Bridgewater gets practical
It used to come in the middle of the night: the phone call. My husband would come home from work in New Jersey, found the school letter placement and called us while we spend the summers in his parents' home, in Europe. It would have been 7pm in NJ, but was 1am overseas. I'd awake from my slumber, turn on the computer and correspond with our friends. Who would join C, and later N too, in class that year?
As my network grew, we improved the communication. Someone would e-mail their information in the morning to us in Europe, and I'd e-mail my husband to go home at lunch and check our mailbox and call with results.
The past few years we've been home to receive the envelope.
A while back one friend started an e-vite with most parents in our elementary school. Parents RSVPed with the placement info and word spread like wildfire.
BRIDGEWATER goes high-tech:
Yesterday every parent got e-mailed a code to get the information online. Everyone found out at the same time, and although I read it from my laptop at home, I could have been in Norway, Nigeria or the Nepal and still learned the placement information the same day.
C, who is in the middle school, has teachers' names that mean absolutely nothing to me, since I don't know of a single 8th grade teacher. She is devastated because she has gym early in the day... Appearance is important to 8th grade girls.
N has inherited C's 6th grade team. I know all of the teachers well. It's a "go with the devil you know" feeling of reserved confidence. I know what I like about each of them, but also have a few concerns. One common worry: will they compare N to C? Their strengths and weaknesses are so different. Do I let them figure it out on their own, or do I give them a heads up? "Go with the devil you know" works both ways. They already know me, so I would guess an e-mail wouldn't surprise them. (I am relieved we didn't get a certain teacher. She's supposed to be excellent, but she dislikes something she thinks I felt when running for BOE. A good teacher should separate those feelings towards a kid's mom, but why take the risk?)
I have heard several people complain that they couldn't get through on the website, or that the system froze on them when trying to pull up their information. I didn't have that problem, so far. So far, I like the new system... but ask me in three months.
Still, I miss the anticipated envelope...... e-mail can be so... intangible.
Ever nostalgic,
BSM
As my network grew, we improved the communication. Someone would e-mail their information in the morning to us in Europe, and I'd e-mail my husband to go home at lunch and check our mailbox and call with results.
The past few years we've been home to receive the envelope.
A while back one friend started an e-vite with most parents in our elementary school. Parents RSVPed with the placement info and word spread like wildfire.
BRIDGEWATER goes high-tech:
Yesterday every parent got e-mailed a code to get the information online. Everyone found out at the same time, and although I read it from my laptop at home, I could have been in Norway, Nigeria or the Nepal and still learned the placement information the same day.
C, who is in the middle school, has teachers' names that mean absolutely nothing to me, since I don't know of a single 8th grade teacher. She is devastated because she has gym early in the day... Appearance is important to 8th grade girls.
N has inherited C's 6th grade team. I know all of the teachers well. It's a "go with the devil you know" feeling of reserved confidence. I know what I like about each of them, but also have a few concerns. One common worry: will they compare N to C? Their strengths and weaknesses are so different. Do I let them figure it out on their own, or do I give them a heads up? "Go with the devil you know" works both ways. They already know me, so I would guess an e-mail wouldn't surprise them. (I am relieved we didn't get a certain teacher. She's supposed to be excellent, but she dislikes something she thinks I felt when running for BOE. A good teacher should separate those feelings towards a kid's mom, but why take the risk?)
I have heard several people complain that they couldn't get through on the website, or that the system froze on them when trying to pull up their information. I didn't have that problem, so far. So far, I like the new system... but ask me in three months.
Still, I miss the anticipated envelope...... e-mail can be so... intangible.
Ever nostalgic,
BSM
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