Natural breaks are the best times to gamble on getting your choice, but sometimes it's best just to stay put.
By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published August 29, 2004
It's true that the "controlled choice" method of student assignment potentially offers parents more options in choosing schools for their children.
Under the old, "zoned school" method, children were simply assigned to a school, usually the one closest to their homes. Now, parents can list five schools within their attendance area on their choice attendance area application in hopes of getting either their first or second choice.
But two years into "controlled choice," one thing has become clear: The best opportunities for choosing a school occur when a child is first entering kindergarten or when he or she is moving from elementary to middle school or from middle to high school.
Students who attempt to change schools at other points - for example, between second and third grades or between ninth and 10th grades - need to think long and hard before entering choice. The very act of submitting an application means they give up the seat they currently hold. And there is no guarantee they will get any of their five choices, let alone their first or second choice.
In other words, they could end up at a less desirable school than the one they currently attend.
Students entering sixth or ninth grades also have to beware. Those who have extended grandfathering, which allows them to move to the middle or high school they would have attended under the zoned system, lose that option if they enter choice.
For example, a fifth-grader who has attended Seminole Elementary School without interruption since June 2001 automatically can attend Seminole Middle School (if she has not moved). But if she submits a choice application for other middle schools in Attendance Area B, she loses her grandfathering privilege to attend Seminole Middle School.
Why is this so? According to choice officials, allowing students to keep their existing seats while also applying for other choice school seats would give them control of two seats going into the choice computer lottery - the seat they have and the seat they seek.
For the same reason, students who currently attend a countywide magnet, fundamental or career academy program forfeit the seat in the act of applying for a choice attendance area school.
On the other hand, a student who currently attends a choice attendance area school can apply to a countywide magnet, fundamental or career academy program without jeopardizing his or her choice attendance area seat.
Why? Because the acceptance period for countywide programs - Dec. 1-10 - occurs before the choice computer lottery. When students accept a seat in a magnet, fundamental or career academy program, they are eliminated from consideration for a choice attendance area school. There is no way they can hold on to two seats when the choice lottery occurs, and therefore, no reason exists to forfeit their choice attendance area seat when they apply for the countywide program.
Using the same logic, students currently enrolled in one countywide program can apply to another countywide program without risk. The existing countywide seat would be forfeited only when the student accepts an invitation to another countywide seat.
The bottom line is that students with existing seats - whether they are in countywide programs or choice attendance area schools - gamble when they submit choice attendance area applications. They lose their existing seats. If they had extended grandfathering, they lose that, too.
This doesn't mean that parents with children currently enrolled in a public school should never make application to a different school. It simply means that they should weigh their options before making a decision to do so.
It also means that unless they are really and truly unhappy with the school their child currently attends, they might want to consider staying put.
