Michael has missed St. Mike’s since he left at the end of last year, Grade 8. He’s in our local, highly-rated public high school, has made lots of friends, is in the band, and likes (most of) his teachers. It became apparent three weeks or so ago that he was interested in returning, so we approached the administration to discuss this. For a variety of reasons, they were anxious to hear directly from Michael, so last Thursday, he met with the principal and admissions director for an hour. He had previously written a letter to the principal that Z and I delivered outlining his reasons for returning. The administrators went over his pros and cons list with him at their meeting.
The list (with respect to St. Mikes) looked like this (pretty much verbatim). Pros- excellent teachers
- excellent equipment/resources
- sense of community/family
- lack of jerks
- art
- music
Cons
- sports-emphasis
- friends are scattered over a wider range
- uniforms
- no girls
- longer commute