I finally watched Waiting for Superman; unintentionally it highlights the need for an overhaul of how LAUSD handles school choice and parent engagement.  I was especially drawn to local protagonist, Daisy’s family, applying her for one of 10 sixth grade slots at Kipp LA Prep which, unlike most middle schools, starts in the 5th grade.   Its unfortunate that her parents are applying to a grade level she has the least chance*(for detailed explanation) to get acceptance to. Hint, Kipp LA Prep does not have a 6th grade class of just 10 kids. The frustration Daisy’s family experiences is because of a disorganized choice system in LAUSD.  

The single LA family and their futile effort to get their child into a charter school is a better representation of the dysfunction of the choice system in LAUSD than anything about charter schools.  The fact that the director, Davis Gugenheim, drives by three public elementary schools everyday to take his kids to private school and thinks those students have few choices shows just how hard it is for someone (even with his resources) to understand the school choice process in LAUSD.  Regardless of how you feel about charters/magnets/etc, Daisy’s family deserves a reasonable access to know what school choices exist so they can make an informed school path for Daisy.  LAUSD has tons of choice; spend anytime on this site and you know we promote school choice in LAUSD. LAUSD needs better policy to promote its currently offered choices.

LAUSD needs to move beyond compliance to engagement and accessibility.  Currently every school choice office has a primary role as a compliance office to ensure their program(s) are running correctly.  In most cases these offices have incentives to make sure you don’t know about the other options. The Magnet office doesn’t want to lose students to SAS schools and/or Charter schools, etc because students keep these programs funded.  No office that is in charge of a school choice option has a mandate to promote itself, just to manage the choice process.

        We need parents.lausd.net and/or community.lausd.net to be a singular place at LAUSD where parents can get information of interest to parents.  There is a lot of information that belongs on parents.lausd.net, but I’m going with what I’m interested in.

  • Let’s put school report cards, AGT scores, API scores and graduation rates, location information, etc (for all schools, including charters, magnets, CDS, etc…) in a single place.   
  • Lets get some common application formats for all of these options; legally speaking, there is very little information a school can request in its application (enrollment is different). Let’s works on making a common application when possible and digitally accessible.  
  • A single calendar (for all school choices).  With dozens of application dates parents deserve a single calendar from the district serving up these choices.  Let’s give equal space for every choice, let parents find magnet schools, charter schools, and every other option in a single place (besides a bootleg web-site run by some geeky teachers).


more info: 
* When applying to Kipp LA Prep in 5th grade there are approximately 90 spots open based on a total enrollment in grades 5-8 of 360.  In the 6th grade spots are dependent on kids leaving the school after the 5th grade year.  In the year Daisy applied, only 10 students had left Kipp LA Prep so she is fighting with 135 students for 10 spots.  Most LAUSD middle schools end at 5th grade, so parents think 6th grade is the start of middle school.  Only the most astute parents know to get into Kipp LA prep in the 5th grade.  
 


**Every Choice and what the administrative office is focused on:

  • Charter: LAUSD’s Charter Division is in charge of maintaining a list of charter schools.  It’s up to each charter school to promote itself and it makes little sense for LAUSD to promote charters, since it loses money every time a student goes to a charter.
  • Magnet/PSC/PWT:  LAUSD’s Student Integration Services Offices that oversees magnet, PSC (i.e., this Public School Choice, not to be confused with this identically titled Public School Choice), and PWT (Permits with Transportation) is in charge of checking for compliance at these schools and running the application process.  By all accounts the application process and points system along with numerous misconceptions keeps many parents from availing themselves of this choice. (In the absence of clear direction from LAUSD, several “grassroots” blogs have recently sprung up to help parents navigate this confusing system….lausdmagnetangel.com and Ask a Magnet Yenta are just two examples). 
  • Open Enrollment: Run by the School Management Services Office, their job is to calculate how many students are needed to keep existing staff at a school and then run an application process for families to apply.  This office has nothing to lose or gain by families using this option because families would default to their home school if they don’t use this process.
  • Romero Transfer Act: Managed by Pupil Services and Attendance Coordinator, this office gets to make sure Romero Transfer Act is operated at LAUSD but there is little to no documentation as to how it works.
  • Schools of Advanced Studies (SAS): Run by the Gifted/Talented office which is primarily interested in making sure these programs are run at the highest level, there audience is usually limited and promoted from one SAS school to the next.


***There aren’t many other large districts to look at, Boston is the closest example. Boston public school system has choice policy that mandates parents pick multiple schools to apply to when moving to a new school.  While this policy is good at forcing parents to choose, it falls short because most parents pick the same “top” schools to apply to and effectively parents are only choosing between two or three schools.  I don’t advocate this as a solution but as an example that a large school district can and should make its choices equally accessible.