ScoopToo

Our blog’s purpose is to help parents navigate the Kindergarten and elementary school phase of their children’s education. In Colorado, we are given the opportunity of “choice” in our search. This program gives parents many options when it comes to choosing a school for their child outside of their neighborhood school. The process can become overwhelming with the myriad of choices including faith-based schools, private schools, charter schools, and magnet schools – each with varying programs and curriculum.  The entire process can be very mind-boggling.

We created ScoopToo.com as a result of this daunting search and discovery process endured not long ago while researching the right school for our children. After charts, graphs, phone calls, tours, interviews, testing, researching, seeking advice from friends,  it became a huge commitment and sacrifice of time. We felt strongly about helping other parents in this arena and that a collective resource for information on related topics would help abundantly.  So, therein lies the inspiration for ScoopToo.com.

Our blog consists of school profiles, parent interviews, national and local education related articles, a Two Cents series, events, posts on educational topics we’ve researched, etc.  Please grab a cup of coffee or glass of wine, kick back, and start reading.

It is our belief that the more educated you are with this process, the more empowered you will feel about making informed decisions about your child’s education. We’d love for you to spread the word about ScoopToo.com to your family, friends, and colleagues and wish you the best of luck in your journey.

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It comes around so quickly but never soon enough, right?  When it is hot we want cold.  When it is dry we want rain.  When we want summer vacation, we want our kids BACK IN SCHOOL.  The grass is always greener on the other side, isn’t it?

So now we want them back in school because we just can’t be the nanny, the clown, the transporter, the camp counselor, the lifeguard, the entertainer any more. This means that parents of pre-schoolers need to start preparing for school tours, talking to friends and scouring the Web for information about where to send their kids.  The cycle begins again.

If you recall, we began SCOOPTOO in order help those in need.  We wanted to provide assistance and be a reference to parents who are about to go through what we went through and had no where to turn.

What can you expect from SCOOPTOO this season?

Profiles – This year SCOOPTOO will continue to profile a variety of schools (public, private, charter, faith-based) offering our interpretation of what we encounter based on tours, speaking with parents and administrators of these schools.

Articles – As always we will cover topics we feel are important and what people might be interested to learn.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact us at: jennandkerri@scooptoo.com

Discussions – This season, we will be really focused on encouraging discussion.  We want to know how you feel and what you find valuable about this site.  We work hard to provide you with insight on as many things as we can but your added insight and comments are also valuable to the readers.  Please, open up to us and our readers with your thoughts – and you may do so anonymously if you choose!

Parent Perspective – We will also offer new content on the site that will include a category that will be written by parents called “Parent Perspective” where parents will describe how they feel about a school their child attends.  Rah Rah!

Advertising – Now that SCOOPTOO has been in existence for more than a year, we are opening up our site to advertising inquiries.  We are happy to offer inexpensive advertising options from local businesses whose target audience is parents of school-aged children, teachers, administrators or school-related services.  You may contact us via email: jennandkerri@scooptoo.com should you have inquiries or interest.

Announcements – We will revamp our “Events” page to include announcements that parents, PTA’s, fundraising organizers and school administrators would like to publicize.  This would also include any press, events, meetings or important information about any Denver schools.  Speaking of events, be on the lookout for five upcoming DPS informational sessions for parents of Pre-K, K and Elementary school children.  SCOOPTOO will also be at these events to help answer any questions you may have about the process.

Thank you for reading and contributing to our blog.  We hope that we can continue to build upon what we have already created to make SCOOPTOO a go-to source of information for you and your friends.

Warmly,

The Scoop Two

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We’ve shouted it from the rooftops already but felt we should post it to the blog as well.   ScoopToo.com and the reason for our existence was mentioned in the feature article written by the fabulous Luc Hatlestad, Senior Editor for 5280 Magazine.  The article entitled Primary Colors discusses the growing demand for quality education in the U.S. and for us here in Denver.

Here is how Luc begins his article and we couldn’t agree more:

Improving the way we educate our children has become an epic, and seemingly eternal, struggle throughout the country. In Colorado, however, it looks as if administrators, educators, and elected officials are actually making progress. Schools here are embracing technology and using it to create innovative ways to evaluate students, teachers, and schools. Politicians from both parties are spearheading state and national legislation to support the cause. And parents are more involved than ever in their kids’ education. • Even with the myriad efforts at improvement, there’s still plenty of work to be done, so this year we’ve turned our lens on where it all begins: elementary education. We’ve used some of this emerging technology to evaluate the area’s top public schools, and we’ve used good old-fashioned reporting to determine Denver’s best private options. We’ve explained how the new tools work, and how the new laws might begin to make a difference. And we’ve highlighted the efforts of two moms who’ve begun doing due diligence on schools on behalf of parents everywhere. As September dawns, school is once again in session, and we’ve got a head start on the impending deluge of homework. Have a read.

To see the ScoopToo.com portion of the article click here or go to 5280.com for the entire article.  You’ll also get a peek at the the ladies behind the scoop.

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It has been our discovery here at ScoopToo.com that we are not alone – that YOU are not alone.  The dark little secrets that we harbor about what-to-do-about-finding-the-right-school-for Johnny or Susie are, more often than not, running through the heads of the majority of parents of 4 year olds out there. Quite possibly the ambitious parents of 2 and 3 year olds as well.  These are people like us, who don’t have a stellar default school option just waiting with open doors to welcome your 5 year old.

Jennifer Holladay, the former Senior Adviser for Strategic Affairs at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and former director Teaching Tolerance tells us about her family’s Journey to Kindergarten.  Enjoy the read.  There is hope!

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