Day of Hope/Day of Disappointment

I love Election Day (not just the Duran Duran song though I still am fond of it). I find it exciting to participate in the voting process. I love to watch the results roll in and see what my fellow citizens are thinking. I always find it a hopeful day, brimming with the potential for change (albeit painfully slow because few elected officials can enter office and enact radical, immediate changes).

I was comfortable with most of the results for the state offices. Pleased with the results of most of the statewide initiatives. Take that casino gambling! I don't believe for a second that the profits would go for education. I still recall how the Lottery was enacted with the promise that it would save our public schools. That was well before the Ohio Supreme Court declared that our manner of primarily funding schools through real estate taxes was unconstitutional (twice). Thirty plus years later, the lottery site proudly proclaims that it annually provides 4.5 percent of the funds necessary to keep our public schools treading water. Color me unimpressed. And yes I did a little happy dance to the defeat of casino gambling which was going to provide some limited money for education and scholarships to kids who would be eligible for them anyway.

~Rant over~

~New rant commencing~

I was incredibly disappointed with one of the local Juvenile Court races. One candidate was highly qualified. An attorney who had practiced in our Juvenile Court in every practice area for 27 years. He was endorsed by most every association. He is a fine attorney who definitely would break the negative image most people have of our profession.

He lost.

His opponent had the right kind of name and very little experience with the complex issues in juvenile law. Here's hoping he will perform well on the bench, but it would have been nice to have a candidate with the necessary experience and knowledge on the bench.

I saw him the day after the election. He was noticeably saddened, but he did his job that day with kindness to the weeping woman who opposed his client and sternness to the mom who needed to clean up her act but was instead making excuses. In a word he was professional, though you could tell he was deeply disappointed.

The rest of us were disappointed for him the next day as well.

~Rant over~

Also on Election Day, we checked a local school for Angie. We loved the school. She loved the school. It has the small class sizes that she would like, it has all sorts of interesting extras (Spanish, swimming and computers--even for the kindergarteners) that both Chas and I appreciated. She actually cried when we left because she wanted to stay. The Admissions Director thought we might be able to send Angie there in January for pre-kindergarten when the new term started. We were hopeful because our entire little family really liked the school.

The next day, the Admissions Director called to tell me that they didn't have an opening for Pre-K and the teachers did not want to add another student. Another disappointment. I think we'll still apply there for Kindergarten because we liked it so much. If accepted, we'll find the money somehow.

So the search for a pre-k for January continues. We may have missed our chance because every school may feel the same as this one. We're going to another open house on Sunday. Maybe we'll be luckier then.

As Chas pointed out, even if we had enrolled her with someone in the Spring (the deadline for fall admissions to pre-k around here), with the fire and our hotel lifestyle in September, school would have been too chaotic and Angie probably would not have handled another new thing very well. He's right; I just hate for her to miss an opportunity when she is now so eager for it.

I'm so happy that the Court is closed tomorrow for Veteran's Day. I need a long weekend right now.