New rules ask more of the parents of students aiming for a magnet, fundamental or career academy program.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published December 24, 2003
The process of snagging a seat at a magnet, fundamental or career academy program in Pinellas County just got a little more complicated.
Parents are already dealing with an automated phone system, keeping track of multiple deadlines, and in many cases making trips to the various programs to drop off documentation for entry into these highly sought after seats.
Now the wait list is harder, too.
Until this year, the school would call students on a wait list to say their numbers had come up. The students could say yes, and the process was pretty much done. They were in.
Not this year.
That call is just the first step in getting off the wait list and into the school. Once they say yes - they typically have 24 hours to decide - they then must go to the school itself to pick up a letter documenting what has just happened.
Then, in most cases within two days, they must pick up the letter from the school and deliver it to a Family Education and Information Center. There are only two in the county. That way the student's decision is documented by a central computer system.
Failure to do so within the deadlines means - you guessed it - you lose the spot.
Choice spokeswoman Andrea Zahn explained the reason for the extra step.
"On Feb. 3, 2003, the process of assigning students to schools was removed from the schools and given to the family centers," she said. "The family centers control the student assignment process now, whereas as last year, while we were in the application process, they did not control it."
In other words, last year when a student came off a wait list, the individual schools could simply add the student to their registration rolls. This year, all student assignments, whether they are at attendance area schools or magnet and fundamental schools, are made through the district's student assignment department.
Why must a parent pick up the letter from the school and personally deliver it to the family center?
"Some things, like changes of address, have to be done in person," Zahn said. "There are some things we may tweak and change, and that may be one of them."
But overall, she sees no problem in requiring parents to make the extra trip.
"For the parents who want to apply to these programs, that little step is nothing," she said. "That's really not something that I view as an inconvenience."
Magnet and fundamental schools traditionally have been the most popular programs in the district. During the application period for the 2004-05 school year, which ran from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, 11,525 applications were received from 5,477 students for approximately 3,000 seats.
The number of students who apply is always less than the number of applications because many students apply to more than one program. When students accept a seat in one program, their invitation to any other program is automatically discounted, freeing up a seat. Additional seats open up because not all parents respond to their invitations.
Typically, the wait lists move quite a bit at the high school level. High school lists in south Pinellas move the fastest because their programs generate the greatest amount of competition in terms of multiple applicants to more than one program.
But the lists move much slower, and in some cases, hardly at all, at the elementary level. An extremely popular elementary magnet or fundamental school's list may not move at all.
At St. Petersburg High School, for example, 45 seats opened up for the International Baccalaureate program when the school's wait list began to "move." At Perkins Elementary School, only 10 seats became available.
Linda McPheron, St. Petersburg High's IB coordinator, said that most of the parents who were called last week and told their children had moved up on the wait list were thrilled to be invited and willingly came to pick up their letters. But the extra step added another complication in a process that already was more confusing than it has been in the past, she said.
"Parents were still calling up to the last minute on Friday to find out about the wait list," she said. "We couldn't tell them their status because we were waiting for the list to come from another source - the family education center - to find out which parents had made the final acceptance."
Pat Archibald, magnet coordinator at Perkins Elementary School, said she received a memo from the district last week informing her of the extra step. She passed on the new instruction to the 10 parents who had moved up on the school's wait list and were offered seats.
"Luckily, our parents have responded very quickly," she said. "In all honesty, if they think it means they're going to get a spot at Perkins, they're willing to do it. But it's really hard on parents who don't have the time to do this."
Like McPheron, Archibald continued to receive calls from parents who wanted to know their wait list status. A few of them had received invitations from other schools and wanted to know if there was any hope they could still be invited to Perkins.
While the family center had been consistent in sending her a list of parents who had dropped off their letters and had been assigned to the school, there was no way to know if any new spots had opened up until she received the final list on Friday.
McPheron and administrators at other schools that had a larger number of wait list openings will not know if they can invite more students until January.
At least one parent wishes she would be asked to pick up a letter and revisit a family center. For the second year, Helene Bush completed applications for her daughter Courtney to attend Perkins Elementary School and Pasadena, Bay Vista and Pasadena fundamental elementary schools. For the second year, the child holds wait list numbers at all four schools. None of them have called her.
"I'd have to miss time from work, but I'd do it," she said. "If you really want it, you'll be willing to jump through hoops."
Getting in
Magnet and fundamental schools are among the most sought-after ones in the school district. The application deadline has long passed, and the waiting period - is my child moving up the wait list or not? - has begun. Now, all student assignment is ultimately done centrally, which adds several steps to each student's workload in applying. There is phone work and leg work - and more. Even after getting the call that a child is off the wait list, parents have more work to do. Here is a breakdown of each step of application and acceptance, comparing the old way, the new way - and, as a point of comparison, what's involved in applying to Harvard.
The old way
1. Pick up the application or print it out.
Obtain a countywide application from the district's Web site, a Family Education and Information Center or the school to which you want to apply.
2. Turn it in.
Complete the application and return it to the school along with any documentation necessary for the program, that is, the child's grades and test scores.
3. Wait for the letter.
Wait for a letter from the school offering your child a seat or a wait list spot. Accept the invitation or the wait list spot by Nov. 20 in order to keep it.
4. Wait some more, then make the call.
Wait for a phone call from the school informing you that your child has moved up on the wait list and is eligible for a seat. Call back within 24 hours if you want to accept the spot.
5. Drive to the center.
If your child is new to the district, go to a Family Education and Information Center and register him once you know he has a spot in a countywide program.
The new way
1. Drive to the center.
If your child is new to the district, go to a Family Education and Information Center and register him. You need proof that your child is eligible to attend school in Pinellas County.
2. Draft your application.
There was only one way to apply: by automated phone system. But the set-up was so complicated that the district strongly encouraged people to complete a draft application on paper so the script was set before phoning it in. Scripts for countywide programs were available on the district's Web site.
3. Make the call.
Call the automated phone application line to submit the application during the application period for countywide programs that ended Nov. 1.
4. Drive to the school.
In many cases, the phone call wasn't enough. Students needed to demonstrate they qualified for the program and needed to deliver any documentation the program requires to the school before the application deadline.
5. Make another call.
Call the automated phone line during the countywide acceptance period (Dec. 1-10) to see if your child has been offered a spot or put on a waiting list for one of the programs. Accept a seat, if one is offered, before the acceptance period ends or you will lose it.
6. Wait, then hurry up and call.
Wait for a phone call from the school informing you that your child has moved up on the wait list and is eligible for a seat. Generally, you have 24 hours to call the school if you want to accept the spot.
7. Drive to the school one more time.
Go to the school and pick up a letter verifying that your child has moved off the wait list and has been offered the seat. The school can print out the letter, but officials there cannot officially enroll the student in the program. So, it's back to the family education center.
8. Drive to the center one more time.
Typically, take the letter to a Family Education and Information Center within two days of being informed that your child has come off the wait list to keep the spot. They use the letter to enter information into a central computer. That tells the school where you picked up the letter that you're really in the program after all.
9. Call the school to make sure you're really in.
For good measure, check back with the school that offered your child the seat and make sure it's a done deal.
How to apply to Harvard University:
1. Do the paperwork.
Complete an application.
2. Send the documentation and the check.
Provide official score reports from the SAT I or ACT and three SAT II subject tests; a secondary school report and a midyear school report completed by a school counselor or college adviser; and two teacher evaluations and mail it with a check for $60 made out to Harvard's Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.
3. Wait for the good news.
An acknowledgement of receipt of the materials should come within four weeks of submitting the application.
