The Schools

The school system here is quite different than in the States -- as it should be. One glaring difference is the hours of operation. It varies from one school to the next, but many schools are in session six days a week, and many schools dismiss at the half-day time at least a couple days a week. That's right, school on Saturday. There are a few who run full-day, five-day-a-week schedules. We'll have to find one of those for Maddy.

And. . . the current education minister is tossing around ideas of reform, including a change to those full-day schedules.

We have recently received offer #2 for an introduction at a private school. The director of Maddy's asilo that we love so much offered to arrange a meeting for us with the principal (of sorts) and perhaps a teacher or two from a school in the center of town. We know a little about this school, and had ruled it out because a friend had a bad experience there. However, it is one of the few schools that is full day M-F & starts and ends at the good times that we have found.

Here we go again with the connections and importance of relationships. The director also informed us that Ermenia, literacy teacher extraordinaire -- the very one teaching Maddy to read, is friends with the principal and knows a few teachers, and even she could become involved. Among other things, our friend had issues with the school because of the language; the teacher was not equipped to handle a kid just learning Italian. No ISL support here folks. Again, I don't know that they had a connection to get him in, but I have to wonder if a connection would have made it easier for them when certain problems arose.

Maddy, we are assured, will be well-prepared and ready for this school.

We have no doubt about that. The question is: Will we be prepared for this school? I wonder if Ermenia will be available for homework sessions?