Pinellas school plan: Any questions?

We’re soliciting your questions in the event the Pinellas School Board approves its new student assignment plan Tuesday.

Are there any aspects of the plan that remain unclear to you? Do you struggle with the rationale for some decisions? Your thoughts could help shape our coverage.

The board will meet in a workshop from 1:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the issue of how to assign students to magnet and fundamental schools. If board members agree to take a final vote on the plan, a special meeting has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. If they approve it, the plan, which calls for a return to neighborhood schools, would be implemented starting with the 2008-09 school year.

The magnet and fundamental issue in a snap: A majority of the board has said it wants those schools to give neighborhood kids a leg up during the admissions process so those kids aren’t denied a school close to home. Magnets and fundamentals normally draw from across the county or a large area of the county. Other board members say the district should stick to a countywide application for those schools to give them the best chance at retaining racial diversity.

Feel free to weigh in here or at schoolplan@sptimes.com

- Thomas C. Tobin, Times staff writer

Comments

Well it's over now. Now you can all start complaining about how much you hate your "neighborhood school" and how much better every other school in the district is and why can't you choose where your child goes to school.

BTDT

[Jeff]

The Students and Parents that were DISINFRANCHISED are the one who lost in the choice LOTTERY from the beginning and were then placed into schools not of there choice and repeatably went through the Choice process and were still placed into schools not of their choice because a Grandfathered student had more rights to the seat in the school they wanted. ONLY 80% of got their 1st or 2nd choice that means 20% were DISINFRANSCHED every year. And if you moved out of zone or into this county you were definitely DISIFRANSCHIED. I'm glad so many parents are happy with choice, but is has been at the expense of other parents and their students and has come with a hefty price tag that this district could never afford.

How many people clamouring for "a return to neighborhood schools" never bothered to take the time or make the effort to CHOOSE a school, neighborhood or otherwise, for their children when they were given ample time and opportunity to do so? How many people who say they were assigned to a school they don't like took the time or made the effort to fill out the papers or make the call to apply for a school nearby? This smacks of disgruntled, uninvolved parents trying to get their way by disenfranchising the rest of us.

[Jeff]

How many Students under the Current Choice system wanted into the close to home school but were placed into a school that was not? Is it fair to them to not let them attend their close to home school because space will not be available do to those who grandfather. This board cares more about political concerns than FAIRNESS and equal treatment for all students.

[Jeff]

How can this board justify Grandfathering when the students at the schools to be closed will be "placed" into a school that has room. This board talks about one set of rules for all and honoring all grandfathering and extended grandfathering oligations and then says "unless your in a school we don't want anymore"

[Lee]

If...you know, hypothetically speaking. If my oldest kid is in a magnet at a school way across town and his little brother doesn't want the same program, but wants the same school...will the little brother be able to attend that school way across town as a preferred sibling?

Does it matter that he's a different color than the majority of kids at that school?

Does it matter if he's a good fit for the sports team of his choice at that school? He'll put the points on the board for them!

Can I claim he has asthma and I work nearby? ...in other words, are ye old SAPs Special Attendance Permits in the mix? Can I convince the principal that the kid NEEDS to be at his school or do I need to go to the district office and convince them?

I know my questions sound jaded, but I'm serious.

Do I have to take the school I'm "zoned" for...the same one up the street for which I paid a heafty real estate fee to be grandfathered in to...or can I pick the school across town that I decided I like better?

Help. Please.

ps...in neither case do I need religious extras in science class.