BUSD Kindergarten Information Night Recap

Tonight I attended a Berkeley Public Schools Kindergarten Information night along with about 150 other families. I was really impressed by the candor and quiet humor of Admissions director Francisco Martinez - he handled the questions of the crowd really well.

Some highlights of the evening:

• The rationale regarding the lottery system in BUSD was reviewed along with the current boundaries. The attendance zones are published on the berkeleyschools.net website, but a minor tweak to the boundaries from two years ago is that Malcolm X is considered both a Central and Northwest zoned school, and Berkeley Arts Magnet is considered both a Southeast and Central zoned school due to enrollment needs. 

• I was impressed by the clarity in which the thinking behind the zones was expressed. Basically, the district looked at parental education levels, family income levels, and ethnicity throughout the city and created attendance areas given those demographic factors. Thinking about creating diverse and integrated schools - while giving families choice - as families enroll, they assign each family a "diversity score" which simply reflects where you live. For example, I have a diversity score of 2, because I live in North Berkeley below MLK - it doesn't have anything to do with the actual education, income, or ethnicity of my family. Then, families are assigned to schools based on creating a balance of diversity scores (1 (hills), 2 (middle/central Berkeley), or 3 (flatlands)) at each school. This is all done by a computer in under three minutes!

• Children are assigned within the lottery by these priorities: 
• All children already enrolled are placed first (to maintain their "seat" in their current school)
• Siblings are enrolled next to keep families together at schools as much as possible
• Families who are choosing schools in their attendance zone
• Families who are chosen schools outside their attendance zone (this was not recommended throughout the talk)
• Finally, non-BUSD residents applying for spaces are given an opportunity if spaces still exist

• Mr. Martinez clarified that this is a highly computerized system that doesn't allow for individual biases, preferences, etc. MANY families asked about different ways of increasing their chances at receiving certain school assignments - and the answer to these questions was very clear.  While many families proposed more complicated theories, the district stated these are the only factors that assist with receiving a school of your choice.  

• Apply within the timeline - forms are due February 3rd, 2012 this year. 
• Applying in the attendance zone in which you live gives you a greater chance of being assigned your top three choices (due to the lottery priorities noted above).
• Write in all three choices as asked on the form - or the computer randomizes your choice that you left blank for you. 
• If you are interested in your child attending a two-way immersion program and they are not a Limited English Proficient learner (meaning, English is their native language and they speak it fluently) there are only 30 seats district wide. That isn't many - three to five times as many families as seats apply to this program yearly. If this is of interest to your family, Mr. Martinez recommended highly that you apply to the two-way immersion program  in your attendance area.  He stated that there is almost no way (statistically) to be assigned to a two-way immersion program outside your attendance area.
• However, if you want to try to get into an immersion program, feel free. That lottery is run first, before the "regular" lottery. The children are assigned to those programs and then, if they did not get a seat, are put through the regular lottery system using your other listed preferences on the enrollment form.
• There is a higher likelihood of getting into a school that is larger in your attendance area, than one than is smaller.  There are simply more seats available.

•  Waiting lists were discussed. Once your family as received your assignment, you have two weeks to request being placed on waiting lists for schools of your choice. 
• You can be on as many waiting lists as you would like at any time.
• Each waiting list is different. You could be #1 on one list and #150 on another.
• It isn't first come, first serve. You are placed on a list based on your diversity score and based on the priorities list above. Again, you are most likely to be placed higher on a waiting list in your attendance zone than outside your attendance zone.

•  Mr. Martinez addressed the concerns that BUSD has many children attending who do not live in Berkeley. He noted: 
• The district always asks for proof of residence, but proof can be forged.
• However, the district does allow children to attend BUSD who have a guardian who works for the district. This is allowed via their contract. 
• Intradistrict transfers are also allowed for some special education students on a case-by-case basis. 
• BUSD does also allow some other non-Berkeley families to attend due to "extenuating circumstances", but this is rarely granted and a seat needs to be available and not needed for a Berkeley resident. 

• Mr. Martinez concluded that if families have any questions, they should feel free to contact the admissions office for advice at 510-644-6504. 

Hope our brief summary is helpful. Post comments and questions below!

The School Tour

Sadly, I just read that the longest a blog post should be is 500 words. Sigh. Definitely not my specialty. 

Here is the thing - I figure that people who read this blog are: (1) Kind friends who read my blog in case I ask them about my blog, and don’t want to say that they haven’t read it, or (2) People who want to know what a fifteen-year educator knows about school selection. If you are the #2 kind of person - sorry for my wordiness, but it is hard to be succinct when you are passionate about something. If you are the #1 kind - I love you and you can be excused for today.

So before I launch into a diatribe about the critical nature of the school tour - let’s review. I am hoping that before you go into that next school tour you have talked with your partner/friend/significant other about your key educational values and your child’s critical needs in a school setting. If you have read this blog before, you might be gathering that I am obsessive about this point - and will return to it as often as necessary. (Read here and here if you don’t believe me.)

Without having this base, you are looking at a school without a focus. This can lead to distractions becoming a part of your school search. For instance: 

--The “bright and shiny things” distraction. These are school amenities or programs that are available at a given school - but they may not contribute to the school in a way that is important to your family or your child. If you go into a school without your key values explicitly articulated, it is easy to be distracted by the new computer lab, the tennis courts, or the Nepalese bilingual immersion program.  These could be amazing contributors to your child’s education - or they could take away from other programs that are deeply important to your family or your child. Something to think about is that even the schools with the most money and most resources have to make choices about where and how they focus those resources - they can't fund everything equally. Schools have to prioritize - as do families. 

--The “personable people” distraction. Some schools have amazing admissions directors, heads of school, dynamic PTA leaders - and thank goodness for them. However, one person does not a school make. While I do think that principals/heads of school are important to the overall school climate and teaching atmosphere, it is important to find out how much that person you admire and connect with is involved in the children’s day-to-day lives at the school. What does their influence contribute to the school? The head of school may make you cry with joy when he talks about early childhood development, but he might not have much day-to-day contact with the teachers at the school. Also, it is important to know if having an enthusiastic head of school is important to you - or are there other things higher up on your priority list. It is important to decide before the personable people persuade you to sign up for a school that, in the end, doesn't match your needs. 

--The "my best friend says" distraction. While other people's opinions, impressions, thoughts, etc. about schools you are looking at are important to hear - please don't let them choose for you. I recently spoke to a mom who did not consider a school for her child because her mother had negative things to say about it. Later, in desperation, she was convinced to look at the school and found it was exactly what she was looking for her children - and brought her mom on another tour later. Turns out that her mom had never seen the school either, but had "heard things" - which shaped her opinion. We all "hear" things about schools. Some of them are objectively true, some were true several years ago (but aren't true any more), and some are only subjectively true - they are true depending on who is doing the looking. Don't let other people sway you from checking out a school that seems like it matches your values. They are looking at the school from their value-colored lens...not from yours. 

O.K. - so what do we do to keep from getting distracted while we are on the school tour? 

(1) Have your top educational priorities written down in front of you for each school tour, to minimize the “bright and shiny” effect of certain tours. Check them off as you see them in the school and note how they are demonstrated. Are people just telling you that the school has "active learning" approach - or did you see the children in the classrooms participating actively with your own eyes. Write down your evidence and track it as you go through the tour. Then, later you can compare and contrast actual data on "active learning" (and other key priorities) between school sites when you are making your choice. 

(2) Craft your questions about the school in advance of the tour and create a "form" that you fill out at each tour when you get your answers.  Try to make sure you ask the same questions at each tour so you can compare apples to apples when the time comes. 

Note: Don't be afraid to ask a question. Any question. They should be ready for you or they should get back to you quickly. If they aren't ready for a question about school diversity, or teacher training, or school finance stability, then you have your answer...it's not on their radar.

(3) Give yourself time, space, and care to be a good observer. Going into a school tour tired, hungry, stressed, anxious, or with an infant in tow, will color your experience of the school. Also, sadly, it will impair your ability to observe the setting. If you can, get a good nights rest, have breakfast, and drop your youngest off at your mom's house. Do what you can to be a focused observer with a calm and open mind. 

(4) If you can, have someone else go and look either with you or at a different time. If you have a partner, send them on a different tour (with the same priority-based checklist) and see what they see. If you are doing this alone, go twice to the schools that are in your top three choices. Having multiple experiences with the same place will help double-check your first impression of the place and give you more data to compare and contrast. 

(5) Note the red flags. I feel like these are probably different depending on who you are, but my red flags are dirty bathrooms or hallways (signs of not great management of staff and/or disorganization); extremely messy classrooms (either an unprepared teacher or one with not enough support to organize a little throughout the week); a shouting teacher (stress and school climate issues); and unfriendly support staff (again, a hiring and management issue - also a sign of an unhappy working environment). One family I know saw a rat at a school tour...and that was their red flag. Everyone has theirs - articulate them and write them down if you see them.  

Note: If it is a "yellow flag" (something you see that bothers you just a little), still write it down and your feelings about it. What you observed might become an important deciding factor later when it is time to choose.

These are my tricks - what are yours? What are you looking for on your tours? How do you organize yourself? Post below and let me know what you think!

Your Gut and School Selection

There are two common responses when I tell someone that I am an educational consultant that helps families find schools that meet their needs.

(1) The horror story: The person will launch into a tale of someone they knew who had a horrible experience with X school or Y preschool and how they could have really used someone like me at the time.

(2) The why-you-aren't-needed story: (I don't take this personally - really.) The well-meaning person will tell me, "Well, you just know when you know. You know?  Finding a school - it is all gut instinct. You see it - and you know if it will work for your family."

While I don't want to dismiss someone listening to their gut outright when it comes to school selection (there is definitely a place for it) - I want to challenge this idea because, interestingly enough, the "horror story" responders? They often listened to their gut and went into a school situation without looking hard enough at the fit between the school and their child and family.

The thing is - the American Family is busy. Way too busy. And don't get me started on Bay Area parents - we are busy to the nth power...on speed. It would be great if this was the 1970s where you sent your child to the local public school and things just worked out. It was simple*.  Like the advice of "listening to your gut". It simplifies a complex decision making process. It calms worried, busy families. It says, "Go to the tours, but the other, hard work - like figuring out what is most important to your child and your family, and then finding it - that work isn't needed. Your instinct will lead the way."

Our instincts - our gut reaction - are shaped by so many things. Count them with me - our mood, our energy level, our health, what other people told us we should feel or think, our past experiences (which could be related and relevant - or not), our schedule on a given day (busy or calm), our relationships (in conflict or in peace), the conversation we just had with our mother-in-law in the car....so many things can influence how we look at a school at any given time. Our gut is malleable - like cornstarch and water mixed together. Our gut reaction to an experience at any given time might not uphold and prioritize our deeply held values regarding that experience the way we would like it to - it is based (a heck of a lot) in our emotional state.

Here is the hard truth. You wouldn't buy a house on just your gut instinct, right? Home ownership is a major investment and most families treat it as such. We research potential neighborhoods with care. We attend open house after open house. We wonder,  what is the community like - and ask multiple people for their perspective.  We question - can we afford a house in that area? We consider how we feel about "fixing up" a property - and putting our energy into making more than it was? We think about nearby amenities - do we want access to public transportation? Or is green space more important to our family? Maybe if we need help, we hire a real estate agent to help us find exactly what we are looking for.

I hope you get where I am going with this. With any major investment, most of us carefully think about our family's needs and values before diving in - because choosing a school is a long-term decision will support (or impact) your family for years to come. Your choice for your child's first school environment needs the same attention.

In the end, we do use our instincts to purchase the house or choose the school. But hopefully, we use our gut as only one data point among many to make the best choice possible - to avoid the horror story.

*It wasn't really. Remember? A lot of us were miserable in school. There were just fewer choices.