How does public school enrollment work in Seattle? What do parents need to know?
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Parent Answers to "How does public school enrollment work in Seattle? What do parents need to know?"
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That's right the whole process is under review. A number of schools will be closed as the Seattle School District is uner financial restraints and needs to close thes schools to save the district money. Unfortunately the news of these closures has given many students and their families heartache as the fight with all their might at School Board meetings and meetinsg at their school to keep their school from being on the closure list. It has also resulted in many parents pitting their school against another school because the do not want to be closed, so many harsh things have been said about area schools and many hurt feelings have been made. In the end, the students will be dealing with the closures and have their educational experiencing interrupted because of this financial downfall.
In order to have a favored school stay open parents have been going on tv to fight for support from the community, making sign to help stop the closure of their school and making untrue and hurtful accusations about other area schools to get their points across and stay open.
It is a true mess here in Seattle. We are hopful that our daugters school remains off the closure list and that the area schools will come as one to make the best choice for the children's sake and not just their own agendas.
We are moving our daughter from public schooling for Middle school as the choices here are really the best. We hate the idea of removing our daughter from her friends from Elementary school but the Middle schools in the area need alot of work, especially in the non-violence of many students. I do not wish to worry about her safety on a daily basis and so we will choose private schooling for Middle school. For more information anyone can check the are at westseattleblog.com anytime to learn more about the Seattle area.
In order to have a favored school stay open parents have been going on tv to fight for support from the community, making sign to help stop the closure of their school and making untrue and hurtful accusations about other area schools to get their points across and stay open.
It is a true mess here in Seattle. We are hopful that our daugters school remains off the closure list and that the area schools will come as one to make the best choice for the children's sake and not just their own agendas.
We are moving our daughter from public schooling for Middle school as the choices here are really the best. We hate the idea of removing our daughter from her friends from Elementary school but the Middle schools in the area need alot of work, especially in the non-violence of many students. I do not wish to worry about her safety on a daily basis and so we will choose private schooling for Middle school. For more information anyone can check the are at westseattleblog.com anytime to learn more about the Seattle area.
I would add that meeting the deadline is very important--if you don't get your registration in by the due date (it has been the end of Feb in recent years) you can only be assigned to whatever schools have room left. Also, the whole process is being reviewed and revised so it may be totally different by 2009. They are moving towards neighborhood schools and will probably reduce choice somewhat.
From the top: Seattle schools break into 8 geographic clusters (North, Northeast, Northwest, Queen Anne/Magnolia, Central, West Seattle North, West Seattle South, South, and Southeast). You have open enrollment and transportation inside your cluster, and often to one or two out-of-cluster schools. You can request assignment to a school out of cluster, but you are on your own for transportation to site.
In addition, there are various magnet schools and all city draws. The district explains all these in the schools section of the www.seattleschools.org/ website.
Once you have identified schools which are close to you, make time to tour the schools. Tours begin in mid-January. You'll get to meet the parents, the teachers, and see what's going on in the classrooms.
The main thing to realize is that a Seattle school is a largely autonomous entity. While the new superintendent and chief academic officer are trying to put a little more structure into the system as a whole and standardize curriculum, textbooks, etc., so much of a school is based on the attitudes of the teachers, the principals, and the parent body, so seeing those up close are vital.
I have a gripe with test scores and would advise paying as little attention to them as possible. They can be run down by a student body of underprivileged children (which has little effect on your own child's ability to learn), and can be artificially run up by a didactic "teach to the test" curriculum.
Many neighborhoods have parent mailing lists. Get on those and ask opinions of the parents in the neighborhood about the schools. What do they like, what do they not like?
The neighborhood schools in my area are all fine. My wife and I have opinions about which ones we like more than others, but there are none I can think of where I would be horrified if my daughters were sent to school there.
Some of the all-city magnets (TOPS comes to mind immediately) are oversubscribed in kindergarten. Most prospective parents give up at that point. If you want your child to get into a certain school, try again next year and so on. Sooner or later, they'll let you in.
In addition, there are various magnet schools and all city draws. The district explains all these in the schools section of the www.seattleschools.org/ website.
Once you have identified schools which are close to you, make time to tour the schools. Tours begin in mid-January. You'll get to meet the parents, the teachers, and see what's going on in the classrooms.
The main thing to realize is that a Seattle school is a largely autonomous entity. While the new superintendent and chief academic officer are trying to put a little more structure into the system as a whole and standardize curriculum, textbooks, etc., so much of a school is based on the attitudes of the teachers, the principals, and the parent body, so seeing those up close are vital.
I have a gripe with test scores and would advise paying as little attention to them as possible. They can be run down by a student body of underprivileged children (which has little effect on your own child's ability to learn), and can be artificially run up by a didactic "teach to the test" curriculum.
Many neighborhoods have parent mailing lists. Get on those and ask opinions of the parents in the neighborhood about the schools. What do they like, what do they not like?
The neighborhood schools in my area are all fine. My wife and I have opinions about which ones we like more than others, but there are none I can think of where I would be horrified if my daughters were sent to school there.
Some of the all-city magnets (TOPS comes to mind immediately) are oversubscribed in kindergarten. Most prospective parents give up at that point. If you want your child to get into a certain school, try again next year and so on. Sooner or later, they'll let you in.
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