School Dilema

   As a parent I try not to be prejudice and to teach my children not to be prejudice, but lately I am noticing that Cade has segregated himself in his own classroom.  For some background...last year at this time I struggled for months on if I was going to have Cade go to Peachland because they bus most of the student population in from off of Newhall Avenue.  At the time my main worry was that Cade would be in a slower class because they teach to the class and if the class was not up to the academic level everyone would be going slower until they were.  Now it's not so much of a problem in Kindergarten, but as new students come in and the higher grade level it could be.  I had heard a few parents tell me that friends had pulled their kids out of Peachland's upper levels (5th and 6th grade) because of trouble at school with being picked on, but that was not as much of a concern for me.  After talking to many and deciding that not only is Newhall School Districts API scores the best in the valley, but because of the many lower income students Peachland is a title one school thus affording them more money for newer technology (like smart boards) and the plain fact that being exposed to different cultures would be good for my boys we decided to leave Cade in Peachland. 
   As the year began I thought I had made the right choice.  He has 2 hours with his teacher and 14 other students in the morning and then the late bird students come in for the last 1 and 1/2 hours of school with a class total at that time of 31.  His teacher is highly educated and even went to Mexico a couple of years ago so she could learn the language.  She has 2 Master degrees and has a special ed son, so she has the perfect personality and know how on how to deal with any kind of student she gets.  He loves his class and his teacher and even though I didn't see a lot of advancement towards reading my weekly volunteering visits have been both fun and informative for me.  My only concern since school started has been friends.  Cade has 31 one students in his class.  Of those 31 students 20 of them are bused in and are non-white.  Of those 31 students my son is friends with 2 of the 3 white girls in his class.   I would not care if all of his friends were the 20 bussed in non-white kids, but unfortunately they aren't.  When I asked him why he doesn't play with the other kids he simply said because. 
   I am saddened that my son, who had tons of friends at preschool all 4 years, has 2 now.  Now is the time of year that we start to register for Kindergarten and I am at the same point I was last year.  Are my kids better off at a school that has kids of the same socio-economic status and ethnicity as they do?  Do I leave them where they are, but in a couple of years when they are older I going to have to worry about these same kids beating up my kids?  It is a hard decision to make.  Made equally hard because I really love Cade's Kindergarten teacher and I really like both the principle and assistant principle.  I wish that they would stop busing in kids, but would that encourage more segregation when we should be teaching our kids to make friends with all and that everyone is created equal.