The playing field for getting into a magnet school could get a lot tougher for next school year.
As noted in today's article, school board members are talking about changing the selection criteria for magnet schools. Options that have been proposed include reducing the percentage of seats that are randomly filled and capping the number of students that could leave each school.
A sizable number of prospective magnet applicants could be affected by either change.
For instance, the selection criteria used this year seriously limited applicants who were trying to leave schools that were at least 40 percent F&R and no more than 85 percent of capacity. That's a big group that includes 45 of the 99 elementary schools.
Folks in those categories weren't even considered for 90 percent of the openings at each school. They were only considered, along with whoever was still looking for a seat, for the final 10 percent of seats.
Let's say they reduce the percentage of randomly filled seats to 5 percent, as suggested by school board member Lori Millberg.
According to the most recent magnet selection results, 80 of 436 applicants were accepted into Fuller Elementary School. If it was reduced to five percent, only 4 seats would have been randomly filled with potentially as many as 360 applicants in the pool.
It's already tough enough getting into a magnet school. For instance, only 10 people trying to leave Barwell Road Elementary got accepted into a magnet school this year while 106 were rejected. The school was among the group that was only considered for the final 10 percent of vacancies because of its high F&R rate.
Click here to see how many students were accepted and rejected into magnet elementary schools this year by base school.
Click here to look at the crowding and poverty percentages at each school to see who could be affected by a reduction in randomly filled seats.
It's uncertain how a cap would be applied.
The board will likely decide around the February magnet application period whether to make any changes.
Comments
I'm surprised that you
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 15:09 — jenmanI'm surprised that you didn't get in Angela. It seems like Leesville is one of those schools that they consider too low F&R wise so they *want* base people to leave for magnets.
The whole selection system is screwed up and is a joke. On their website, WCPSS states that magnet applicants are accepted through a “random computerized process” using the following criteria: meeting the application deadline, transportation patterns, siblings, school capacity, classroom capacity, diversity, and present magnet status of the applicant.
There is absolutely NOTHING about this process that is random. The only thing that is random is the selection of applicants within each round (if there aren't enough seats for all applicants of that round). It all comes down to the crowding factor and F&R of your base school and the F&R percentage of your own assignment node. That is it. Those are the only 3 criteria that are used to determine whether you get in or not.
Good grief I regret moving here. Love Raleigh, love NC, the weather is beautiful, the people are wonderful, but should not have moved to Wake County unless I was prepared to fork over the $$ for private school.
here's the thing, it was
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 15:38 — AngelaWhere's the thing, it was with my oldest and our "base" schools were different then, we weren't where we are now....we used to be (at one time) Jeffrey's Grove then Lead Mine, then Carroll for both for MS. He was in private, k-3, can't do that anymore not for three of them....we moved to Leesville area ...
It is a HUGE regret moving back, although I wouldn't have stayed in TN at gun pount for cryin out loud, but had I my druthers, would have looked in Chapel Hill (still may, depending on the LRMS thing)
Angela, For this year,
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 12:33 — jenmanAngela,
For this year, students from Leesville ES were relegated to the last 10% of seats along with 44 other schools. The year prior to MYR, Leesville was in Round 3. There are normally 4 rounds and then the remaining 10%.
Because of MYR, Baucom & Wakefield ES all went from being in the 1st round to fighting for the remaining 10% of seats. You can see which schools made it into which round for this school year here: http://voiceforequity.blogspot.com/2008/02/so-what-are-your-chances.html
Jenn, THANKS!!! Actual
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 14:34 — AngelaWJenn,
THANKS!!!
Actually it all was coming back to me, I've used the info you provided on your website in some of my "talks" with people......this was early morning pre-coffee figuring...
every year i've applied for my oldest, we never managed to get it.....after all is said and done and face-to-face meetings with Reps. etc...I'm guessing the chances went to nil.....
The most infuriating thing
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:32 — NWRaleighMomThe most infuriating thing for me is that we pay for this inequality with our own tax money.
Just get rid of the magnets....
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 10:56 — SouthEastWakeMomThe magnet system in this county needs to be abolished - it is grossly inequitable. It may have worked 20-30 years ago when it was designed but it certainly isn't meeting anyone's needs at this time (well, maybe, the select few lucky enough to get in...). Take the money and spread it across all of the schools to offer relevant extras for the individual school populations, to beef up the services to the AG kids and the underperforming kids, and to offer nationally recognized standardized testing (e.g., Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) for all students.
I so agree...
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 11:31 — JSB (not verified)you are EXACTLY right. The time has come and gone.
Who has the kahuna's to do it though? Surely nobody sitting on that board today.
Bummer.
Education please.
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:17 — SideburnsThis is an example of WCPSS at its best. My child doesn't even get Spanish yet the fortunate ones "selected" for a magnet have access to dance, papermaking and advanced German. Equity, comparability, selection criteria, F&R percentages, capacity -- it's all a bunch of hooey. At the end of the day, who is talking about education??
they got sued for it once I
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:45 — AngelaWthey got sued for it once I think.....that's what needs to happen again...
Wake was sued in 2002 by
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:02 — KeungHui (author)Wake was sued in 2002 by John Sullivan of Cary when his child's application to Oak Grove Elementary was rejected because he was at one of the six elementary schools whose magnet applications were not considered at all. That was when year-rounds were still considered magnet schools. Wake switched back in 2003 to using a 10 percent option to limit people from high poverty or low capacity schools instead of an outright ban. That's why some board members now are more leery about using a cap than in reducing the random percentage down to 5 percent of seats.
That lawsuit made its way up to the N.C. Supreme Court. Just before oral arguments were to be made in 2003, the suit was voluntarily dismissed. That year, Sullivan was finally accepted into Oak Grove. School officials claim it was a coincidence that Sullivan's year-round application had finally been accepted after the third year of applying. They said it wasn't connnected to the lawsuit.
see, I knew I remembered
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:10 — AngelaWsee, I knew I remembered something....
of of COURSE it wasn't "connected"....with the BoE such an "above board" entity, why would ANYONE possibly think otherwise...... (puhlease!!)
sorry, wrong post
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:52 — AngelaWFiscal Implications: Annual operating costs for Leesville Middle will increase but the capital cost of 12 additional mobile or modular classrooms will be avoided. 12 additional mobile units? Where and What for? LRMS didn't get any additional students? and by HOW MUCH will operating costs increase? inquiring TAXPAYERS want to know?
ok, I know I am always
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 07:47 — AngelaWok, I know I am always learning stuff about WCPSS but please explain; AC, AZ and DN
AC=accepted?
Codes
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:37 — KeungHui (author)AC means accepted through the regular application proccess. AZ is for students accepted because they're siblings of other magnet students at the school. DN is denied.
thanks!
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:43 — AngelaWLeesville had the most applicants accepted according to the paper, I am guessing that will end with this new criteria?
Changes wouldn't help.
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 08:55 — KeungHui (author)Changes wouldn't help. Leesville base students were among the group that were only picked for the final 10 percent of magnet seats this year because of the school's low crowding percentage. The fact that so many students got out would, as some board members believe, indicate that 10 percent is too high a percentage to use for random selection. A cap wouldn't help much either.
Sorry about snapping off at your comment last week.
Changes would actually make
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 09:09 — AngelaWChanges would actually make it even tougher for Leesville students to get into magnets then? and if one just looks at the number that applied for magnets last year as compared to years previous, would there be in increase? perhaps because of MYR? I'm only sayin'.....
(Thank you for that, we're ALL under considerable stresses these days! Despite our "whatever" previously, you are usually ALWAYS on top of school issues and I realize that, I've been off "my game" as well.... :+) Truce? lol)
Accepted. I don't have
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 10:58 — KeungHui (author)Accepted.
I don't have the numbers from prior years off the top of my head. But pre-conversion, Leesville would have had top magnet priority because of its crowding percentage and low F&R number. But I'd also suspect that there was less interest then from people wanting to leave the school.
Terrible
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 07:40 — CharlotteCowIt's awful that so many kids are going to be trapped at extremeley high F&R lunch schools when they could have attended a magnet school. Wake needs to stop its social experiments with busing and reassigning more kids each year than some districts have in their entire system. The money wasted could be better spent on programs proven to help poor minorty students at these schools rather than hoping they will absorb the skills of the white suburban kids bused in. It's decisions like these that have turned WCPSS into such a mess and why growth has slowed so significantly, and parents and teachers are not going to put up with it much longer.
Magnet Joke
Mon, 11/03/2008 - 07:22 — CALLING FOUL (not verified)When will WCPSS admit their strategies to fill magnet programs are biased, completely transparent, and unfair. Where is the equity in Magnet programs where there is an application processs, and now they are making more "restrictions."
My child's MYR school is underenrolled. That effectively means I shouldn't bother applying my student to a magnet program. YET... in last week's N&O there was a four color glossy sticker luring me to the Magnet Fair where I would get "gifts" for attending.
So, WCPSS used my tax money for those very expensive sticker advertisements, bought "gifts" to give out, yet, there was no snowball chance in hell my child would ever "qualify" for admission to a magnet program.
And no one sees anything wrong with this?