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Charlie sorts out choice, sort of

Follow a fictional student through "controlled," "open" and "Hillsborough choice."

By LETITIA STEIN
Published October 21, 2005

Confused about school choice? Try following this fictional story that illustrates how Hillsborough's school choice program works:

VALRICO - Once upon a time, say a year ago, a rising freshman at East Bay High wanted to attend another school. He liked Bloomingdale High's red, black and white colors. So he applied for a transfer under Hillsborough's "school choice" program.

The student, Choice Charlie, as we'll call him, didn't get far.

To understand why, consider that the rules governing school choice could make income tax forms read like the funny pages. And the choice plan keeps changing, as you will see.

Charlie is a smart kid. He logged on to the district's Web site (after the district was late in sending out a mailing to his parents last year).

Here's what he learned:

Charlie's house sits in what the district calls choice Region 5, which runs from west Brandon south to the county line. Under "controlled choice," as school bureaucrats called it last year, children can get free busing to schools inside their region.

In his region, Charlie could have chosen from three high schools: East Bay, Bloomingdale and Riverview.

In theory, at least.

In reality, new houses are jamming the streets around East Bay, Bloomingdale and Riverview highs. Principals are struggling to find seats just for the kids inside their school attendance boundaries.

Last year, the district decided there wasn't room for transfers under school choice. It closed all three schools to outside students like Charlie.

Charlie had no choices.

Then our Charlie read that the point of school choice was to help kids leave neighborhood schools so Hillsborough could end three decades of court-ordered busing to create racially balanced classrooms.

Charlie called the district in tears.

His parents called cursing.

Eventually, the district heard their argument. Midway through the year, Hillsborough changed the rules to create more choices.

The district created a new option, "open choice." Forget about regional zones, they said. Let students choose to attend any school with empty seats anywhere in the county. A lottery decides who gets the available spaces.

The catch: Parents are on the hook for transportation outside their region.

Charlie's parents laughed when their son proposed driving to a high school across the county. Both of them work. He doesn't drive yet. It wasn't an option.

District officials responded by pushing more pamphlets at them.

Along with "controlled" and "open" choice, Hillsborough offers magnet schools with specialized curricula.

And there is the granddaddy of escape clauses: Under special assignment, the district will consider any reason that a student should switch schools. If students have a good enough reason, such as a hardship, they even can get into crowded schools.

In his special assignment request, Charlie included a photograph of himself in a Bloomingdale High letter jacket.

School officials didn't find Charlie's case convincing. He was out of luck.

His story should have ended there. In the first two years of school choice, Hillsborough let suburban kids apply to schools only in kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades. In urban areas, children could apply at all grade levels.

But for the coming school year, all students entering kindergarten through 11th grade can apply for the various school choice options, which district officials now are calling by another name, "Hillsborough choice."

So Charlie has a second chance to apply to Bloomingdale High.

His parents are taking bets among friends: What are the odds that it devolves into another round of confusion?

- Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com

Without special permission, parents may not send their children to a school outside their attendance zone if that school is overcrowded. These are the schools in east Hillsborough that are overcrowded and closed to outside students:

Bevis, Boyette Springs, Brooker, Buckhorn, Cimino, Clair Mel, Cork, Cypress Creek, Folsom, Jackson, Knights, Lewis, Mintz, Nelson, Oak Park, Pizzo, Riverhills, Ruskin, Sheehy, Springhead, Summerfield, Symmes, Temple Terrace, Trapnell, Yates

Burns, Eisenhower, James, Jennings, Mulrennan, Randall, Sligh, Tomlin

Armwood, Brandon, Durant, Plant City, Riverview

- Source: Hillsborough County schools

[Last modified October 20, 2005, 10:29:05]