Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Life after Jacono

A reader sent this in, and I thought it was good enough to deserve it's own post, although it will probably overshadow one of my more clever posts below it....

For the record, there is life after Holy Cross and it's wonderful! The public school teachers and administators openly welcome parents who volunteer, even more so they adore them! The school uses up to date testing, unlike the outdated testing used to track at Holy Cross. Intelligent children are challenged academically, as the school knows these children's success will bring them better funding!

The teachers truly appreciate my well behaved, religious children (and I take credit for that, Holy Cross did not raise them). All students are treated equally and fairly, not just the ones who don't disagree with the principal. Fundraising is minimal and any effort applauded. Specials are not changed randomly year to year, and they are all solid options. Teachers are respected, and if they aren't they can take action, amazingly the same goes for parents ( I know that sounds strange to HC parents it was strange for me at first too!).

Then there are the little things. You can go to any class celebration. You don't need to get fingerprinted to go on a field trip with your child. Your child won't get detention if the dentist can finally get them in at 8:30a.m. on a Tuesday. If you want to sign your kids out with no notice five min. before the end of the school day, so be it, they're your children after all! (shocking I know!) Oh and the secretary won't give you attitude for doing so! Lunch is a dollar and you don't have to plan a month in advance to buy it (get this it's even nutritionally sound and filling to boot!). If your kid wants a rolling backback and notebooks with cartoon characters, they are free to express themselves in such a manner.

Best of all not only do all the students have to play by the rules, but so do the teachers, secretaries, principals, assistant principals, and even ass. supers and superintendants. They don't fly by the seat of their pants making up rules and picking and choosing who they are accountable to. Funny, it's like I left the twilight zone and entered back into reality. I can't tell you how refreshing it has been! While I miss the parents I have become friends with over the years and watching their children grow with mine, and the teachers my children and I have come to know and love, the sense of communtiy left when Jacono came. The teachers weren't the same, stressed Im sure by their own dealings with Jacono, The sense of community was gone. Friendships I had with many parents was shattered by their lack of action despite their many complaints about Jacono.

I am not one to go with the flow sacraficing my childrens education and my own morals, and I was shocked and disheartened when others were so willing to. There is life beyond Holy Cross, it is not the only option, you can raise good, Catholic, well educated children while they attend public school.The ultimate reward for me was when at the end of this school year (we left HC mid-year((yes J it's me your favorite Dr's daughter)I gave the children the option to return to Holy cross if they wanted to, and they both answered with a resounding "NO!".

I am confident next year will be even better, as the children won't have the burden of transitioning to a new school mid-year. I never, ever thought in a million years I would even consider sending my children to public school. Jacono made that decision for me and for that I thank her! We couldn't be happier!!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well said. Couldn't have said it better myself.

The Quizzinator said...

Probably a bit further then most people, but not by much. Interesting to see how someone who escaped the mad house sees it. Food for thought.

Anonymous said...

As another escapee...I could not have said it better! There is life on the other side. Public school is not perfect but it is much better on so many levels. And it is actually CLEAN!
Two words I use for describing public school that would never enter my vocabulary when describing HC - professional and fair. And best of all, the principal is not a royal _ _ _ _ _!

The Quizzinator said...

I have yet to hear anyone who has regretted leaving, either teachers or parents. They miss people and friends, to be sure, but not the school.

Anonymous said...

I am sure your objective and unbiased manner encourages folks to tell you about their private thoughts..Man you sure have an inflated opinion of yourself Quiz

The Quizzinator said...

The Quizz isn't sure what you mean. This isn't about me; if it was, I'd have created a Yahoo mail account and sent a link to every teacher and parent in the school.

I am very careful about who and what I say about Holy Cross school under Jacono to people. I also rely on sources who have talked to parents and teachers who have left. Some ARE more diplomatic than others, and say she was "part" of the problem.

As for parents...yes, there are some that are leaving for financial reasons, so things posted here don't apply across the board. There are even those parents who have no idea this idealogical battle goes on - I can't figure out how they don't know, but if all you do is kick the kids out of the car on your way to work, you might not hear things - which may one reason that Jacono has done everything possible to discourage parents from working or gathering.

Anonymous said...

Can ya believe it? There's a new Holy Cross blog on the Newszap website!!

Anonymous said...

"The Quizz isn't sure what you mean."

"I have yet to hear anyone who has regretted leaving..."

It is clear among the faithful who you are and what your objective is. So why would anyone who has left report anything other than what you want to hear?

Anonymous said...

What does my post have to do with quiz? My goal is not to prove her right, but to give other parents who are scared to make that step into the public school realm, just as I was, a better perspective. I hope to save them from the fear I had.

Anonymous said...

oh and seriously? the faithful? I smell Jacono!

Anonymous said...

"I smell Jacono"

Nice, respectful, professional :)

Anonymous said...

yep...that's the tone of this blog.."string 'er up!"

Anonymous said...

I have no desire to be nice to Jacono, nor did she ever have any desire to be nice, respectful or professional towards me. I fail to see where I disrespected anyone, or what professionalism has to do with anything, this is a blog, not the office. FYI in todays day and age it is common practice to say you smell someone, as in you "smell something fishy" on blogs, as obviously we can't see who is speaking, no clue what that has to do with stringing "er' up". But I do smell jacono again....hmmm you put a lot of effort into discrediting this blog rather than stating your points or trying to express reasons Holy Cross is better thanks to her, could it be you have no good points to state?

Anonymous said...

oh and for the record, I can't imagine anyone but J on her own personal power trip, would refer to her followers as "the faithful" hence the Jacono smell in the air

Anonymous said...

With J it's always about her. Have heard the exact comments from famlies who who have left. They love it at their new schools. They were tired of giving her the benefit of the doubt and making excuses for her bad behavior.

Anonymous said...

"Nice, respectful, professional :)"

I would love for j to just pick one of these traits and work on improving it in herself this year.

The Quizzinator said...

I try to seek a middle ground with Jacono, and if you read back through this year, you will see that there were times I did compliment when I thought there was a change. At the beginning of the school year, I sensed there WAS something different. I heard it was because she was forced to "be nice", and I didn't think it would last long, but I hoped that it would.

It didn't. The changes were the barest she could get away with. She made a big to-do about getting more volunteers, she "started" a few programs, but it really never took off, and if didn't go where she wanted it, it simply disapeared.

Take the two big surveys we had at the end of the year. Results were NOT favorable, and while I can admire a good wordsmithing as much as the next person, claiming a "majority" of people think you are on the right track isn't enough. That is damning with faint praise - but at least that survey was relased in some format. The other one will probably get an even thicker coat of whitewash.

Anonymous said...

I must say that, as a former Holy Cross parent, that Holy Cross School, namely the principal, gives the whole Christian atmosphere a bad name. As far as public school goes, I'm sure that there are places worse than Holy Cross, but in my travels and what I've seen, heard, and experienced, public school has offered our children many things Holy Cross did not. As for the religious aspect, we are Catholic and therefore have always instilled in our own children strong religious identification which they will carry with them no matter what school they attend. I also want to close with best wishes for all of the teachers and families that have in some way been touched by the wrath of J. Best wishes to those who plan to leave this year, teachers and families alike. You will be glad you did! "There is life after Holy Cross."