefit from another year, resulting in them being the older kids in class, essentially, holding them back a year. Great, sounds perfect. St. George is on my way to work, is only about 5 minutes further away from our house that St. Jude, and sounds like a good fit. They require a $100 non refundable application fee, and due to the fact that we are “out of the parish” and “not a recognized donor” to the church, we would have to get approval from our parish to go there if accepted and pay more tuition because who really has enough money to be recognized as a donor for every church in the city of baton rouge? I am fuming at the situation as I am sure many other parents are, but there simply isn’t any other choice as the EBR public school system is horrid at best. I am slowly beginning to accept this as our new normal, entering into the world of Catholic education. This is really the only year that I think we will have issues with the process as once Owen is enrolled somewhere, P, J, and B are all accepted by default.

So to sum it up, we have 3 options – St. Jude, Jefferson Baptist, and St. George, we have who knows how much money will be tied up in non-refundable deposits, and we are basically leaving it up to God (and various admissions personnel) to decide where Owen will end up for Pre-K.

Oh, and I somehow have to figure out how to pay for actual tuition. Awesome #3.