Parents Gone Wild-- School Registration Time

Is it a rave?

 

The line for Lady Gaga tickets?

 

Or . . . preschool registration?

 

Parents will do anything. Anything to get into a “good” preschool, elementary school, or secondary school.

 

Across the United States, it’s school registration time. Every January and February, preschools and choice public schools enroll new students on a first come, first serve or lottery basis. One specific registration day determines your child's fate - in or out of the school. So, if you want that school badly enough, sometimes it means camping out overnight. Or, camping out for two nights as are these parents in the photograph in Memphis, TN. They're trying to get a numbered application for an Optional Program within Memphis City Schools Suzanne Johnston explains.

 

School registration makes parents act like crazy Justin Beiber fans! 

 

“We gave a Catholic bribe every week for five years to get into Kindergarten.”
Barb Likos of Denver, CO

 

“After a surgery (ruptured ectopic pregnancy), I went to the evening meeting to enroll my son for preschool. My husband had overtime at work and therefore couldn't go for me. I have no family here so I was still sweating from my anemia following the internal hemorrhage but I took a cab and enrolled him.”
Caroline Boisvert of Belleview, WA

 

“Last year, the line formed at 9pm the day before the opening of our public elementary school registration, and the parents civilly waited in their cars outside. Around 5 am, someone decided that the line of cars in front of them was too long, and ran to the front doors to wait in line. The result: a stampede of parents panicking that their kid may not get in. This year, the line formed 2 days before the opening of registration, and the police stayed to control the chaos.”
Leann Warren of Nashville, TN

 

“I woke up at 4 am to wait in line for preschool for my then 16 month old, and walked into a room of half-awake dads who had slept there all night. It looked like a homeless shelter!”
Rachelle of Los Angeles, CA

 

This article from Education News shows parents from West Philidelphia camping overnight to get their child into a public kindergarten.

Then, one Colorado blogger says open enrollment is a game. 

What about you?

What's the craziest thing you’ve done to get your child into school? Can you top these stories?