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Today is deadline to choose a school in Pinellas
By KELLY RYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
Today is your last chance to choose a Pinellas County public school for 2003-04. If you don't, the district will choose for you. It doesn't matter if your child already attends Pinellas schools, is entering kindergarten or leaving a private school. All students must fill out paperwork by the end of today. Most students already have finished the process -- more than 86,000. How many still have to choose? The district doesn't know. In August, 103,000 current students were mailed choice paperwork. But last year, about 8,000 students left the school district during the first semester. Plus, piles of choice forms have been filled out by parents and returned to the district, but are waiting to be typed into the computer. District officials cannot estimate how many private or home school students want to enroll next year, but they do expect about 8,000 incoming kindergarteners. They haven't counted how many kindergarteners have applied, but they say dozens are visiting family centers each day. That was true Thursday. The Family Education and Information Centers were so jam-packed that in St. Petersburg it took up to 10 minutes waiting in line just to sign in. Some parents had heard it would take so long they should bring snacks and a drink. But most parents came prepared and patient. "They've been very understanding even though there are so many people here," said center coordinator Sharon McCallister. "Even though we look like we're going crazy." The school choice plan has its roots in a 1971 federal court order that required cross-county busing to desegregate schools. In 1998, U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday urged the School Board to come up with a plan to operate desegregated schools without court oversight. Board members ultimately decided to negotiate an end of the court case with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, whose 1964 lawsuit led to the court order. Months of secret negotiations resulted in a settlement that Merryday approved in August 2000. That settlement covered a wide array of issues, including student achievement, the availability of extracurricular activities and minority hiring. The component that has drawn the most public attention -- and controversy -- is a new choice plan that replaces traditional neighborhood zoning. The settlement requires that the district begin a school choice plan. Why choice, when most parents seem to want schools in their neighborhoods? In Pinellas, most black families and white families live in different neighborhoods. So, a true neighborhood zoning system would immediately produce all-white and all-black schools. Choice, with racial controls for four more years, provides some hope that schools will remain integrated when ratios are eliminated. District officials have tried to remind parents of that history as they've gone through the first application process. But it's been lost amid questions, anger and worry about how the new system will affect kids. That anxiety was obvious Thursday at St. Petersburg's family center, across the street from Gibbs High School. Claudine Reece's son is entering kindergarten next year, and she wants him to attend Gulf Beaches Elementary because it's close to home. She likes the word "choice" but she doesn't like being a guinea pig. The whole process makes her anxious. "I feel like I am trying to get him into Harvard," she said as a district administrator checked her son's application packet. "I'm picturing my son in a school full of kids who got dumped there, in a school nobody wants." Some parents, like Reece, got in and out of the center in 20 or 30 minutes. Cheri Morris of Pinellas Park waited three hours Thursday morning, then had to return because she didn't know she needed her child's birth certificate. She was sorry she had waited until the second-to-last day. "I am a procrastinator," she admitted. "I work a lot. I just didn't have time with Christmas and everything." Parent questions were numerous and complicated. There were grandparents raising kids, parents involved in custody disputes and parents who didn't understand rules about attendance areas and magnet schools. Some wanted to know if tax bills or passports could substitute for other official documents. Some annoyed parents remembered filling out choice paperwork but had gotten calls or letters from the district saying they didn't. Some didn't realize they needed to list five choices, so they used cell phones to call friends for advice. By 4:30 p.m., Clearwater's family center had helped about 450 parents. Leslie Braam of Clearwater has a son entering a special education kindergarten program. She arrived at the center frustrated because she returned her forms in October and found out last week the district didn't have her paperwork. "I did all this and they lost it," she said. Braam left a half-hour later with a smile on her face. "She straightened it out for me," Braam said of a family center employee. Charles Maggio found the process smooth and the family center employees helpful and friendly. But the Clearwater contractor said he would have rather been working. Anything involving your children, he explained, is stressful. "My children don't realize what they put me through," Maggio said. "I am too old for this." Said choice communicator coordinator Andrea Zahn: "You're telling me." -- Times staff writer Lorri Helfand contributed to this report. When is the deadline?The deadline is 7 p.m. today. Who must apply?All students who want to attend Pinellas schools next fall. Most have turned in applications, but thousands still have not. Where can parents apply and get more information?Family Education and Information Center at PTEC 3420 Eighth Ave. S, St. Petersburg 552-1595 Family Education and Information Center at Robinson Challenge 1101 Marshall St., Clearwater 298-2858 When are the centers open?8 a.m. to 7 p.m. What paperwork do parents need to complete an application for a student who is new to the district?Bring the student's original birth certificate, the student's Social Security number and proof of residence. If a child is entering grades 1-12, also bring a recent report card. How do current students apply?If you are filing a declaration of intent, take it to the school by dismissal today or to a family center by 7 p.m. It can also be faxed to student assignment by 4:30 p.m. at 588-5171. If you are mailing the declaration, it needs to be postmarked by today. But if you are turning in a choice application in hopes of changing schools, that must be hand-delivered to a family center by 7 p.m. today.
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