Schools
School Assignment Policy Under Review Once Again
As half-day kindergarten enrollment rates remain low, parents of displaced full-day kindergartners question the current assignment process.
According to an enrollment report recently released by Melrose Public Schools, only six children are enrolled in half-day kindergarten for the 2011–2012 school year.
Half-day kindergarten, held this year at the Roosevelt School, will move to the Lincoln School next academic year. Given the current low enrollment, only an 8:30 to 11:05 a.m. morning session is scheduled. In a similar report issued around this time last year, 13 students were registered for half-day kindergarten. That number increased to 25 students over fall of 2010, and a paraprofessional was eventually added to the classroom, in lieu of establishing a second half-day session that would have run from 11:55 a.m.to 2:30 p.m.
"It used to be the case that most families opted for half-day kindergarten," Melrose School Committee member J.D. LaRock said. "I think that more families are increasingly recognizing that the educational preparation that students require is higher."
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Margaret Driscoll, chairwoman of the Melrose School Committee, agreed that the district has seen changes to enrollment choices.
"I also think it speaks to people's personal choices. I think it speaks to educational shifts," Driscoll said. "As we look at more and more families who are two-working-parent families, half-day kindergarten may be something that's supportive of a family need."
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Whatever the final half-day registration total is next school year, the alternative to full-day kindergarten will remain. LaRock confirmed that the city is mandated to offer a free half-day option as long as a cost remains in place for full-day kindergarten (regardless of the new discounted tuition rates that went into effect in spring of 2010).
The cost of half-day kindergarten is not specifically broken down in the annual school budget, according to Melrose School Business Manager Greg Zammuto.
Connection to school assignment policy
In a last week, a group of parents who had recently learned that their kindergartners had been assigned to attend first grade at a different school than they were attending currently (a total of 12 families are affected, nine of whom currently have children in kindergarten at the Roosevelt School) mentioned the effect that the population of half-day kindergartners had on the current school assignment policy in Melrose.
"After meeting with the superintendent and talking with committee members, we understand the first grade re-enrollment is driven by one policy to maintain the smallest possible class sizes uniformly across the city, and another around school choice," the letter stated. "As we understand it the re-enrollment before first grade also has a goal of being fair to the half-day kindergartners by putting everyone back into the pool so they get choice as well."
"These seem like obviously good goals, and the policies well-intentioned," the letter continued. "But why isn't the calculation just done before kindergarten? Isn't it possible to figure out then who will go where in first grade and make permanent assignments for everyone in kindergarten?"
Kelly English, one of the letter's authors, further summarized what she had been told about the role of half-day kindergarten students and students new to the district in the assignment process for first graders.
"I was told, 'To be fair to them, we need to put everybody back in the pot and start fresh, to allow them the opportunity and choice to go to their school of their choosing,'" English said.
English, whose daughter now attends kindergarten at the Roosevelt School, said that she understands that the assignment process is far from simple. However, she also feels strong sympathy for her daughter and the other 11 children who will need to adjust to another new school.
"On her first day of kindergarten, when we took her picture in front of the Roosevelt School sign, we just assumed she'd always go there," English reminisced of her daughter's first day of school. "Her friends go there. That's where she feels comfortable, that's where her buddies are. It feels like a lot of changes for a lot of kids."
Making changes to assignment policy a tricky task
LaRock and Driscoll agree with English's assessment.
"[The number of displaced students] is a significantly higher number than we've seen in past years. These parents are frustrated and looked for the Melrose School Committee to help them, despite the district's efforts to inform them how the school assignment policy works. It seems like the message has not gotten out clearly enough. Some families were surprised to hear they were even at risk," LaRock said.
"The parents are rightfully concerned. Their children have prospered at their schools, they've put down roots. Now they're being asked to pull up those roots. I'm sympathetic to all of these concerns," LaRock continued. "I'd like to see the school committee take a stab at refining the existing school assignment policy."
Yet making actual changes to the policy may be trickier than it initially sounds. Additionally, any changes that are made will not apply to the current group of displaced students.
"The assignments for this year will not be changed by a policy change," Kristin Throrp, chairwoman of the School Committee's policy and planning subcommittee, said. "We look at the school assignment policy every few years. We keep trying to make it better. It's really a tough problem, to put people in the schools they want to be in and still keep the smallest class sizes."
With that statement, Thorp identifies the crux of the problem. Melrose's current class size policy dictates the goal to "equalize class size throughout the Melrose Public School District in order to provide the smallest class sizes in keeping with our belief that smaller class sizes provide improved learning outcomes." In recent years, the average class size has been determined by dividing the total number of students enrolled in a grade by the total number of classrooms at that grade level. With a range of only +/- 1 student allowed in the calculation, the policy leaves very little wiggle room for administrators attempting to maintain equal class size and families' first choices.
Given this, School Committee members and Superintendent Joe Casey find themselves once again struggling to avoid or, in the case of the upcoming school year, reduce displacement. While many parents may assume that school assignment takes place only once, it actually happens twice: once before kindergarten and once before first grade. Each time, parents are asked their location preference when registering. Administrators then make placements according to a hierarchy of three criteria: the student's need for any special services or facility, the existing school assignments of any siblings and the student's proximity to a school. Wait lists for each school are started after assignments are complete.
Displacement like this year's situation happens once half-day kindergartners--who have all attended one school--and students new to the district for first grade are added to the assignment mix. This is the true challenge for the School Committee, which Thorp says will be formally reexamining the policy as early as next Tuesday evening's meeting, where she plans to present a document of possible options that the public and other School Committee members can then provide feedback on.
"I'm going to throw as many ideas out there as I can think of," Thorp said. "What if we did a lottery? What if we did first choice with no regard for class size? What if you mixed half-day and full-day and then half-day students left early?"
Thorp said that the School Committee also plans to talk with kindergarten teachers, principals and administrators, to get their take on the current assignment policy. The policy and planning chairwoman said that the committee will then summarize all feedback at either the second meeting in May or the first meeting in June.
"We’ll see if we can run some of these scenarios through what happened this year and see what might have happened," Thorp explained. "What we're really trying to do is find a way to do assignment all at once. If we can’t find a way to only do it once, then we probably won't change the policy."
Outlook for currently displaced families
Melrose Patch confirmed that some of the kindergartners who have been reassigned to different schools receive special education services at their current schools. LaRock said he has encouraged parents of these and other children to consider the appeals process described in the city's school assignment policy.
According to the policy, any family who feels that their child's school assignments"presents a hardship" may appeal after "most placements are assigned." The family must appeal in writing to the superintendent's office, after which an appeals board will review the request. The board must then notify the appealing family of their decision no more than two weeks before the start of the school year.
Superintendent Casey said that he is personally involved with parents who pursue the appeal path.
"I work with the families," Casey said, readily acknowledging that there is a "litany" of excellent reasons why this year's above-average displacement is inconvenient and difficult for the affected families. Casey explained that, as a rule, he speaks with the families on the phone and keeps them updated on the appeals process.
Thorp reiterated that the total of 12 students displaced this year during the first-grade school assignment process is unusual.
"In the last three or four years, this is the first time there hasn't only been one or two families who didn't get their first choice," Thorp said.
Driscoll also confirmed that the city has a track record of working diligently with families whose children have been reassigned, many of whom have actually ended up in their first-choice school in the past.
"Families may still get their first consideration," Driscoll said.
Students currently on wait lists for schools other than those to which they have been assigned will remain on the lists throughout the summer. The placement of students on these lists can take place even after the school year begins, up until the end of the first quarter.