Placement Restructuring In San Francisco Schools Imminent
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - A vote was scheduled Tuesday for San Francisco's school board members, who were considering the pros and cons of a new system for assigning students to public schools.
The proposed program was expected to be approved, though few if any believed that would quell the controversy and uproar that has surrounded the issue.
KCBS Anna Duckworth Reporting:
Previously, placement was based solely on parent choice. San Francisco Unified School District Deputy Superintendent Richard Carranza countered that the system in place for assigning students to schools simply wasn't working.
"We have a truly, 100% choice system now," he reasoned. "Some people would say that it's really no choice because they don't get any of the choices that they ask for."
The new plan would maintain an element of choice for parents. However, schools designated as "high demand" would grant enrollment preference based on certain criteria. Among the factors considered would be whether an older sibling was a student at the "high demand" school and whether the prospective student had attended one of San Francisco's public preschools.
Preference would also be granted to a family living in an area that, according to data, had lower test scores. Specifically, a child in a census track with lower test scores would be given priority enrollment in a "high demand" school, over a child living in that school's attendance boundaries.
Carranza explained that the boundaries surrounding San Francisco's public schools were redrawn, in an effort to help families make better informed decisions about where they want their children to attend school.
"Students who live within an attendance zone for an elementary school have some priority in going to that school," said Carranza. "This system tries to give parents some definite chance to go to their neighborhood school but also gives the district the opportunity to try to desegregate as much as we can."
Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's vote, debate about the enrollment process was certain to continue.
"This is the first part of a multi-year process, we're starting with elementary schools," Carranza explained.
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