Schools
Parent Talk: Beyond St. Michael-Albertville Schools
For some families, sending their children to Catholic school or a charter school is important. We continue to look at education options in the area with this article, following up on our public school kindergarten registration piece from last week.
For some, the school decision is more than making a choice between half day and all day kindergarten. Some families in St. Michael-Albertville make the decision to send their kids to or Kaleidoscope Charter School in Otsego.
Salem Lutheran School in nearby Hanover is also a private option.
How does one make the decision? We talked to some parents who have.
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Catholic School
For St. Michael mom, Katie Kurth, after attending public school she hadn't given much thought to school until her and her husband started having kids.
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"My husband felt very strongly about sending our kids to the Catholic school," she said. Both Katie and her husband liked the smaller class sizes and environment the Catholic school could provide. "I feel such a sense of community and I didn't see that with my parents when I grew up," she said.
"We really felt we couldn't go wrong either way [public or private] but decided we would try kindergarten since we would have had to pay for all day at Albertville Primary anyway," Katie said. "We really liked it and feel tuition is reasonable compared to other private Catholic schools and having the Catholic piece as part of the curriculum is a bonus."
Also, she really likes the uniforms.
Charter School
For Otsego mom April Ariza, the reasons she was interested in sending her son to a charter school were plentiful.
"The reasons I was interested in a charter school were: small class sizes, parental involvement, creative learning environment, ability-based learning, programs such as art, music, Spanish and extra school programs," she said.
Some may not realize that charter schools are actually public schools funded by the state, but most enroll on a lottery basis.
"I had continued to put my son in the lottery at Kaleidoscope Charter School and am so happy that he finally got in," April said.
While private and charter school is not for everyone, it is an option worth considering.
"I'm so happy with our decision to send my daughter to the Catholic school," Katie said, "We love it."
And April shared the same sentiments about Kaleidoscope, "we've been really happy with the small class sizes, the caring teachers and the creative learning atmosphere."
