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School shows, tells; parents take notes
By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
Ryan Murphy took a minute to size up his audience Thursday night before tossing out a question. "How many eighth-graders do I have in the room?" he asked. About 30 young people raised their hands. "How many eighth-graders are excited about going to high school?" Murphy asked. Less than a third of the hands went up. Murphy, a senior in the Business, Economic, Technology Academy at Gibbs High School, spent the next 10 minutes getting the students fired up. He spoke to their parents as well, describing how the career academy blends business and technology with academics. The 17-year-old was one of several presenters at the school's discovery night, an informal open house attended by about 125 students and parents. It was the first in a series of presentations that will be held by public schools countywide between now and November to help parents make choices for the 2003-04 school year. Formerly the province of magnet and fundamental schools, discovery nights, along with school tours, are geared this year toward helping parents pick schools for their children under the district's new choice plan. They have until Oct. 15 to apply for a spot in a magnet or fundamental school or a career academy. They can apply until Dec. 13 to a school in one of the county's four elementary attendance areas or three middle school zones. The whole county is one zone for high schools. (See "Choice Dates" box.) "Parents may talk to other folks who have children in school, but it's the feeling you get when you walk through a school that can really help guide parents in a very important way," said Andrea Zahn, the marketing coordinator for the choice plan. "It gives them an opportunity to interact with school personnel and ask many of the questions they wonder about, such as how is academic achievement measured and what is a typical day like." Discovery nights last an hour to two hours. Each school chooses its own format, but the sessions usually include presentations from students and faculty. Students, especially at the middle and high school levels, are encouraged to come with their parents so they can be part of the decision making, Zahn said. School tours are held during the day so parents can see what happens at a school while the children are there. They last from a half-hour to an hour and are given to one set of parents or a group. Administrators are expecting more tour requests than usual this year, so they are asking parents to pick a date and call ahead to make sure there will be room for them. In past years, most requests for school tours at Melrose Elementary came from parents of kindergarteners or those interested in the magnet program, said magnet coordinator Cara Walsh. Most tours were conducted just prior to the magnet application deadline. "The time line is totally different this year," Walsh said. "We're starting to get requests for tours daily." She recommends that parents try to imagine their child in the environment when she conducts a tour. She directs their attention to how the classrooms are set up and how students and teachers interact. She urges them to make a decision that will result in a good fit not only for their child but for the entire family. Finding the right fit was uppermost on Janis Green's mind Thursday night when she attended the BETA program's discovery night with her daughter, Amanda. In the next few weeks, she and Amanda, an eighth-grader at John Hopkins Middle School, plan to attend discovery nights at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs, the Center for Health and Wellness at Boca Ciega High, the 21st Century Learning Center and Teaching Arts Academy at Largo High and the Criminal Justice Academy at Pinellas Park High. "She told me 'This is great, this is perfect,' " Green said. "But I told her we need to keep looking to make sure."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
