The Superintendent‘s Advisory Committee on Enrollment and Transfer is considering having structured conversations with panels of parents. The following questionnaire could help them focus those conversations. It does not cover some topics, like special education and English-as-a-Second-Language issues, where I did not know clearly what the issues might be. And, of course, these are entirely my suggestions and may bear little relation to the actual workings of the SACET.
1. PPS has wide variances among its neighborhood elementary schools in the percentages of students eligible for free and reduces lunches (based on family income). For examples, across its elementary schools, 48.5% of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunches, but the variances range from 1.9% to 95.2%.
Enrollment and transfer policies should:
A. Do nothing. The wide variances are not a problem.
B. Set aside kindergarten slots at schools with low percentages of students eligible for free and reduced lunches for such students..
C. Make neighborhood school boundary changes that equalized the percentages.
D. Some other remedy. Specify __________
2. PPS has wide variances in the percentages of students of colors at its neighborhood schools. For examples, 54.6% of the students in PPS elementary schools are White, but the variances range from 9.3% to 87.0%. Note: PPS cannot by law discriminate by race in making transfer admissions.
Enrollment and transfer policies should:
A. Do nothing. The wide variances are not a problem.
B. Uses eligibility for free and reduced lunches as a proxy for race and set aside kindergarten slots at schools with low percentages of students eligible for free and reduced lunches for such students.
C. Make neighborhood school boundary changes that equalized the percentages.
D. Some other remedy. Specify __________
3. PPS has 10 dual language immersion programs in four foreign languages. Each year transfer applications to enroll in them far exceed capacities. For 2013-14, there were 1004 applicants (1st, 2nd, & 3rd choices combined) for 377 open kindergarten slots. 377 were admitted. 129 were wait listed. 241 were denied because of no space.
PPS should:
A. Keep the numbers enrolled in immersion programs as they are.
B. Reduce the numbers enrolled in immersion programs.
C. Increase the numbers of English speaking students enrolled in immersion programs.
D. Increase the numbers of English-as-a-Second-Language students enrolled immersion programs.
E. Do both C & D.
4. In many of the dual language immersion programs, there are kindergarten slots set aside for out-of-neighborhood transfer students and for neighborhood students. In the 2013-14 kindergarten lottery, 175 (1st, 2nd, & 3rd choices combined) neighborhood applicants applied for 80 open slots. 33 were wait listed and 48 denied because of no space.
Enrollment and transfer policies should:
A. Do nothing different.
B. Increase the slots open for neighborhood applicants
C. Do not distinguish between neighborhood and non-neighborhood applicants.
D. Reduce the slots open for neighborhood applicants.
E. Take all neighborhood applicants before taking any non-neighborhood applicants
5. PPS has five focus option schools. Each year transfer applications to enroll in them far exceed capacities. For the 2013-14 kindergarten lottery, 663 (1st, 2nd & 3rd choices combined) applied for 125 slots.
PPS should:
A. Do nothing.
B. Expand enrollment in the focus options. Be specific about which programs ________
C. Reduce enrollment in the focus options. Be specific about which programs ________
6. PPS permits neighborhood school to neighborhood school transfers. In the 2013-14 kindergarten lottery, 776 (1st, 2nd, & 3rd choices combined) applicants applied. 212 were admitted. 137 were wait listed. 214 were denied because of no space.
Enrollment and transfer should:
A. Do nothing (make no change).
B. Expand neighborhood school to neighborhood school transfers.
C. Reduce neighborhood school to neighborhood school transfers.
D. Other. Be specific _________
7. PPS has 10 middle schools and many K-8 schools.
PPS should:
A. Make no changes.
B. Convert to all K-8.
C. Convert to all K-5 and middle schools.
8. In most, if not all, schools, siblings are given priority in transfer admissions over all other categories of applicants. In cases where slots are few and parental demand high, there can be few openings for non-siblings.
Enrollment and transfer policies should:
A. Make no changes. Keep the sibling priority.
B. Reduce the sibling priority: less than neighborhood applicant
C. Reduce the sibling applicant: less than free and reduced lunch eligible applicant
D. Eliminate all sibling preferences.