<p>And exactly why do you think this will affect her college admissions? This is happening everywhere, and I can just see the essay - “I wanted to learn, the District Cut Back and What I did to Overcome!” My D’s freshman roommate at Amherst came from a small rural school with NO AP courses, and it even lost their Latin teacher and couldn’t find one, so in order to complete Latin II, she took the course online. It was her ability to still do what she wanted through her own initiative that earned her an acceptance from Amherst, I feel sure. I remember my parents wanting to send me to private high school bitd, but I resisted, wanting to attend the inner city public with my friends. Turns out I had the superior education. My teachers were wonderful and cared! I could write a research paper using MLA, Stanford, or Turabian (yes, I know this dates me.) My Honors classes more than prepared me for college.</p>
<p>I agree that the social aspect can be extremely important. It is a risk to move to a new school if you do not know if your student could fall in with a negative peer group.
Many years ago, a close family member moved before 11th grade and fell in with a not-so-great peer group. He also moved to a larger high school, where he was unable to participate in sports like he had at the old school. While his life has turned out fine, those high school years were trying.
I’ve known other kids, for example military kids who move all the time, who have done fine with moving during high school.
I know that you have looked at every option, but how about the idea of students forming “study groups” to self-study AP material? This happened locally when our high school did not offer AP Economics and kids were interested. They met weekly all year and ended up not only scoring extremely well on the test but also loving the subject! Several of them decided to major in economics in college.</p>
<p>CRD - We are also in MA (north of Boston) and totally understand what you are going through with the budget cuts. I am fortunate becasue D1 is graduating this year from public HS and D2 is in Catholic HS. Having just finished the application process with D1 I would receommend that you stay where you are and have her excel witout disrupting her social life. I would add more advanced classes (1 or 2) at a local CC or Umass satellite. </p>
<p>Admission to the tippy top 25 universities/colleges are somewhat like a lottery - many highly qualified kids with 4.0 GPAs, validictorians/salutorians, stellar test scores and ECs are not admitted. Looks at these decision threads, it is heartbreaking howmany hard working kids are not getting into the Ivys and next tier schools. To move and disrupt your family’s life for what could essentially be a lottery ticket doesn’t make sense to me. Plus if she is a great student and does test well, she could probably have a chance at good merit money from the 25-50 schools…and depending on what she wants to study, some of the “less ranked” schools have the better, more progressive programs.</p>
<p>Just one person’s opinion.</p>
<p>I don’t think that even a severely compromised senior year of high school will have any significant long-term effect on your daughter’s life, though the bigger issue of educational budget cuts is grim. If she’s a well-adjusted kid and a good student, she’ll suck it up and move on. I know this isn’t the kind of feedback you were asking for, but a year or two of bad education is probably not such a handicap for someone whose circumstances and personal resources are otherwise good (I and most of the kids I grew up with would be on the skids if that was the case…) It seems very drastic to up-end your whole family’s life by moving.</p>
<p>I would not move a rising junior for the “grass is greener”. Most of the schools in MA are suffering from budget cuts (as is the rest of the nation). The school you’d consider moving to might not be any better off than the one you are considering leaving. </p>
<p>The emotional trauma of that big a change, for not necessarily a serious gain, is not worth it, IMO. Your daughter will most likely be fine. She will weather the changes, as will the rest of the kids who stay put. Most people will not be in the position to up and sell their houses, so it will probably all work out ok anyway. Many times the initial budget looks much worse than the final one.</p>
<p>^^ agreeing with Delta66.</p>
<p>One more thought - EA deadlines are Nov 1 for most schools…so, they are only looking at the kid’s record through junior year as well as their course load for senior year. If she has a rough adjustment, moving could hurt her…</p>
<p>Also right now she has teachers and a Guidance Counselor who (hopefully) know her well and can write wonderful recommendations. If you move her you will lose that important input on her college app. Cuts are happening in so many states I think it will still be a level playing field.</p>
<p>Which particular courses are likely to be eliminated or downgraded?</p>
<p>If it is the more “fluffy” AP courses like Statistics, Physics B, and Environmental Science then no great loss. On the other hand, it could be more serious if she wants to take AP courses like English Literature and Calculus BC and those are eliminated.</p>
<p>Also even if you do move to a <em>less</em> severely impacted school district, who knows what will happen a year from now? Maybe they are weathering the budget woes better now, but next year they could be looking at the same cuts as your town. Meanwhile, your town could end up passing an override next year and restoring some of the cuts. Budgeting in MA is generally a year-to-year process.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. Some of you are reading way too much into this. I’m really looking for similar experiences and some of you have been very helpful. I am grateful. </p>
<p>A couple of points: </p>
<p>We’d only move if D wants to. She has a line in the sand in terms of how much of the education that she was looking forward to that she’s willing to sacrifice if she doesn’t have to. She doesn’t have to. It doesn’t look like we’ll cross that line junior year, but it there is a pretty good chance that we will we’ll be so far over that line senior year, that we should consider the options now. </p>
<p>Ucbalumnus, it is the more serious AP courses that will be eliminated. Not some, but ALL of the ones she wanted senior year, too many to replace with college courses or online courses. We’d actually know what the prognosis is before we did anything drastic. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t be that surprised to see a few of her friends moving schools also. Some may have been accepted to private school or boarding school and are leaving regardless. I just don’t know. There seem to be some pretty savvy parents in our town. Who knows, if we moved, we might find some of her friends in the new district. </p>
<p>It’s not really about college admission. It’s about educational opportunity. I really don’t think it’s going to change the college admissions outlook, though there is certainly that risk. I’m convinced that there are great schools that she can get into, and I feel that college admissions is not a reason to do or not do something, especially when it involves getting the education you want. I’m not buying the party line. We’ve told her to do the best she can to be the person that she wants to be, and then she can apply to college. We’re proud of her no matter what. There will be great colleges that will be happy to take our money to educate her. I’m pretty certain of that. </p>
<p>We would not sell our house. We’d rent. It’s not about money. We could probably even make money renting our house out. We’d move back “home” when she graduated. Or we might just maintain our “home” to “vacation” in on weekends when we have time to enjoy it. We’d have to be bona fide residents of the new town though, and that means sleeping there most nights. We wouldn’t do it on the sly. That might cost some money. We might do it anyway. I’m not about to deprive my child of her education when I actually have the money. We’ve been saving for college for the kids since they were babies. </p>
<p>Not all MA districts are in the same position. That I am sure of. People rationalize that they are. They are not. Some towns close the firehouses before they would touch the school budget. </p>
<p>Taking scheduled college classes is virtually impossible during the school day. At night or in the afternoon it interferes with athletics. </p>
<p>D is concerned about the athletic situation in the new district in terms of making teams that draw from a larger population. It’s sort of a catch-22. If she stays at her current school, athletics might prevent her from taking outside classes. If she moves, she might not make the teams, but the classes are offered in school with no need for outside classes. What a conundrum!</p>
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<p>She has other summer plans. I don’t think she wants to do serious schoolwork in the summer. I respect and endorse that. </p>
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<p>It might depend if and where those teachers and GC’s are even working. The situation looks that bleak.</p>
<p>CRD, it seems you have really thought this out. Renting out your house so that you could return to your hometown after graduation sounds like a good idea, if it works for you financially. Would also leave you an out to return to her hs for senior year if the new place didn’t work out.</p>
<p>I also like that you are focused on her educational opportunities and not on uprooting your lives for unpredictable college admissions.</p>
<p>Good luck to you and your D!</p>
<p>Maybe she should just graduate early?</p>
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<p>If the high school does cut AP courses (the good ones like English Literature and Calculus BC), could you and other students and parents interested in taking them lobby the school to allow enrollment in the local community college during the school day, at least for those subjects?</p>