School Choice open enrollment under way
Open enrollment for School Choice began on Monday and will run for 10 weeks through March 24, for kindergarten, sixth and ninth grade students.
“It is always a plan that we seek to improve upon,” School District of Lee County Director of Planning, Growth and School Capacity Greg Blurton said. “It is something we want to be proactive with the community and help them understand the process.”
Last year during batch 1 there were 17,507 applications for 18,244 applicants to the assignment lottery. So far this week there have been 4,744 applications for 4,960 applicants.
School Choice is not first-come, first-serve, but rather an opportunity that allows families to rank their top school preferences within their zone and subzone.
“Save your time. Save your sanity and don’t stand in line that first Monday. You can come see us in person. Give us a call. We are here to make it a smooth process as possible,” he said.
The program, which began in 2004, is reviewed and updated every year and goes before the school board for approval in November for the following school year.
“It is not a perfect system. It is something that we continually look to improve,” he said of the system that exists to meet the unique needs of the community.
Blurton said offering special programs to Lee County students is something that is very important to the district, especially if they can do it by keeping students closest to their homes.
The open enrollment for the Student Assignment Plan is for the following school year, 2017-2018.
Blurton said families, with either new, or currently enrolled students, have a 10 week period to fill out an application and provide all the information needed – such as birth certificates and shot records, as well as rank their top choices for schools, before the enrollment concludes.
Students already enrolled in the district entering sixth, or ninth grade, received a preprinted application in the mail with the list of schools from which they are eligible to select.
Although families have the opportunity to fill out the application online, or mail it to the district, families enrolling a kindergarten student who participated in a pre-k program not affiliated with the school district will need to visit the district office.
“We don’t know anything about them,” Blurton said. “The 10 weeks is an opportunity to come in person, especially in some of those situations, and to go through the process.”
The school district is divided into three zones – west, south and east – with Cape Coral and North Fort Myers schools lying within the West Zone.
“Parents, caregivers, and guardians have a choice related to what school their children can attend. It allows them to choose from a variety of schools within their zone,” he said. “Within each of these zones they are subdivided into three subzones in each zone.”
The home address determines which schools will be on the family’s application to rank. The proximity to the school is also another indicator for the selection options.
The top preference is for schools within two driving miles from a school within their subzone. The second preference is two to five driving miles from the school.
The ultimate deciding factor, he said, is if the child has any special needs. Blurton said although all of the schools have special need programs, some offer more than others.
Once the enrollment closes, Blurton and his team collects all the data, including each application’s rankings. Each application is assigned a random number and sorted into preferences, special needs and if the applicant has siblings in the district.
“We encourage families to enroll online when they can because they will get their assignments a week before everyone else,” he explained. “We can email you the results of what your choice was.”
Those who do not fill out the application online will receive their school assignments in their mailbox in late April.
Blurton said those who do not receive their first choice will be placed in a eligibility pool and put on a waiting list. Within the first 15 days of the new school year, if any seats become available for their first choice, the family will be notified.
“More than 95 percent of our families ultimately receive their top three choices,” he said. “Over 80 percent of our families get their first choice.”
When the family is notified that their first choice is available, Blurton said many pass and want to stay at their current school.