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Kids have a choice, unless it's too popular

School choice continues through Jan. 23, but Plant High, Gorrie Elementary, Wilson Middle and others are spoken for.

SOUTH TAMPA - A year ago, Plant High School was at 104 percent of its capacity. This year it's at 99 percent.

While the decrease gives everyone at Plant a little more breathing room, it hasn't changed the admission status: The school is still off-limits to students through the district's choice program.

Plant is one of several popular South Tampa schools that aren't accepting choice students for the 2006-07 school year because they are at or over capacity. Gorrie Elementary and Wilson Middle are also excluded, partly a result of lacking space to expand.

The district closes schools to choice when enrollment exceeds 95 percent capacity, said Steve Ayers, Hillsborough's pupil assignment director. It also prohibits choice students at schools undergoing renovations, such as DeSoto Elementary School in Palmetto Beach.

"We don't push schools over the edge for the purpose of choice and special assignment," Ayers said.

In Plant's case, enrollment dropped by 45 students from last year. At the same time, the state upped the capacity from 1,941 to 1,986.

Explaining to parents why their children can't get into a particular school can be difficult, said Pansy Houghton, a school choice supervisor. Some rant and swear.

"I understand their anger," said Houghton, who has processed 300 applications since enrollment opened Nov. 1. "But at Gorrie, there's no room at the inn. Wilson, look where it sits."

Many city schools are landlocked with no room to grow, she said. Still, "there are more South Tampa schools that are available than not."

In South Tampa, Coleman Middle School has gained the most choice students - 118 during the past two years. That includes students who had been bused to Coleman and opted to stay when court-ordered desegregation was replaced with choice last year.

Typically choice offers more options for younger children. About one-third of the county's schools were not on the list of schools available last year because of crowding. As a result, many parents complained that the choice plan offers few, if any, real choices.

Because few students took part in choice last year, the district opened it to students entering kindergarten through 11th grade. It had been limited to first-, sixth- and ninth-graders and all students in certain inner-city areas.

Enrollment for choice continues through Jan. 23. Students can apply to any school in their region and receive transportation to a few of them. For example, students assigned to Just Elementary could receive transportation to Grady, B.T. Washington or West Tampa elementaries.

The school choice plan began last fall. Instead of busing students to achieve racial and ethnic diversity at schools, the program allows students to pick a school outside their neighborhood.

A second phase of the program, called open choice, begins March 1 and allows students who provide their own transportation to choose from any remaining school in the district that has space.

Choice selections are subject to changes in transportation and limited school capacity.

"It's a lottery," Houghton said. "You're not guaranteed a spot."

- Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at edyer@sptimes.com or 813 226-3321.

Hillsborough students can apply for choice through Jan. 23 for the 2006-2007 school year. Here are schools that can accept choice students and those that cannot, and the state grades for each school in Region 1. The region includes Blake, Jefferson, Plant and Robinson high schools and the elementary and middle schools that feed into them.

Unavailable for choice - 2004-05 grades

DeSoto Elementary - C

Gorrie Elementary - A

Mabry Elementary - A

Mitchell Elementary - A

Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary - C

Wilson Middle - A

Blake High - C

Plant High - A

Available for choice

Anderson Elementary -B

Ballast Point Elementary -A

Chiaramonte Elementary -C

Dickenson Elementary -A

Grady Elementary -A

Just Elementary -F

Lanier Elementary -C

Roosevelt Elementary -A

Washington, B.T. Elementary -D

West Shore Elementary -A

West Tampa Elementary -C

Coleman Middle -A

Madison Middle -B

Monroe Middle -A

Jefferson High -C

Robinson High -C

Source: Hillsborough School District