Choice application begins today

For Pinellas County public school families, the choice application process officially begins today.

The new choice plan, which replaces neighborhood zoning, begins in 2003-04, but families must make their choices this fall. The system of assigning students to schools is changing because the school district settled a lawsuit with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and agreed to slowly end court-ordered busing for desegregation.

Under choice, a family can apply for an "attendance area school" that serves the part of the county where the family lives. Or a family can apply for a countywide magnet or fundamental school, a charter school or a special attendance permit for a school in another part of the county.

Different choices require different applications.

All applications are available beginning today in schools and two Family Education and Information Centers, 3420 Eighth Ave. S in St. Petersburg and 1101 Marshall St. in Clearwater. The centers are open 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday.

Magnet and fundamental school applications are due Oct. 15. Choice applications must be returned in person to a family center by Dec. 13. (Declaration of intent forms, which were mailed to current students, also are due Dec. 13, though the district would prefer they be returned by Oct. 1.)

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