Distinguished

Okay, here's something completely off the topic of adoption. Today we had a Distinguished Schools visitation. California has this program where they acknowledge public schools that meet the criteria for being 'distinguished'. It all starts with an invitation to apply. Once the application is written, if it's approved, then a visitation team comes to the campus to validate the application.

My school has been distinguished twice before and is a current National Blue Ribbon School, but every four years you've got to reapply and be reconsidered.

It's a hassle...

There's a lot of pressure...

You keep thinking, "Didn't we just do this?"

The outcome is an engraved plaque and bragging rights. No dinero for new stuff we really need - like computers.

Now, I think my school really is distinguished. We have amazing test scores and an API of 925 (that's out of 1000), parents who volunteered more than 13,000 hours last year, hard working students, a terrific principal, outstanding teachers (thank you, thank you very much...), so why don't we get more than a lousy plaque?