I'm Batman

One would think that with my daughter now being in daycare that I could shut down the Bat Cave, unplug the Bat Computer and hang up my cape. Nope. I haven't really had time to breathe, because it's enrollment season for public school. Now a while back I posted a status on Facebook wherein I cursed out every single person who got a spot in the DC Public School Lottery. The only ones safe from my wrath were those who actually grew up here and, as I consider it, paid their dues.

Little things like--I don't know--not having textbooks for a whole year and not having a Math teacher for three quarters of the year are character building exercises that I feel earned my child a spot in the new "We're supposed to care about kids?" public school system. School was closed a few months ago due to what I can only describe as 28 snowflakes, yet my knee and elbow still give me trouble almost twenty years after Cha-Cha Sliding down an icy sidewalk during a blizzard. I want my daughter to be a part of this new Age of Reason where the school being on fire is an acceptable reason to miss class.

I just feel like it's not fair that my daughter struck out at six schools on the lottery list. There shouldn't be a lottery for us 80s DCPS'ers. I should be able to whisper the name of the teachers that used to give us the answers to the CTBS test under the guise of "You'll repeat a grade if you fail" and someone just magically pull a chair out of the closet for my daughter at any school of my choosing (GoodFellas-style).

But that's not how the world works, and perhaps it's for the best. I still get to be Batman and who doesn't want to be Batman? I'm jumping from rooftop to rooftop going on last minute tours and gathering enrollment data. You're only supposed to enroll at one charter school at a time. I've been thoughtful and followed this rule, but that means that every time a new/better school calls to say we're off the wait list, I have to grab my grappling hook and swing around the city trying to drop off medical forms, birth certificates and DNA samples. I feel like I'm on Making The Band.

I spent last Friday running...to the train, to the daycare, back to the train, to the house to get the medical forms I forgot to bring with me, to the bus stop, to the school, back to the bus stop... It was a lot. But...I'm Batman.