What a (school) year! Believe it or not, Ella is headed to middle school in the Fall, so as much as we loved our tiny elementary school with 200 kids TOTAL (grades TK-5), which both girls attended, apparently time marches on. As you may remember, the LA school system is a complicated puzzle–or as they say “a mystery wrapped in an enigma”. I won’t go into all the details, but here are the ways to find a school in LA:

• Neighborhood public schools: If you live in an area zoned for specific school(s), woo hoo! In LA, this is often a costly option, and for us, our zoned schools suck all the way through 12th grade.
• Magnet schools with specialized programs (STEM, performing arts, language immersion, etc.): This process involves going through an online system where you choose a magnet program from a list. If you get in, YAY (usually you do not). If you do not, you get “points” for being on a Waitlist, which you accrue and can use towards possibly getting in at a later point. THIS is how Zoe got into middle and high school Performing Arts programs, because we worked the system.
• Charter schools, which are publicly funded but independently operated: These either have geo boundaries or a lottery system–or both, based on availability. Lottery spots are tough to get.
• Open enrollment, depending on space and district policies: This is how we got into our tiny school, which needed students and was heavily parent-supported.
• Private schools: Los Angeles has hundreds of independent and religious schools, ranging from small faith-based schools to nationally recognized college-preparatory schools. They generally range from $10-35K per year, before the fees you pay once you get in…
• Achievement programs: Some schools have “SAS Programs” for students who demonstrate high academic ability or potential (often for kids identified as “Gifted”, which ours are). One middle school near us also has an “IHP” (honors) program that you have to test into and which is academically rigorous.

Anyway, it’s a racket, and honestly one that’s not highly publicized or well explained. We engaged a “School Scout” when Zoe was young, who blew our minds with all the options. Today, ChatGPT could spit out that info in 15 seconds (in fact, other than the commentary, it just gave me the list above). Before you say, “But would it be accurate?“, I’ll add that our very human “scout” showed up to our call having referenced our wrong address…

And before you ask, I DO NOT write my blog posts with AI, which perhaps you never doubted since my rambling, nearly incoherent style would be difficult to replicate. You’re welcome. Now back to my circuitous Ella story, and I’ll skip to the good part:

We played the LA School Game from the start, getting her into an elementary school through Open Enrollment (as we did her sister), then working the Magnet system every year in between to accrue Waitlist Points–though even with these, there must be space at the school to use them. So when it was time to get into a middle school, we told Ella what we told Zoe: We’re going to try every way possible to get into a school. Her first choice was the same school and program her sister attended.

Here’s what we did:

• We applied to the Performing Arts Magnet at her top school as first choice on the magnet application.
• We applied to the SAS program at her second choice school.
• We signed up to audition for the Performing Arts “academy” (another way to get into her first choice school that requires an audition but was not reliant on Magnet points).
• We asked her to take the 2-hour IHP test at her second choice school.
• We crossed our fingers.

Spoiler Alert: She got into the Performing Arts Magnet at her first choice school! She got waitlisted for the SAS program (verified as “in” but no space). She did not have to audition, though she did spend 4 weeks practicing for it, so she was ready. She passed the IHP test and was thrilled to NOT have to go to that school…

So this kid is headed to middle school. PHEW. And with the points she’ll accrue there by being IN the program for three years, we’ll have maximum Magnet points that will hopefully get her into her high school of choice, like Zoe. We’re still keeping our fingers crossed.

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. A few cool stories happened BEFORE she got out of elementary school:

DRAMA MANIACS: One Horse Town Production

As I’m sure you remember, there’s an enrichment program at the elementary school called Drama Maniacs, where the kids get a production theme, then get to add their own elements to a script that lets them all have a line on stage. Both girls have participated in this, and while the onstage performances are as you’d expect from a kid-driven, meet for an hour a week production, they are always fun.

This production was called One Horse Town, and if you’ve got a free 20 mins, you can watch it right here. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but there’s a cowboy theme, which is how we ended up with the very special cowboy outfit you see Ella in at the top of this post. She was awesome, and she loved it.

THE GRADUATION WE THOUGHT WOULD NEVER END

Unlike Zoe, who sadly spent most of 5th grade in a pandemic and graduated outdoors with masks and social distancing, Ella’s class made the most of every second leading up to their graduation. The parents were the worst best. Seriously though. It’s like they didn’t want it to end, and there was a whole bunch of frantic “let’s get them together just one more time!” that spread like a virus as graduation approached.

But before we go there, one Ella accomplishment which has little to do with school but a lot to do with accomplishment is getting her purple belt + white stripe in karate! To do so, she had to go through the live test in a room full of students, including reciting several karate stances and actions in Korean! She crushed it.

And now to the endless celebration. Out of 19 students in her class, 17 of them have been together for the past 7 years, so it’s honestly understandable that they are a tightly knit group who will no doubt miss one another and their unique dynamic. Speaking of dynamics, one of the first “celebrations” was a party at the beach.

Insert a little drama: We almost lost our brand new 5th grade teacher (above) because our brand new principal flipped out when the teacher failed to get permission before posting to Teachers of TikTok (even with no kids in the frame). But we vocal parents helped keep him. Phew. Because these kids LOVED him, and begged him to drive 1.5 hours to the beach to be at their party–and clearly, he did.

Insert a few birthday parties I’ll leave out of this post, but then add a [GULP] Neon Party at school! Like an idiot and out of sheer guilt from traveling for 5 weeks leading up to graduation, I volunteered for this.

It was the same day as their Spring Concert at school, where the 5th grade performed a shortened version of Midsummer Night’s Dream (check that out here), so I arrived for setup, then served as photographer for the whole two hours (not kidding) of a dance party. TWO HOURS.

They let the kids submit their favorite songs, which ranged from Baby Shark to a lot of recent popular dance songs to the Macarena. There was a lot of dancing, including the Cha Cha Slide, which was my favorite to watch.

But the most disturbing one was THE SEA LION, which I had never heard until I watched 19 kids hit the floor on their stomachs, grab their feet behind them, and pretend to be sea lions. Learn more about the trend here or if you’re brave enough, watch the official song video here. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

On the bright side, they had a blast–and will be well prepared for their first rave, hopefully not before college:

This event was followed up on Monday with a Kids against Parents kickball game. Sounds fun, right? Though I wasn’t able to attend this one, Bart did, and one of the other moms attested to the fact that it was NOT that fun, given that the (sorry but mostly male) parents insisted on showing off and #winning in a less-than-sportsmanlike manner. Maybe that was the “kid” team after all? Anyway, glad I missed it.

The grand finale was the graduation itself, during which my heart almost popped out of my chest and, yes, dear readers, I cried. And I don’t cry often. Not a pride point, just a fact. As we parents entered the auditorium, there were photo collages along the wall with baby pictures we had provided to the PTA, not knowing they’d be on display. May as well grab your tissues now.

During the ceremony, Ella was featured several times thanks to her many talents:

• She helped sing the Star Spangled Banner. VIDEO HERE
• She co-recited The Road Not Taken poem by Robert Frost from memory, in unison. VIDEO HERE
• She gave a speech, also memorized, with only one hiccup (most kids read theirs). VIDEO HERE
• She sang with the whole group, Should I Stay or Should I Go. VIDEO HERE.
• She graciously received her diploma. VIDEO HERE
• And the finale, which made me cry cry cry was a group performance of My Way. VIDEO HERE

Here’s the photoshoot I talked her into before school on graduation day, her final day of elementary school, and I can barely believe that this gorgeous human is so grown up. If I’m honest, I’m tearing up right now just thinking about how fast the time is flying by and how very proud we are of Ella Rae Johnson. Here’s to more fabulous memories, incredible friends, and graduations ahead.