You will not be the only parents who have requested a tour of the school - promise. Just call and say that you are considering your options for schooling for your child, and you'd like to come in and learn more about the school. It shouldn't be a problem. And if it is, that tells you something right there.
We toured our public school last year and they were gracious and lovely and seemed like it was a very normal thing. My friend, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to tour her local public school (same district as mine). The secretary told her "honey, this is public school. Come, don't come. We don't care. But we don't give tours to strangers." That was all the information she needed, and her child clearly isn't enrolled there this year.

Some secretaries run the school--or think they do. I would ask to speak with the principal if I got a response like that. signed: teacher

Anonymous wrote:You will not be the only parents who have requested a tour of the school - promise. Just call and say that you are considering your options for schooling for your child, and you'd like to come in and learn more about the school. It shouldn't be a problem. And if it is, that tells you something right there.
We toured our public school last year and they were gracious and lovely and seemed like it was a very normal thing. My friend, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to tour her local public school (same district as mine). The secretary told her "honey, this is public school. Come, don't come. We don't care. But we don't give tours to strangers." That was all the information she needed, and her child clearly isn't enrolled there this year.

That just would make me suspicious that there was something the school was trying to hide from parents.

Like the PP stated, it will be a minute or two in each class and that will be it!

I used to work at a highly regarded public school and if the admin was free, they would give a tour. They never stayed in any one classroom for more than a minute or two. It is disruptive. So if you think you are going to sit down and observe a class, think again.

Anonymous wrote:You will not be the only parents who have requested a tour of the school - promise. Just call and say that you are considering your options for schooling for your child, and you'd like to come in and learn more about the school. It shouldn't be a problem. And if it is, that tells you something right there.
We toured our public school last year and they were gracious and lovely and seemed like it was a very normal thing. My friend, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to tour her local public school (same district as mine). The secretary told her "honey, this is public school. Come, don't come. We don't care. But we don't give tours to strangers." That was all the information she needed, and her child clearly isn't enrolled there this year.

I actually agree with this. Good for that school.

You will not be the only parents who have requested a tour of the school - promise. Just call and say that you are considering your options for schooling for your child, and you'd like to come in and learn more about the school. It shouldn't be a problem. And if it is, that tells you something right there.
We toured our public school last year and they were gracious and lovely and seemed like it was a very normal thing. My friend, on the other hand, wasn't allowed to tour her local public school (same district as mine). The secretary told her "honey, this is public school. Come, don't come. We don't care. But we don't give tours to strangers." That was all the information she needed, and her child clearly isn't enrolled there this year.

Agree. It doesn't ever hurt to be honest. Doesn't sound like you are arrogant, so I think it will be accepted. If administration does not accept your concerns, it might not be the right place.

You could just ask.
"We've not been part of such a linguistically diverse school community before. Can you talk about what your teachers do to help kids socialize and interact across language barriers? How do you differentiate instruction for kids who are English proficient?"

It's okay to ask this stuff -- and if you don't like the answers, that's okay too.

PP ^^ posted too soon. It's disruptive to have strangers sitting in on class activities with young kids; in most cases, you've already got large class sizes and a three-ring circus for teachers to manage - having an administrator and a couple of looky-loos standing there for an entire morning just isn't going to happen.

My point was simply that you're going to have to make a decision based on very superficial and imperfect information. That's just the reality of the public school system. My kids are in public so that's not a knock on the system, but you should be realistic about how far any school or principal can go to assuage your anxieties.

Parents tour schools all the time. There is nothing wrong with seeing how the school will meet your child’s needs. Just go on the tour, have questions ready, and you will get a feel for the school environment. Believe me, it happens all the time. There is nothing awkward about it.

Honestly I doubt you are going to be able to spend enough time in a classroom to give you a realistic sense of what your child's experience will be like. It's simply not possible or appropriate to allow adults with no existing connection to a school to sit through more than a few minutes - it's disruptive

Parent in T1 school here and agree with the principal. We just asked for a tour when it was time to make school decisions, as we were choosing between public, private and parochial scnools. We toured some of each and somewhat to our surprise ended up going with our local public, partly because the teachers, principal, small class sizes, access to extra resources made it the most attractive choice for our kids. Four years and two kids in, and it is still a good fit. No need to spin it.

I'm a principal of the school you described. I take parents such as yourself on a tour all the time. I'm happy to do so. Our kindergarten teachers are amazing and do an excellent job in meeting all the academic and social needs of 5-6 year olds.

Yes, kids are at a wide range of levels. You'll see that some are learning their letters while others are reading. Some do great with getting along with their peers and others struggle to share. The kids spend a lot of times working in centers and small groups so the instruction can be differentiated.

Ask what specials kids have and how often. Ask how often they go to the library. Ask what you can do at home to prepare dd for a smooth transition.

Agree. Just ask for the tour without spinning it.

The school is not dumb. No matter how you couch it, they know what you're looking for. Just call them up and ask for a tour for your rising X grader.

Our daughter is slated for a title one public school that is not very diverse and serves a large ESOL population.

We have heard mixed stories about how this works out socially and academically for children who are coming into the school with more advantages, for instance, already being fluent in English.

We want to go to the school and observe a kindergarten class, in order to get a feel for the environment, and see how the teachers differentiate instruction.

Our primary concern is that instruction will be focused on learning English and basics that DD will already know on day one. I think it is good that the tour will be midway through the year so we can see what they are working on 5 months in.

There are no regularly scheduled tours, it would just be me, dh and the AP. It feels like an awkward situation, the request in itself seems to imply that we think the school is not up to snuff, right? I don't want the AP to feel insulted that we question weather or not this is the right school for us, but I don't want to enroll blindly, or even worse, not enroll in good a school because we assumed it wouldn't be good for dd with no actual information.

Please help me with some things to say when requesting the tour and while on the tour.