Crap schools vs decent schools

Little man is starting Kindergarten this fall. The school we're zoned for, to put it bluntly, sucks. We applied for a magnet program instead...denied. We applied for reassignement...denied. The district seems intent on keeping us in the crappy school. I've been back and forth with our home school all week asking for a school tour. I made it clear I wanted to see a few classrooms during the tour too. I'm asking for what a majority of the decent schools in the district offer parents freely and readily.

I spoke to the principal today and I suspect that she has misinterpreted my request for a tour. She seems to be under the misguided notion that I am asking for a kidney, or perhaps her left lung. I'm very aggravated with the school. She didn't appreciate my pointing out that they haven't met AYP with No Child Left Behind. I was simply stating fact. She acted like I was asking for special treatment. No, I think all parents should be given what I'm asking for without question. Schools should operate with transparency and parents should be welcomed with open arms rather than pushed away. I plan on reporting that to the district too. I'm left wondering what she is so worried about; what does she have to hide.

Edited to add: We did end up getting that school tour we had been requesting. The building is brand new (which I had already known) so it's nice and clean. But I was not terribly impressed with what I saw in the kindergarten classes. Little Man is just completing pre-k but is mentally and intellectually about a year ahead of the kids we saw.

Teacher: Class, what is today's date?
Class (all together): Wednesday, May..............16th?..................30th?...............Ummmmm.....
Little Man (stated firmly and with conviction): Today is Wednesday, May 28th.

Teacher: What letter does the word "pig" start with?
Kindergarten student (whispering, looking to the floor and shuffling feet): Ummm, W?.......Ummm, T? Ummm............................
Little Man (shouting): P! Pig starts with P!

I don't think Little Man is necessarily "gifted" or the next Boy Genius. He's a kid of average or maybe a bit above average intelligence. But we encourage and nurture education in our home and he's gotten a fantastic start at his preschool. He's going in ahead of the curve. If he ended up in our home school we would be doing him a disservice. He would be bored out of his skull and would end up wreaking havoc in his class.

The tour however wasn't for naught. The silver lining was toward the end, just before we left. The woman in charge of curriculum, who brought us on the tour, gave us a packet of registration paperwork. Included in it was a request for reassignment for school choice, based on the fact that they haven't met AYP. (They are required by the district to give everyone that paper.) I almost did a cartwheel when I saw that! That was the paper I've wanted for the past month.

Nope, Little Man will not be attending school there.