Parents told to ‘keep an open mind’ in choosing schools

Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006

Ellen DelSole’s son, Robert, epitomizes the high school choice process for students in the Northeast Consortium.

While Robert’s base high school is Paint Branch, the seventh-grader at Briggs Chaney Middle School is interested in James Hubert Blake High School because it is the base school for many of his friends from elementary school, his mother said. He is also interested in Springbrook High School because of its computer classes.

DelSole attended a PTSA meeting in Briggs Chaney’s media center Nov. 14 because she was curious about the choice process in which her son will soon take part. ‘‘It’s advance information,” she said after the meeting. ‘‘It lets me know what to look for next year.”

Nearly two dozen parents of Briggs Chaney Middle School students, mostly eighth-graders, joined DelSole to hear from parents of high school students and the man in charge of the choice process, now in its 10th year. This week, eighth-graders will receive forms in the mail to rank their preference of high schools and must turn in their decision by Dec. 8. The weighted lottery to determine high school assignments will take place in late January.

All of the guests were invited to speak by Briggs Chaney’s PTSA, and their message was clear: While some of the 1,300 eighth-grade students in the Northeast Consortium may not end up at their first choice of high schools next year, all the schools are worthy.

‘‘All three schools are excellent choices,” said Anne Carson, a panelist with a graduate from Paint Branch, a senior at Paint Branch and a seventh-grader at Briggs Chaney. ‘‘As parents, we shouldn’t drum up one school as the end-all, be all.”

‘‘You can’t make a big mistake,” added Larry Hansch, director of the Division of Consortia Choice and Application Program Services for Montgomery County Public Schools. ‘‘I really wish people would have an open mind about all three schools.”

Still, many of the parents came to the meeting worried about problems they had heard about during last year’s choice process, including many students not getting their first choice, particularly if they chose Blake but did not live in Blake’s base area.

Gail Madden’s eighth-grade daughter has Paint Branch as her base school but is hoping to get into Blake, Madden said. Last year, however, only a quarter of Blake’s freshman class was not from its base area, far below the percentage of non-base area students at Paint Branch and Springbrook.

‘‘It’s not a choice process because there’s really not a lot of choice,” she said during the meeting. ‘‘The whole aura it sets up has made it tough in our house.”

Afterward, Madden said she is bothered her daughter would feel let down if she did not get in to Blake. ‘‘I don’t like her feeling a sense of disappointment or a perceived feeling of disappointment,” she said.

For the current school year, 85 percent of students received their first choice, down from an average of 94 percent for the previous eight school years, including a 100 percent rate in 2002-2003.

Hansch attributed this year’s lower percentage to changing demographics in the Northeast Consortium. While Springbrook and Paint Branch reflected the diversity, Blake did not, he said. To remedy the problem, the Board of Education wanted to balance Blake by adding more students currently or previously participating in the Free and Reduced Meals plan, or FARMS, through the weighted lottery. That, combined with 200 more students choosing Blake first than spots available at the school, led to the low percentage of students receiving their first choice.

Earlier this year, the school system hosted a series of ‘‘study circles,” where students, teachers and parents met to discuss how race affects school choice in the Northeast Consortium.

The study circles determined misperceptions of the schools played a significant role in the choice process and suggested all three schools improve facilities, use similar discipline procedures and promote themselves better to the public.

At the PTSA meeting, one of the first questions asked by a parent to the panel concerned the safety and reputation of each school. All of the panelists agreed their children are safe and stereotypes about the schools are common and incorrect. Carson said she has seen the reputation of each high school rise and fall over the years, comparing their desirability to a must-have holiday toy that is old news come spring.

‘‘The reality is all three schools are great,” she said. ‘‘We as adults have to get rid of these perceptions.”

Sometimes, however, it is the students’ perceptions that change. Two years ago, Orit Chicherio’s daughter, Talia, made Blake her first choice but did not get it. While she appealed the decision, Talia went to Paint Branch and loved it, her mother told parents at the meeting. She liked it so much that when Talia found out last school year her appeal was granted and she would be going to Blake this year, she did not talk to her mother for four days because of the situation, Orit Chicherio said.

Today, Talia loves Blake just as much as Paint Branch, Orit Chicherio said. ‘‘Each school is excellent. There are no bad or wrong decisions,” she said.

Despite the testimonials, parents wanted to know the odds of their eighth-graders getting their first choice next year. Hansch said he expected next year’s first-choice percentage to go back to its usual average, but could not yet give specifics. ‘‘Until you know how many kids pick a school, you don’t know what the odds of getting into a school are,” he said.

Parents suggested the county give projections about enrollment so they could better talk with their children about their chances of getting into each school.

Madden found the PTSA meeting informative and walked away thinking any of the schools would be fine for her daughter. She also was glad she could offer her daughter some perspective about the choice process. ‘‘I’m trying to be open and honest with my daughter about it, and this will help me be open and honest with her about it,” Madden said.

DelSole, who during the meeting asked about each school’s signature program as well as the lottery process, agreed. Her son was going to make his own decision about where he wanted to go to high school, she said, but now she can give him information about all of the schools, particularly if he does not get his first choice.

‘‘Knowing the situation ahead of time, it lets me play up the other schools,” she said.