Racial balancing and stricter rules have kept St. Petersburg's newest middle school from its enrollment target.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published June 8, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - While the district's two new elementary schools have made enrollment gains since March, its newest middle school still struggles to attract students.
District officials pegged Thurgood Marshall's enrollment at 361 as of late Thursday. The 154,000-square-foot school, built at a cost of $19.5-million, was designed for well more than 1,000 students.
Unlike Sanderlin and Jamerson elementaries, where the district could assign students to open seats after the choice application deadline, Thurgood Marshall Middle School has had to find other solutions.
The reason? As a fundamental school, it requires parents to sign a contract agreeing to sign off on homework assignments and attend parent-teacher conferences. Students must follow a dress code and adhere to a strict disciplinary code. It would be disastrous, officials agreed, to assign children to such a school.
The original computer program, which the district ran in February, matched 544 students to the school. Almost 400 - 73 percent - were black, at odds with a federal court order that caps African-American enrollment at 42 percent.
The district had to bring the numbers into compliance. Rather than assign nonblack children to the school, administrators decided in March to "rematch" the students, backing 258 black children out of the system. The ratio decreased to a more acceptable 45.5 percent, but the school was left with only 310 students.
The challenge then became finding enough nonblack students who would come to the school, not only to make it possible for 95 black students to come off the waiting list, but to fill the building.
The district's major recruiting effort has been to contact nonblack students on waiting lists at Bay Point and John Hopkins middle schools and Southside Fundamental School, said Kathy Walker, director of student assignment. Interested students were told they could come to Marshall without jeopardizing their place on the wait lists.
Parents in Attendance Area A who made no choice, or those who were unhappy with the assignment the district gave them, were invited to send their children to Marshall, Walker said. Additionally, the Family Education and Information Center did its best to inform parents of nonblack children who were new to the district that there were seats for them at Marshall.
It is not possible to say exactly where the children came from, choice director Jim Madden said, but since March, one black child and 50 nonblack children have been placed at the school.
Next week, the district will send letters to children on wait lists in Attendance Area B. They will need a special attendance permit to attend Marshall because it is an Attendance Area A school, Walker said, but they will be eligible for transportation from the closest bus stop if a seat is available on a bus going to Marshall.
Despite the lure of a ride - students attending countywide fundamental schools must secure their own transportation - Walker said she doesn't know how many parents in Attendance Area B will respond.
"The burden of either having the child go to a bus stop combined with the later start and end dates of middle school could make it problematic for parents," Walker said.
Still, district officials are optimistic about finding more children to fill the school before August. Shelby Harvey, director of middle school instruction, is counting on at least 400.
That's how many students are needed to raise the elective offerings to four, Harvey said. She and principal Joan Minnis have already chosen Spanish, music, art and computer education.
"Naturally, when we get to be 1,000, we'll have more electives," Harvey said. "We expect that to happen over a three-year period."
In the meantime, Minnis is moving forward with plans for several orientation-open house sessions in mid July. Students will have a chance to review course offerings and select school colors. Parents can meet teachers and tour the school. Students and parents also will sign their fundamental school agreements at that time.
Regardless of how many students she has on the first day, Minnis said she plans to use the facility as it was designed, spreading out to use the entire building. She also plans to capitalize on the natural excitement generated by a new school.
"You can't detract from that, whether there are 300 students or 1,000 students," she said.
