Waitlists
I've had several emails from parents pleading for info on waitlists. I truly have none beyond what the district says but I did hear from someone in the know. Here's an opening remark:
The waitlist is a dead end! Do not give parents and students false hope with the creation of a waitlist.
More info:
It's an interesting issue because more than a decade ago, there was also discussion over holding open spaces. You can see it both ways really.
One, you fill the school with students who are already enrolled in the district and are willing to find their own transportation to get to a school. In that case, you tell newcomers that they will have to take space-available spots.
Or two, you hold any open seats on the idea that they will get filled by newcomers. We are, after all, a growing city.
Further, (this from the district's webpage on waitlists:)
Waitlist are based on the established tiebreakers for a school and program as described in the Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2016-17, and on the Admissions page.
Waitlist moves take place in the order in which students are on the list. The District works to make waitlist moves where possible but must also consider the impact that waitlist moves have on the schools from which those students are coming from.
In instances where waitlist moves would significantly reduce enrollment and staffing at another school, fewer waitlist moves are typically made. For example, someone who is 6th on waitlist could not be moved until the first 5 students are moved regardless of what school the 6th student is coming from.
Based on the Student Assignment Plan and in fairness to the students who are ranked higher, waitlist moves are made in the order in which students are assigned to the waitlist.
I didn't know that the district was taking in staffing needs at a student's currently assigned school when moving waitlists even if there is room at the school that a student wishes to move to.
Also, fyi:
The Admissions Center will be closed during our end of year transition process from July 11 -
August 7.
Non-resident student applications will be accepted starting June 1, 2016. (On this one, good luck. I can't imagine there could be room for more than a handful of non-resident students.)
F1 and J1 visa student applications will be accepted through August 15, 2016. (This one, I don't know - does the district have to let these students in? Is this just for foreign exchange students or students whose parents are working here for a finite time? Anyone?)
The waitlist is a dead end! Do not give parents and students false hope with the creation of a waitlist.
More info:
- schools do not move their own waitlists - the district does.
- the district does allow "swaps" but only if the #1 person on School X wants to trade with the #1 person on School Z - how often does that work out? Not very often.
- the waitlists dissolve on August 15th
- As of March 30, 2016, the District had received 5,653 school choice applications, 5,177 of which were submitted during the on time Open Enrollment period and were eligible for tiebreakers. 1,643 assignments were made during the mass assignment period in early April, and since then 1,184 new assignments have been made based on the choice applications received. Of the students who participated in the choice process as of March 30, 50% were assigned to one of their top three choices (40% assigned to 1st choice, 7% assigned to 2nd choice, and 3% assigned to third choice).
- it seems there are about 5,000 students on waitlists
It's an interesting issue because more than a decade ago, there was also discussion over holding open spaces. You can see it both ways really.
One, you fill the school with students who are already enrolled in the district and are willing to find their own transportation to get to a school. In that case, you tell newcomers that they will have to take space-available spots.
Or two, you hold any open seats on the idea that they will get filled by newcomers. We are, after all, a growing city.
Further, (this from the district's webpage on waitlists:)
Waitlist are based on the established tiebreakers for a school and program as described in the Student Assignment Transition Plan for 2016-17, and on the Admissions page.
Waitlist moves take place in the order in which students are on the list. The District works to make waitlist moves where possible but must also consider the impact that waitlist moves have on the schools from which those students are coming from.
In instances where waitlist moves would significantly reduce enrollment and staffing at another school, fewer waitlist moves are typically made. For example, someone who is 6th on waitlist could not be moved until the first 5 students are moved regardless of what school the 6th student is coming from.
Based on the Student Assignment Plan and in fairness to the students who are ranked higher, waitlist moves are made in the order in which students are assigned to the waitlist.
I didn't know that the district was taking in staffing needs at a student's currently assigned school when moving waitlists even if there is room at the school that a student wishes to move to.
Also, fyi:
The Admissions Center will be closed during our end of year transition process from July 11 -
August 7.
Non-resident student applications will be accepted starting June 1, 2016. (On this one, good luck. I can't imagine there could be room for more than a handful of non-resident students.)
F1 and J1 visa student applications will be accepted through August 15, 2016. (This one, I don't know - does the district have to let these students in? Is this just for foreign exchange students or students whose parents are working here for a finite time? Anyone?)
Comments
I knew the district was trying to starve Cleveland STEM of funding by artificially capping enrollment, but this is the first time I've seen them publicly admit it.
Since underenrollment issues are limited to poorer / less white neighborhoods, this seems like a good way for the district to kill off option schools in non-white neighborhoods while allowing them to thrive in wealthy, white areas. Interesting.
--Southeast Parent
But honestly, I think you are wrong about south end versus north end on this particular issue. I hear from parents everywhere and, in fact, Kids not Cuts sprang from several north end moms and their schools.
HP
Enrollment planning is definitely up to something.
We paid huge amounts of $$$$$$$$$ to put the waitlists in a bind, created by the department whose job it is to move the waitlists. This is a manufactured problem that we are paying for in more ways than one. Much $$$$$$$$$ is paid to the enrollment departments at SPS. We pay them. They have made a mockery of school choice and that includes all the organization and work the schools have done with open houses, visits, having students shadow and all the work families have done researching schools, attending open houses, visiting schools, signing up for school choice, and don’t forget - vigilantly waiting. That is a lot of work for nothing because SPS doesn’t want to do the work to move the waitlists. Most students on the waitlists would likely just swap schools, but since there is zero transparency in the program, they can secretly do as they please, which is nothing. They fixed the waitlists in a bind and are doing nothing with them. -- SPS parent
I agree that ignoring the waitlists is a frustrating and cowardly way to enforce the neighborhood school policy.
-SPS parent
- Closed doors
So much for all the accountability campaign spiel!
Carmen
They are just so penny pinching with the class sizes- can't be even a student under max, for even one off year grade band, at any school- and so free to hire more and more middle managers down at JSCEE for the price of two teachers a pop.
-sleeper
TGP
HP
2) Well, the SAP was written to have a certain number of high school seats open because of what HP says - the high school have varied programs. That said, the district can't help the growth and that there are few to no seats available (Roosevelt is putting in two portables and has the smallest comprehensive high school footprint in the district.)
However, when the SAP was written, they still didn't have that percentage of open seats available. That, too, was a sham.
We can't leave kids who are new to the city (or the neighborhood) out of the neighborhood assignment plan - it's just not right. The district doesn't provide yellow bus transportation for high school students - so a kid whose family moves from Franklin's assignment area to Nathan Hale's mid-year would be stuck on metro for hours every day. Any kid who is new to the city in any neighborhood would be making the trek to Rainier Beach every day.
The real solution is to add enough high school capacity so that a few more kids at any school won't create a crisis - and a reasonable number of seats at every school are available during open enrollment.
-counting down
Rather this impossible bind is viewed like an expectation of SPS and this forum is then used to decode JSCEE intentions…and the decoded reveals: To dissolve school choice without coming out and stating their intention. A rude awakening for me regarding the big SPS building.
So anyone trying for school choice has been mislead including the schools themselves. Fooled into thinking all the schools efforts with open houses, …, were for a real school choice, and the schools are fooled into doing this work, but school choice is a hoax.
So now I am just surprised at my own ignorance of how big building SPS operates. School choice is a hoax and I am a fool. And thank you all for enlightening me. -- SPS parent
I was concerned when the May 31 date was originally proposed that is was a signal from Enrollment Planning that wait lists would not be moved. That appears to be the case.
Are they just adhering to a directive they have been given to not move the wait lists? Why is it okay to be openly hostile to parents who are reasonably stressed when they can gain no information on when/if the wait list will be reviewed? Why are parents being told a school is full, yet the school is projected to have an enrollment of 20 less students? Are the lists not moving because of embarrassment over poor projections in the past, and not moving the list will show their accuracy this year? Are they not moving the list because it is easier to keep students contained to their neighborhood school? What is the hidden agenda(s) here?
-StepJ
Why are they not moving the lists? I would guess three things.
1) no real overt pressure by either parents or the Board to do so (or at least explain their rationale)
2) they are struggling to find room for everyone coming in and want to tightly control who goes where
3) they don't have to
Center school, on the other hand, does not have a waitlist and so the school is "officially" under-enrolled, leaving them open to staff cuts.
Responding in the same conversation that a school is full, yet that the enrollment numbers are unknown...hmmm.
-StepJ
It is extremely frustrating that speculation is all anyone has regarding the waitlists as no-one from JSCEE responds in a meaningful way. It would be hard for them to say “Yes, we don’t care about school choice,” and give some reason, because everyone did all that work for school choice, and the program does exist. They were even having people sign-up for school choice last week. And we are all vigilantly watching the lists. It would look very bad to state their reason for not moving the school choice lists because they offer school choice! They best leave it in a stupid bind and say, “…my, my nothing can be done.” This is all twisted and I so wish for something forthright from that big SPS building.
From my perspective it is Melissa’s number 3) they don’t have to, and additionally: don’t want to. That may account for some of the hostility toward inquiries noted by StepJ. --SPS parent