While it’s great to hear that a whole host of kids previously on the waiting list for the John Stanford school next year now have slots, Rebecca notes that it does create a bit of anomaly in the neighborhood. Many kids from the previous year will see their older and younger peers head off to the neighborhood school each morning, but, because they entered kindergarten at the most competitive time, they’ll bussed off elsewhere:
The neighborhood will now experience a very odd and divisive anomaly, where all the children born in 2002 and 2004 are in the community school together but those born in the year between, 2003, have to go somewhere else. We have a very large number of children living around us and my son and a boy a block away will be the only two children not able to attend their community school. It creates an isolation that will impact their lives one way or another for the rest of their childhood.
Rebecca has contacted the school and is asking that before the school reaches outside of the reference area (the area immediately surrounding John Stanford) to fill the newly opened kindergarten slots, they instead add first graders from the reference area who were turned away from kindergarten last year.
Rebecca is interested in talking to other parents who are in a similar predicament. You can e-mail her at [email protected].
Does she want to add first graders to the kindergarten class? I don’t see how that can work. Also I don’t understand what’s special about 2003. My daughter is born in 2003 and got into kindergarten this year. Does she mean last year’s kindergarten class (entering in 2008)? I know the class entering in 2007 was not as competitive as 2008. But 2005 and 2006 saw many JSIS reference area kids not get in on the wait list.
This is how it is where I live in the NW corner of the JSIS reference area. In my eldest daughter’s “class” the area kids went to 7 different kindergartens (most public). These are kids within 4 blocks of our house, There is unfortunately no publicneighborhood school for us since the Interlake school closed (now Wallingford center).
When Latona converted to JSIS with its language immersion program, it had a combined K/1 class. Many other schools have combination looping classes like this. Some schools combine 2nd/3rd grades.
As for 2003, the idea is that it represents a large number of the incoming K class of 2008-2009, where the first kid on the waiting list was 4/10 of a mile from the school. We have been watching every year since 2001 and, every year, kids on our block got in until last year. You got in this year because you have a sibling in the school or because they added the new Japanese class. Otherwise, you would have been like the neighbor near us who was 15 on the K waiting list for this Sept — that is, until last Wednesday when they added the new Japanese class.
I would imagine this would sting for some local families who tried to get their K kid into JSIS for 08-09, and the idea to add 1st grade spots to form a blended classroom is an interesting one. I wonder how many in that cohort would make a switch given the opportunity, vs. sticking with their current school where they’ve already put down roots. Becky, aside from your son and neighbor’s boy, do you know how many other families might be interested? From what I’ve heard, NE Cluster has experienced similar capacity problems, resulting in families within a neigbhorhood/neighborhood area assigned to a variety of elem schools throughout the cluster and much frustration for those families who hoped to stay very local.
Even with the unfortunate anomaly (and I have to dispute the statement that ‘all children born in 2002 and 2004 are in the community school together,’ as there are certainly families in our community who choose other public or private schools), it is good news in general that the district continues to grow bilingual immersion opportunities. I hope we see increased commitment in the form of bigger/additional elementary and middle school programs and eventually an international high school (how about Lincoln?).
Becky, I hope your concerns are heard and that you get some encouraging news. Is there any chance of your son transferring in as a 1st or 2nd grader, if spots become available?
Anomaly.
Thanks, Robb (and Barb), spelling corrected.
Rebecca, Thanks for your comments. The main reason I asked if Wallyhood would be willing to post on this is because I’d like to find the other families in the same situation. I know they are out there because we are #5 on the waiting list for first grade and because last year the waiting list was huge inside the reference area and the #1 kid on the waiting list lived so close by the school. I’ve only know JSIS to have taken 1 first grader in the few years that I’ve watched this, so I don’t feel all that confident about our chances to get into the existing first grade.
We’ve thought about the impact of the switch on our son, but I think back on when I was in K and I don’t remember much about it. However, I do remember a lot about my neighborhood elementary school from 2nd/3rd grade on and feel strongly that a switch now will have very short term impact but going to elementary school outside the neighborhood for the entire 6 years will have a very long term impact (primarily because this is what happened to me).
If you know of any families who are on the first grade waiting list or are interested in JSIS for first grade but figure there is little hope, please have them contact me or let me know if I can contact them.
Thanks again, Becky