Want to go to a school of choice?

Google Search that led someone to my blog:
Can a student be released from [local school district X] and go to a school of choice?

I don't think I've fully answered this question, so here is the short answer: You don't need to be "released," so to speak--there is no requirement that you go to public school in your school district. You could choose a private/parochial school, or a school of choice in a different school district--the requirement is that your child gets an education (and that includes the possibility of home schooling).

Depending on the school district you would like to opt into, you follow their enrollment/application guidelines. They can generally be found on the school district's web site. For instance, Lincoln Schools and Ypsilanti Schools have "schools of choice" buttons on their web site. (Although Ypsilanti's form and information is outdated, I think the procedure hasn't changed). I believe that they will notify your "last school" that you now have a new school. One other thing--typically, if your child has been suspended or expelled in the last two years it will not be so easy to switch them.

Note added 8/6/09: Here are the details from the state's web site.

H1N1 and Language

The Ann Arbor school district just came out with updated information about swine flu, aka Influenza A H1N1. While reading it, I noticed that the Superintendent's first letter has been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. (I guess those are the top five languages in the Ann Arbor schools for families whose first language is not English.) I'm glad they translated the letter.

It triggered two related thoughts.

1. The county web site has a widget at the bottom that allows you to click on a flag and do a translation into a lot more than five languages. It's not perfect, but it is pretty useful. And no, it's not on the AAPS web site. But it could be! I don't think it is very hard to add to the web pages.

2. If these are the top five languages, then why is Spanish the only one taught at all of the high schools? And why is Chinese only taught at Skyline? Why are we so focused on European languages? These non-European languages would be pretty useful. Want to know how many people speak Chinese, Arabic, and Japanese? A lot (but estimates vary).

And let's not even get into how these non-European languages could be a recruiting tool. [OK, let's get into it a little bit. For instance, they teach Japanese at Greenhills (private), and Arabic at Central Academy (charter). I'm not sure about the rest. If the primary or secondary reason you sent your child to Central Academy was to learn Arabic, and she or he could learn Arabic at Pioneer, would it change your mind?]

Attention! In-District Transfers Process Happening Now

A while ago I mentioned the in-district transfer policy. If you are not satisfied with the school you are districted to, and you didn't get into Ann Arbor Open (or that is not what you are looking for, or you are hedging your bets in case you don't get in), you do have another AAPS option if you live in the school district.

You would be forgiven if you thought the schools didn't really want to promote it. Like so many things, you need to know what to search for on the AAPS web site. And apparently this great option doesn't qualify as "news." And if you were looking for it, how would you know to call it the "Space-Available In-District Transfer Policy?"

EVEN THOUGH (yes, I'm shouting here) THE FIRST SET OF DEADLINES IS FRIDAY! MARCH 20. TWO DAYS FROM NOW. 5 p.m. To read the policy and get the application, click here.

I kid you not. Is this incompetence? Or are they trying to hide the policy?
Per the policy,
"Under the Space-Available In-District Transfer policy, families that live within the Ann Arbor Public School district may apply for a transfer from their assigned school (as defined by the Ann Arbor Public School Street Index) to one of the identified space-available schools. Families of students who receive these transfers are officially assigned to the requested school instead of their original school. If the transfer request is granted, students can stay for all grades offered at that school.

This year we will have two windows during which applications will be accepted and approved:
February 1 – March 20, 2009 with notification by the end of April
April 27 – May 29, 2009 with notification in June."

As of right now, these schools have openings.

Abbot	Eberwhite	Pattengill	Clague - 10 slots
Bach	Lakewood	Pittsfield	Forsythe - 10 slots
Bryant	Lawton K-1	Thurston	Scarlett - 10 slots
Carpenter	Logan	Wines K
Dicken K-4	Northside		Slauson - 10 slots

No high schools have openings via this policy. You can put up to 4 schools on your list.

The upshot is:
This is a good policy, and a lot of schools have openings! (More than half the elementary schools, most of the middle schools.)
I have friends who have used it, and been happier. Different schools do have different personalities.
This is a good policy, but it is being poorly publicized. The question is, why?

Skyline, Community: What Does It Mean?

As noted in the comments, the Skyline enrollment lottery list is posted. So: over 215 students applied to Skyline, over 365 students applied to Community. Does this mean, then, that Community is much more popular than Skyline? At this point, without knowing where kids are applying from, it's a little hard to say. After all, 1/3 of the district students are automatically districted to Skyline. So they don't need to apply to the lottery. If they did, maybe the ratio would be more like 330:365, with a slight edge to Community.

What appears to be true is that a lot of kids--though not all--are applying to both schools. (And their chances are better of getting into Skyline.) And some of them are also applying to Greenhills, Gabriel Richard, etc. Is this to avoid Huron or Pioneer? Or because Community and Skyline are a draw? I'm sure there is some of both.

Community High List is posted

A very large number of kids applied this year. At least 367 kids were in the lottery! They accepted 120. See the pdf here. I think this is more than last year. I wonder whether more kids are applying from the Huron, Pioneer, or Skyline geographic districts? Does the fact that there are two choices (three, actually: home school, Community, and if you are not in the Skyline district, Skyline) make more kids want to enter the lottery? Is there more dissatisfaction with other schools? Is the economy having an impact (i.e., kids who would have gone to private school can't)? Wow.

Good News, Bad News: AAPS Budget Forums Update

First, the good news: If you missed the AAPS Budget Forums, a) the powerpoints are scheduled to be posted on-line at the AAPS web site next week (no, they are not up yet) and
b) the Ann Arbor Chronicle has posted a fabulous summary of the Tuesday meeting, found here. I think it's the next best thing to being there. (Thank you, Mary Morgan!)

The bad news is, of course, the looming deficit. I like some of the ideas that were presented. Per the Chronicle article:

Those options include lobbying state legislators and the governor, increasing student enrollment, raising more funds through private donations, and passing a countywide educational “enhancement” tax.

In particular, I hope to focus on the first two areas. Proposal A is broken, what can we fix? And as far as student recruitment goes, well, personally, I believe there is a lot we can do. I think the AAPS estimate of 1200 students in the school district who go to private or charter schools, or are home schooled, is a LOW estimate. (I know, you might think that saying that over 7% of kids in the district not being in the public schools is high, but based on the cohort of people that I know, and particularly in the elementary school population, those numbers are low.) But hey--that is a problem that has the potential for being solved.

Some of the comments following the Chronicle article are interesting. One thing that I notice in the comments is a lot of union- and teacher-bashing. The fact that people are the largest expense of the district perhaps makes that a natural, BUT--people--yes, teachers, aides, bus drivers, principals, and even lunch workers--are also what power the district. Another set of grousing comments focus on the creation of Skyline. I'm pretty sure that Skyline is already a good thing, but more on that another time.

AAPS Schools of Choice Update

The list of students who are going into the Community High School lottery is up, here. (Check by student number, and if you think you are not on the list, but should be, call right away, because Monday at 3 p.m. is the moment that lottery results are posted.) It's a long list, it looks like chances of getting in are about 1 in 3. But somebody has to be lucky!

Skyline High School has a note up that more than 125 students have applied for the out-of-Skyline-district spots, so there will be a lottery. (No word on how many kids have applied, and no list is up. To confirm that you are on the list, I suggest you call them directly.)

Ann Arbor Open School has two more orientation sessions so you still have a little time. You have to go to an orientation session to have your child considered for the lottery. Here are the dates:
Saturday, March 14, 10-11:30 a.m., Parent Orientation
Sunday, March 22, 2-3:30 p.m., Parent Orientation
(You will also need a classroom visit.) More information about the process is here.

So--Skyline opens, and both Skyline and Community have more kids who want to get in, than there are spots. Proving...people like to have a choice.

Why Kindergarten Roundup Is Completely Inadequate

True Story:
As a conscientious parent of an almost 3 year old, looking for good child care, I visited several day cares. Armed with a list of questions, and my child, I settled in, observing the setting and the providers. I had read several articles that said that when "entrusting my child," I should be inquisitive and make sure the setting was right.
Fast forward a few years, and I'm ready to start looking for a kindergarten. I find out that in the AAPS (at least the school I was districted to), "we don't schedule" classroom visits--although I could meet the principal and get a tour if I liked. I had always thought of myself as pro-public school, but I start to have some doubts. (Are they hiding something?)
I consider a local parochial school. I get to meet the principal (she seemed burned out--in fact she was retiring). And so if I had stopped with the principal, I wouldn't have given the place a second look. But I got to visit the first grade, and the second grade. I got to talk to some fabulous teachers. I was told I could be considered for financial aid. And their foreign language program was an immersion program.
My favorite years of school were at an alternative school, so we also looked at Ann Arbor Open (then Bach Open). We got an orientation. We got to visit the classrooms. And then we got in. My husband felt strongly we should try it. I tried it, and I liked it. But if not for that, my family trajectory might have taken me out of the public schools for a long time.

Think I'm alone? I don't think so. Every year, parents in the Ann Arbor school district choose to send their kids to private, parochial, or charter schools. Schools which they were allowed to visit, in depth, and see in action. And principal visits alone are not enough. My reaction to the private school principal (poor) was overshadowed by the great reaction I had to the teaching staff.
The Ann Arbor Public Schools could do a lot better with recruiting, if they just believed that they were put there to serve the families of Ann Arbor, and let people who are not yet in the school system see all the good things that are going on. In that context, Kindergarten Roundup is a joke. Ann Arbor Open should not be the only school that lets me see the classrooms. Let me meet the teachers. Open Houses, anyone? Parent visits to classrooms? Aren't they a small amount of extra work that is completely worth the years of per-pupil funding? For those of us with more than one child, as the first goes, the rest will likely follow.

Trolling for students

Both the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti schools are advertising in the Ann Arbor Chronicle. I have to admit, I like the Ypsilanti advertising theme better--"Strong from start to finish." They also are advertising their Open Houses. I appreciate that you could actually go and look at the schools during the Ypsilanti Open Houses.

The AAPS theme is "Exceptional Leadership," but they don't say what makes them exceptional. (In addition, the AAPS refers to Forsythe Elementary in one of the ads--so their proofreading is certainly not exceptional.)

All that said--ads are just ads. Shop around. Which would be easier if all of the Ann Arbor schools, not just Ann Arbor Open, had Open Houses. With classrooms open, and teachers present. What would it take?

AAPS: Don't you know I'm a Major Donor?

A large chunk of the Ann Arbor Public Schools funding comes from its per-pupil allocation. Every child in the schools is worth over $9600--for that year--to the AAPS. So if I enroll my child, in kindergarten, in the Ann Arbor schools, and I stick with them for the next 13 years, I have effectively given the Ann Arbor schools $125,000 (more, if the per-pupil allowance goes up at all). Leaving aside the fact that I am trusting the schools with my most precious kids, this donation makes me, by the standards of any non-profit, a VMD (Very Major Donor).
Now any fundraiser can tell you that the path to raising money from a donor is based on a) developing relationships and b) getting buy-in for the cause. And that's why many potential donors get wined and dined.
If you figure that I might have more than one child (say, 3, because that's how many I've got)--I am now worth a whopping $375,000 (minimally) to the schools. And if I don't "buy in" to the schools, they have lost that money. And if I choose not to send my first child to the AAPS, then most likely my others will not follow either.
So--if I'm a new potential parent--will I get wined and dined? Will I get to see what's going on? There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, the answer is no. What will I get? I will get...Kindergarten Roundup! (And yes, the first one starts tonight.) That I find this totally inadequate is hopefully apparent. More about why it's inadequate, coming soon.

Ann Arbor Open and Community High School

'Tis the season. Open Houses and Orientations. Here are the links to the information for Ann Arbor Open and Community High School. Both schools run lotteries to get in. Both schools have class sizes that are targeted to match the average district class size. Both schools require orientations to go there. No, there is no "automatic in" if you went to AAO, to get into CHS. (Nor do I think there should be.

And if you are looking for high schools? Well, Skyline also has a lottery for kids outside the Skyline district. And maybe you want to consider being a non-traditional high school student at (gasp) a Charter school. I don't automatically recommend them, but it seems like Washtenaw Technical Middle College, located at Washtenaw Community College, is worth looking at. (For more detail, click on the Admissions Process link.)

In any case--it is good to shop around. Remember, as Sy Syms used to say, "An educated consumer is our best customer." (You don't remember that ad? I guess I'm dated.)