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Are application procedures too confusing?

By DONNA WINCHESTER
Published February 11, 2007

Once again, applications to magnet, fundamental and career academy programs have topped 11,000. That means that as usual, many children who applied for the coveted seats will end up on waiting lists.

Still, applications were down about 200 from last year. When applications to the special programs fell by 2,000 year before last, district officials theorized that parents were becoming increasingly satisfied with attendance area schools and no longer felt the same urgency to apply to a magnet, fundamental or career academy program.

But the magnet coordinator at one of the most popular schools worries there may be another reason for this year's decline.

"A lot of parents have been confused because some of the applications were done by phone and some were on paper," said Perkins Elementary's Pat Archibald. "I don't know when applying for schools became so complex."

Archibald is referring to the fact that while parents could apply by phone for countywide programs, the six "attendance area" magnets required a paper application. And while parents from St. Petersburg to Tarpon Springs could apply to the countywide programs, only parents in south Pinellas and parts of the beaches could apply to the attendance area magnets.

"It's almost impossible for people to break the code," Archibald said.

What could be more troubling is that parents submitted only about 500 to 600 applications for the six attendance area magnets combined, according to Jim Madden, the district official in charge of the choice plan. Kindergarten enrollment alone at the six schools this year is 620, which indicates that either many seats will be empty next year, or that the district will fill those seats with students who did not enter the application process.

Despite the slight decline in applications to the countywide programs, a recent survey conducted by the Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment and Measurement at the University of South Florida indicated that Pinellas parents are still keen on special programs. More than 62 percent of the respondents said they would be more likely to send their child to a school with a magnet program.

Fewer said they would be likely to send their child to a fundamental school. But more than 70 percent of black parents and 65 percent of white parents said they would be interested in sending their child to a career academy program.

One thing is certain. Many parents throughout the district are anxiously awaiting Feb. 22, when they will be able to call back into the district's automated phone system to see if their child has been invited to a magnet, fundamental or career academy program.

In the meantime, the schools are busy compiling lists of who will be invited based on the random computer match the district ran after the application period ended last weekend.

Many schools already have sorted out which students are eligible for sibling preference and have put them at the top of their lists. Once the district tells them how many children they can accept at each grade level, they'll fill the rest of the openings.

Donna Winchester can be reached at 893-8413 or winchester@sptimes.com.

[Last modified February 11, 2007, 00:26:14]