Give It Your All: Reflections (Part 8)
Categories: Léo’s Insights 2022-2023, Reflections
After we were dismissed by our associate school chairman, we found ourselves in a familiar predicament. Hundreds of families were looking to us for sponsorship in their home education programs, yet we had no school through which to offer this service.
This time I was clear about what we should do. We had already met the Minister of Education and had described what we were doing. This provided her with an alternative to the status quo public schools and a possible connection to the recently passed Choice in Education Act. As a matter of fact, the Minister saw what we were doing as a potential pilot project.
There was no doubt the time had come for us to apply for our own school. The staff was on board and parents agreed. Everyone who cared about Education Unlimited knew it was the right thing to do. So, we struck up the Get-Er-Done team made up of facilitators, parents, IT people and others who could help toward the establishment of our own school.
I got to work and created a seventy page document to convince the government of the need for a virtual alternative to public/separate/private schools. I bounced parts of this effort off the team to get their feedback and eventually we created a document demonstrating an alternative to what had come to be accepted as normal school. I sent it directly to the Minister of Education, as we had already communicated regarding our recent associate school dismissal.
Then the bombshell! I had made a mistake. I had it in my head that we needed a charter school, as I was truly ashamed of what I had observed with private “Christian” schools. Upon receiving my lengthy document, the Minister sent me to the directors of the charter school accreditation where I was informed that charter schools cannot sponsor home education programs.
I was thunderstruck. Somehow, I had not seen that buried deep in the Education Act. All that work. All that time. All gone to waste. At least that was how it looked. Yet, while I knew this was a major setback, it was not the end. Even though the charter school document did not accomplish what we had originally intended, it demonstrated that we were experienced professionals dedicated to accomplishing the task of getting our own school to better serve our parents.
The Lesson
Always strive for excellence. It will be noticed.
Previous Post: Never Feed the Bully: Reflections (Part 7)
Next Post: Overcoming: Reflections (Part 9)