2,600 Out Of 8,008 Win Magnet Slots

by Thomas MacMillan | Mar 8, 2011 4:16 pm

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Posted to: Schools

Terence Williams was hoping to win the lottery. But his number didn’t come up, so he now plans to pay for another year of daycare—and wait for another chance to place his kids at Davis Street 21st Century Magnet School. Williams was one of over 100 anxious parents who showed up at the Board of Education headquarters on Meadow Street Tuesday morning to hear if their child’s number had been selected in the lottery for spots in magnet schools. Magnet schools offer specialized courses of study, each with a different emphasis. They are available to students in New Haven and surrounding towns, regardless of where they live. Students vie for spots through a random lottery. Some precedence is give to students living near magnet schools and to students with siblings already attending. Letters announcing the results will be sent out soon. But for parents who couldn’t wait for the mail to come, Tuesday was a chance to find out immediately. The lottery drawing began at 10 a.m., with a presentation by Robert Canelli, director of the magnet school program. He was joined by Ed Linehan, a former director, now a consultant to the school board, in a second-floor meeting room. The district has several dozen magnet schools with 15 grade levels, for a total of 2,600 open slots, he told the assembled crowd. The district received 8,008 magnet school applications for kids in New Haven and the suburbs, he said. Linehan explained how the lottery works. A computer was set up in the middle of the room, with a projector displaying a program interface on a screen at the front of the room. At 10 a.m., a staffer punched a button and the computer began assigning students random numbers. Then the program goes through the applications and starts assigning schools, Linehan said. The child with the lowest number gets his or her first choice, until all the first choices are done. Then the computer goes through and assigns second choices. Once all the slots are filled, the computer puts students on waiting lists. Parents weren’t told on Tuesday what number on the waiting lists they received. They have to wait for a letter in the mail to tell them that. The program took only a minute to perform all those calculations. But it took another 10 minutes to print out the results. In the meantime, parents edged their chairs closer to the front, then dashed forward to form lines: A-L on the left, M-Z on the right. Nikki Klein (pictured) was in the front row, clutching the PIN that would let her see if her 5-year-old son will be able to start at Edgewood School in the fall. “It’s a great neighborhood public school,” said Klein, who lives nearby. She said she hadn’t put down a second choice. She had heard that strategy would increase her chances of getting into her first choice. “That’s not true,” Linehan said. However, Klein’s strategy might help if her son is waitlisted: he’ll be waitlisted on her first choice only. If someone is tapped from the waitlist and declines, they don’t get a second chance on a different waitlist, Linehan said. Williams, with his 3-year-old daughter Tierra, learned that she and his 5-year-old son Terence had been waitlisted at Davis 21st Century Magnet School, near his home. “It’s all right,” Williams said as he walked away from the counter, having received the bad news. He said he’ll be sending his kids to Morning Glory Daycare for another year until (he hopes) they get in to Davis. “Magnet schools are a lot better,” he said. The teaching is “more hands on” and the kids get more individual attention, he said. In other public schools, “teachers can’t pinpoint one specific person,” he said. Plus, with teacher layoffs, it’s just going to get worse, he said. One by one, parents like Williams got the news. Most took it quietly, good or bad. But Dana Casey squealed with delight when she was told her 10-year-old son Decklin can attend Mauro-Sheridan next fall. She and her son live in Milford, where she has not been happy with the quality of schooling, she said. She said she visited Mauro-Sheridan recently and was impressed with the facilities and all the technology in the classrooms. “It’s awesome,” she said. “It fits with my son. … I’m so happy. You have no idea.” Casey said she had tried to shelter her son from disappointment by not having him visit the school. She said she was afraid he would get too excited and then be crushed if he didn’t get in. She said she settled for just showing him the school’s website. “He’s going to be very excited,” Casey said. Bruce and Loralee Crowder also received good news: Their daughter Adeline made it into John C. Daniels School, their first choice. The Crowders (pictured) reached the front of the line with 2-and-a-half-year-old Adeline in dad’s arms and 3-week-old Elias nestled in a sling on mom’s chest. The Crowders, who live in North Haven, said they were attracted by the multilingual program at Daniels. They said they were shocked that Adeline got in; they weren’t expecting to make it. “Now it’s the commute we have to contend with,” Loralee said. Bruce said he’ll be driving his daughter to school every day.

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posted by: lance on March 8, 2011 6:29pm the parents that pay the most in city property taxes should get first shot.

posted by: Noteworthy on March 8, 2011 6:29pm When Roert Canelli joined his wife at the BOE, to run the magnet school program, it was to replace Ed Linehan, who was the retiring director of the magnet schools. At the time, it was said he would stay on to train Canelli. That was in July 2007. More than three and half years later - why in the world are we still paying for two directors, one of whom pretended to retire, and yet is still on our payroll? Budget problems must be a figment of my taxpaying imagination.

posted by: leslie on March 8, 2011 7:30pm yes lance! excellent idea! lets have separate schools for the children of the rich and the children of the poor. fair is fair. for over a century hard-working people have come to this country to escape the perils of caste systems. what better way to keep them out then return to a time when people’s futures were determined by their families’ pasts. keep up the great work.

posted by: trainspotter on March 8, 2011 7:50pm Magnet schools aren’t funded the way regular public schools are. Most of their funding comes from State and Federal sources not New Haven taxpayers. Anyone paying state and federal taxes is helping pay for these schools regardless of whether or not they live in New Haven.

posted by: Paul Wessel on March 8, 2011 8:49pm It’s fascinating how eager the suburban parents are for their kids to attend New Haven magnet schools. It suggests there’s something attractive going there.

posted by: SB on March 8, 2011 8:49pm Exactly right, Noteworthy…and while we are laying off teachers, police officers and fire fighters. The reason is that the Board of Alders has no direct control over the Board of Ed’s budget.

posted by: Yikes on March 8, 2011 9:49pm Don’t believe the hype! What about the families that cannot get it together to even submit the magnet school applications. Magnet schools do not help build communities and community building is certainly needed in New Haven. What good is it for children to be bused to other neighborhoods. Build up neighborhood schools and build up communities. PS When is enough enough with Dr. Mayo? Can’t Achievement First hire him as a consultant? PPS Mrs. Klein…you are gorgeous!

posted by: larry on March 8, 2011 10:41pm the lottery system is not the best and fairest way to measure students abilities. one day maybe the board of education will place the new haven residents first and the realize that there are still openings

from other towns

our kids are intellligent ...too bad our educators arent

posted by: thought-provking on March 8, 2011 11:22pm I think that it is crazy that people that live in New Haven cannot get their children in New Haven Schools or Magnet schools? Can I get my children in outer district schools at the drop of a hat. What about KIDS FIRST for New Haven residents?

posted by: bruce Lance, the regional magnet schools were built with mostly state money. I recall hearing 80/20 state/city, but don’t quote me on it.

posted by: thought-provking on March 9, 2011 12:41am I also agree with YIKES. Community schools do need to come back to New Haven. Parents are an integral part of education as well as their communication with teachers.

It is also interesting to see that students who get into Magnet Schools often are not interested in the speciality area but go because their parents like the school, why can’t there be an interview process to determine if students are truly interested in the program instead taking up a spot for someone who would take advantage of the program.

posted by: Fraud on March 9, 2011 12:46am New Haven Public Schools are a fraud. The bling bling of magnet schools and these ridiculous lotteries, leave the “losers” at even more inferior schools. Most of the teens graduating NHPS can not do college work. Ask the folks at Gateway CC. Ask the students who must pay for remedial courses at Gateway because they are not ready to do college work. Mayo, DeStefano, and the Blango gang just keep perpetuating the fraud.

...

posted by: true that on March 9, 2011 8:47am Yikes— I completely agree about those children of families who can’t/don’t get it together to send their kids to magnet schools. Yikes indeed. Also, if magnet schools are so popular that less than a third of those who apply get in, why don’t we convert more of our non-magnets into magnets? Why is reform written that they have to be charter? If so many people want to put their kids in city nursery schools, why not expand the number of slots? In the long run, that would be a great payoff in terms of test scores.

posted by: Hillhouse_Alum on March 9, 2011 10:01am Are the MagnMagnetools really improving the lives of students? The perception among New Haven parents and students is that the magnet schools offer a “better education” but this is not necessarily so. It seems lately the word Magnet has been attached to every school. Did anyone notice Brennan-Rogers one year after being deemed the worst school in the district is now a Magnet? That’s quite mismisleadingd premature. It’s unfair to New Haven students who are denied access to Manget schools in their own town and yet we flood them with out of district students all for monetary gain! (NOTE THE DISTRICT RECIEVES A GREATER PER PUPIL EXPENDIUTRE FOR OUT OF DISTRICT STUDENTS)If we truly want our students to learn we should be requiring each student to apply to the magnet schools (particularly at the HS level) Student academic/career interest should be matched with the apprappropriateool. There’s absolabsolutelyeason for a student to take up a seat at Hill Regional Career HS if they have no intentions of puruspursuingreer in healthealth-careicine or business. Magnet enrollment should be more than a lucky number but a well planned marriage between the student and special course offerings and specaspecializations

posted by: streever folks, let us not rush to bash suburbanites too quickly: remember that our schools were built with their money, and we do receive tax money from the suburbs for our schools. (More than it costs us, I believe). The problems are deeper and more far-reaching than banning out of district kids from using our schools—the real question is not, “Why didn’t New Haven kids get into the magnet school?” but, “Why aren’t there attractive neighborhood schools that local parents want their children in?”

posted by: Bruce Yikes & others: Lost in this discussion is the fundamental reason that the regional schools were built in the first place—racial integration. These schools were born out of the CT Supreme Court decision of Sheff v. O’Neill. Neighborhood schools, for all their benefits, tend to perpetuate segregated school systems. They will until we achieve true racial diversity in our neighborhoods.

posted by: SB on March 9, 2011 11:01am To follow up on Steever, there’s another very good reason to have suburban kids in New Haven schools: these kids are more likely to be middle class and the research shows that having middle class kids in schools that primarily serve poor kids improves the quality of the educational experience for everyone (for several reasons, one being that middle class parents tend to be more involved and demanding). The neighborhood schools do need to be improved…imagine if all the schools in New Haven were worthy of the level of demand that the magnet schools enjoy.

posted by: Yalie on March 9, 2011 11:18am This is crazy,, there is no reason why people living in NORTH HAVEN,, or GUILFORD, CHESHIRE, etc,, should receive a spot in a NEW HAVEN SCHOOL. Tell me how quickly they’ll take a little black kid from NEW HAVEN,, put them in NORTH HAVEN, GUILFORD OR CHESHIRE,,, that will not happen..

posted by: mikepc45 on March 9, 2011 11:37am Can anyone tell me if I am spelling vouchers correctly? Thanks

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 9, 2011 12:44pm Whoa! Bruce - Yes, the magnet economics changed as a result of Sheff - and the mayor took advantage of the funding formula more aggressively than any other mayor in the state. As a result almost every school became an inter-district magnet in order to finance the massive construction plan. SB - What research shows that poor kids somehow learn more by rubbing elbows with middle class kids? Dr. Adamowski, a nationally respected researcher and outgoing superintendent in Hartford says that there is not one shred of data demonstrating that the achievement gap is closed for low-income students of color by putting them in schools with affluent suburban peers. Overall, this lottery coverage is a great thing. The more transparency the better. The system is coming under increasing pressure to create more schools of excellence for more and more of its citizens. And the BOE needs to amp it up. BTW, this was not only a magnet lottery but a schools of choice lottery including charter schools. Maybe the NHI can find out which schools were in most demand. It would be interesting and informative to see where parents want their kids to go. Parents, to do your homework on the best school for your child, you can get the school by school results and report cards at http://www.conncan.org. Vote with your feet and if you get shut out of a good school, show up at BOE meetings and let your voice be heard. To understand what has happened in our country with the failure of public education, go to Netflix or Comcast on-demand this weekend and rent “Waiting for Superman” or “The Lottery”. These true and powerful documentaries will break your heart and then hopefully inspire you to change things for our children.

posted by: Yaakov on March 9, 2011 12:53pm Wait… My kid could lose out on an opportunity to attend the school down the block so that somebody from Orange or Milford can attend instead? Something doesn’t seem right about that.

posted by: SB on March 9, 2011 1:28pm FIX THE SCHOOLS, the “not one shred of data” claim is completely false.

A good summary of the literally decades of research on this topic is here:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_12_32/ai_68148592/

This work goes back to the mid-19060s.

A summary is here: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_12_32/ai_68148592/pg_4/ “The notion that the socioeconomic status of classmates has a powerful effect on achievement is, Gary Orfield and Susan Eaton note, ‘one of the most consistent findings in research on education.’ “

Richard Kahlenberg is the nation’s expert on this issue. He gave a presentation fairly recently, see: http://tcf.org/publications/2010/3/pb709/pdf

posted by: SB on March 9, 2011 1:35pm Some facts might be useful for the discussion. 65% of slots are reserved for New Haven kids; 35% for suburban kids.

For every New Haven kid who attends a magnet school, the district gets $3,000, vs $6,700 for every suburban kid.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2011/01/03/news/doc4d215ec547f49070708105.txt?viewmode=fullstory

posted by: streever Yalie:

Considering the suburbs (Guilford, North Haven, etc) paid hundreds of millions of dollars to build these schools, and pay additional money if their children attend these schools, I am surprised that you wonder why they are in the schools. They spent more money building them than we did, and they pay directly for their usage of them. Again, while we may all be unhappy that there are not adequate good schools for our residents, I don’t think we need to blame the suburbs, which have contributed literally hundreds of millions of dollars into our school system. If you are unhappy, I would question why the Mayor went on such a large building spree, without doing any research into school demand (i.e. why do we have schools that are so far below capacity now after building them brand new?) nor taking any apparent steps to improve quality of education, almost 20 years ago (i.e. why are we only now addressing the terrible quality of education in most of our public schools? It was almost as bad 20 years ago as it is today.)

posted by: Yalie on March 9, 2011 3:15pm Streever;,, Ok,here is how I view this situation,, Me, a young woman, barely making ends meet, paying very high prices for child care, wondering if I’ll make it to work on time,, picking my child up on time so as not to have a “late fee” of $20 put on me because traffic was heavy.,, My child is now at the age where he can attend school, the school is less then TWO BLOCKS from my home,, and my child can’t go,, but kids from NORTH HAVEN, & ORANGE,, can get in,, and my child doesn’t make it. So,, I’m suppose to struggle with dealing with paying another year of daycare,, and you think this is fair. Because as you claim,, they paid for these schools too,, so did I. I pay taxes like every body else. Obvisously,, you don’t see what I see., and probably you don’t have to deal with it, so it doesn’t affect you. While your sitting on your butt digging up statics, on who paid what, and why,, I’m dealing with figuring out how to pay day care for another year.,, because the class that my child should be in,, is full of children that don’t live anywhere near that school. Seems to me that politics is a joke, you keep electing the same idiots,, looking for a different outcome.. Good Luck. It’s really time to just leave Connecticut,, like so many others have already done.

posted by: streever on March 9, 2011 3:43pm Yalie:

... I respect and appreciate your situation, and was not trying to diminish it. I was merely informing you as to how we got to the messed up situation we are currently in, and cautioning you against scapegoating the suburban parents. The fault lies squarely with our city administration and Board of Education. The issues you raise are serious problems that our city has failed to acknowledge or fix. I am hardly “sitting on my butt digging up statistics”—rather, I am attempting to inform and motivate my neighbors and fellow citizens to stand up for their rights with a full understanding of the problem. I see a lot of opinions on this site which lead into circular attacks and accomplish nothing. I hope, however, that if I can inform my fellow citizens and neighbors about the realities of the problems they face, they will work together to improve their situation. If we allow suburbanites who send their children to our schools to shoulder the blame for a generation of mis-management, nepotism, and political appointment within the school system, what do we do? We ignore the real problem and we focus on an external demon. I’m merely trying to encourage you—and anyone else negatively impacted by this—to ask the Board of Ed and city why there is no acceptable school for your child. Apologies if you felt criticized or attacked: that was not my intent. Again, I understand your anger and frustration—and I place a value on it. I believe that people who are as angry and frustrated as you start demanding greater accountability and responsibility from the right people (i.e. Dr. Mayo, the Mayor) and focus your anger on those very deserving targes, we will see an improvement in our city. Right now, citizens focus their anger on each other, labor unions, state budgets, etc, and miss out on many of the underlying causes of the problems. I’d like to see us all at the same table, working together to improve things, instead of tearing each other down.

posted by: FIX THE SCHOOLS on March 9, 2011 4:00pm SB, Kahlenberg believes that poverty is the over-arching factor in educational outcomes. And that may be true if you don’t know how to do anything about it. And yet when he is presented with a scalable model of success like KIPP, he dismisses it out of hand without relying on any substantial research. Seems to me that this is a guy who has a fixed vision for a harmonious future and is in search of a theory to support it. And the other stuff you posted was published during the Johnson administration. You might want to try something a bit more contemporary. Try Laura Pappano’s book about Turn-around schools. Her conclusion? Human capital is the most significant factor in success. And this causes a problem for folks who support an education system which staunchly rejects any attempt to differentiate educators on the basis of talent. (How do you feel about LIFO or state teacher certfication laws?) Bottom line: If Kahlenberg ran a hospital in which lots of people were getting more sick by the day, instead of changing his practice, he would blame the patients for being sick in the first place. Others like Pappano and Adamowski would respond by finding and hiring the best doctors and treat the patients until they were well.

posted by: fair haven mom on March 9, 2011 4:05pm I am a New Haven resident too. My child was also wait-listed, and I too am frustrated. But, not by the fact that suburban kids get to attend Magnets, but more by the fact that I have three neighborhood schools within walking distance to which I don’t feel comfortable sending my child. I moved to New Haven from the suburbs, I love New Haven, I am working with my neighbors to build our community. I want, more than anything, to walk my child to a neighborhood school, where he can attend with his neighbors,where he will then play in our neighborhood with other kids from his school. This whole process has lead me to believe that we, as parents, need to do something to reclaim our neighborhood schools for our children.

posted by: SB on March 9, 2011 4:29pm Streever, I agree with your argument about the deserving targets. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. I just spent a frustrating 2 weeks trying to register our child for kindergarten (series of emails, back and forth, about what documents can be used to prove residency. ridiculous, rigid rules, completely out of touch with how things are now. e.g., needing copies of utility bills mailed to our house, no internet bills accepted). Given that a simple procedure is made so complex, and resolved so arbitrarily, I don’t have much hope for advocacy with the BOE.

posted by: SB on March 9, 2011 4:51pm Fix the Schools, The summary link I posted has references from the 1960s to Kahlenberg, with references from the 90s. There is more, by others than just Kahlenberg,if you care to look for it.

And there are many who question the scalability of KIPP.

Putting middle class kids in classes with poor kids is also human capital

posted by: MCK on March 9, 2011 4:55pm This was my 2nd try with the Magnet Lottery, and I was unsuccessful both times. I never would have thought I would have to work so hard to get my child in to a preschool program in my own city. My frustration with the so called lottery is that it isn’t a fair lottery. If 1st preferance goes to neighborhood kids and second is a sibling preferance how is this a fair lottery? (btw.. I have no problem with the sibling preferance, who wants thier kid in different schools?!!) Let’s call it what it is… The Magnet Schools are really neighborhood schools. Once all neighborhood kids are placed THEN there is a lottery for any remaining seats. As I see it, if you do not live in the neighborhood of a Magnet School your chances are slim to none.

posted by: Fountain Street Parent on March 9, 2011 6:03pm Davis Street School is literally in my backyard. I’ve been a good neighbor during the demolition and new construction for the Davis Street School. What bothers me is that my child cannot go to his neighborhood school because it’s a “Magnet” school. However, a friend of mine in West Haven had no problems getting her two children into Davis. Wow! What are my options? Hmmmm… Well, not only do I need to continue to pay ridiculous high taxes to own property in New Haven, now I also need to pay for a private or Catholic school for my son to attend. In summary, NHPS (Mayo), the ineffective mayor (DeStefano), and the “Fake New Haven Promise” are with the bull.

posted by: THREEFIFTHS on March 9, 2011 8:52pm posted by: Bruce on March 9, 2011 9:57am

Yikes & others: Lost in this discussion is the fundamental reason that the regional schools were built in the first place—racial integration. These schools were born out of the CT Supreme Court decision of Sheff v. O’Neill. Neighborhood schools, for all their benefits, tend to perpetuate segregated school systems. They will until we achieve true racial diversity in our neighborhoods And so do Charter Schools. Charter Schools Segregated (Just Like Public Schools)

— By Sonja Sharp

| Fri Feb. 5, 2010 10:50 AM PST. http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/02/charter-schools-segregated-just-public-schools

A Closer Look at Charter Schools and Segregation. By Gary Ritter, Nathan Jensen, Brian Kisida, and Joshua McGee

http://educationnext.org/a-closer-look-at-charter-schools-and-segregation/ http://www.democracynow.org/2010/2/11/charter_study