HELP!Live in Canal Winchester, but child has to attend Columbus school (Reynoldsburg: condos)

[cwmom]

The reason I wrote "HELP!" is because I need some advice in the situation I find myself in:

Before we moved to OH 5 yrs. ago, I had already learned which school districts in the area are better and which schools you don't want your child to attend. What I didn't know, however, was that even though you might live in Canal Winchester, it doesn't necessarily mean that the street you live in belongs to Canal Winch. school district. Being originally from Europe and after living over 10 yrs. in a small midwestern town, moving to Columbus was already a big change (meaning the ethnic and cultural picture here is so very different compared to where we come from). Even though I like the multi-racial and multi-national community, my children have had rather difficult time getting adjucted. Living in Canal Winchester has been a little similar to the community where we came from: laid back, suburban, low crime... So I felt comfortable that when my children will go to C.W. school, it won't be too much of a shock.

I went to registrer my daughter to C.W. school few days ago and I was told: Sorry, your street is not in our list. We live almost in the center of C.W.! I didn't understand, I was 100% sure that when we purchased our home 2 yrs. ago (new), it was in C.W. school district. They politly replied that there is nothing they can do - such is the law. The assigned school for my child is in Columbus sch. district. I did my homework and found out that the students in this school are over 90% African American, many come from rough neighborhoods, fights both on school buses and around school are usual... I was in utter shock! Please, understand - I am NOT a racist. Some of my best friends are black and also some are African. What I am very concerned is that my child, that has already had hard time getting adjusted here, has to attend a school that is culturaly very different and has a rather bad reputation.

Any advice? Other options would be: private school, homeschooling or charter school, which are all out of the question for various reasons. Is there anything that can be done in this kind of a situation? I have already considered moving, but we just purcased our home and this too is out of question right now....

Will be looking forward to hear form you. Thanks!

[streetcreed]

Here is a map of the columbus city school district boundaries. Notice the areas of yellow far out from the main city and beyond suburbs. Those are the areas, "pockets", that this poster is living in.



I have written many many posts on Columbus City Schools.

There are some very good schools in the Columbus City district. The district has an open enrollment policy. The district is the largest in the state. There is just a lot of people who really know little about the district. Many in the suburbs lump the district into one big concept when really it is the largest district in the state and has many schools that rank good and poorly.


Generally, most of the 'good' schools are on the central/northern side and NW side. The far east side schools (the one your child is assigned) vary. Generally, the Far East side ones are very African American.

Nearly all of the Columbus schools (due to open enrollment) have a diverse student body
Columbus has schools that rank on par with the suburbs.

The schools that are known for being the best are diverse but along the lines of more 60-70 percent Caucasian, 20-30 percent African American and other minorities. Their test scores can closely mirror a suburb and there are schools that have very high level of special/alternative classes and learning methods.


You will need to talk to the district and try to enroll your child in one of the schools which better suits your needs and wants (test scores/demographics)

When looking at High Schools I really recommend Columbus Alternative High School. The school is diverse and nearly even black and white and is ranked as one of the best high schools in the metro.

Columbus Alternative H.S. gets a A level ranking from the state yearly. That is better than some other suburban area High Schools. This is why it is so important that you do the research so you can know your many options of schools (for your child to attend) and by using the tax money you pay the district yearly.

Columbus also has great schools like
Spanish/French Immersion
Fort Hays arts high schools (downtown)
K-8 intensive studies schools (like Indianola is ranked high by parents)
I have a friend who graduated from Fort Hays, people actually choose to attend fort hays part day instead of suburban schools. She was from Worthington and she got into one of the hardest art schools in the country (in Chicago)

Also, the schools on the far east side rank higher than many other ones in the district, are out of academic emergency, and the middle/elementary schools on the far east side have completely new state of the art buildings. So there is something to consider, maybe, even at the assigned school.

The Columbus school district has many options for all schools k-12. There is, also, a science/math intensive school that you can attend if your part of the district that is run by the county. That county run school is free for all Columbus students but is a high school only. Students there learn multiple languages and go into advanced college math and science courses.


HERE IS THE COURSE THAT I RECOMMEND
1. Read about and visit the school that your child is assigned to by the district before writing it off. Decide if after visiting the school, the reputation for fights/bad students is maybe a few bad kids or is that reputation justly deserved.

If you rule out the assigned school…

2. Go to the district website. http://www.columbus.k12.oh.us There you can search though a profile of all the possible schools that your child can attend for their grade level. Look at the schools that interest you. Then contact the district and schedule a visit and ask for test scores, etc..

3. Compare your research on the Columbus City Schools that you liked to visits/research on your private school options.

If you choose the city schools (or a combination) lay out a plan.

Your plan could look something like this…

K-12
Maybe you liked an elementary school in Columbus, say Winterset Elementary on the NW side (a very good elementary school by the way)

Middle School
Maybe you like the Columbus magnet middle school called Indianola Alternative in Clintonville.

High School
Maybe here you would decide there’s this great private Catholic School, St. Charles, near Bexley that you would use for High School or the county run Metro High.

Of course your “education course” could look different than this but this is just an example (though all those schools mentioned are good). This way you can kind of see how your child’s education would be shaped and what type of schools you will use to do so.

The key word here is "applying" you need to apply for a lottery spot at the school you decide on and the district will provide busing for your child to attend that school.

I urge you to look at the district website and start to see the school profiles.

Greatschools.net has school profiles. You should use that site with the district’s site and visits to the schools and maybe some other sources.

Also, you should not feel that it is your fault that you did not know that the district had open enrollment and that you could chose from a wide variety of schools that specialize in an interest like the arts, literature, science, and foreign language immersion schools. You live within the district boundaries and the district has made little effort to contact you.

That is a summarization of the Columbus City Schools; once you learn about the district and how to maneuver within it you can give you’re a child a great education. You just need to approach them first.

Regarding how and why your area of the suburbs attends the city schools here’s a response i did for another post:

In 1985 the city of Columbus school district wanted to continue to have the students that would soon live in many of the developing and growing areas that were annexed by Columbus. The suburbs, though, would have had these students if they had remained townships and were not annexed.

Thus an agreement was reached in 85. Columbus said that ANY area that was soon to be developed and annexed BEFORE 1985 would go to the suburban district that it would have gone to had it remained a township.

Anything annexed AFTER 1985, once developed, would go to COLUMBUS.

Now you ask, what about those areas of Columbus annexed after 1985? Well those have just started to develop now (1999 and on). Thus, you literally have pockets of areas OUTSIDE of the suburbs that are busing students into Columbus schools.
These pockets exist on the NE side, SE side (yours), and far west side. The schools that the kids are being bused to are not bad schools but they are not in the kids neighborhoods. The district is looking at building schools in these “pockets” in the NE side and SE side (your neighborhood)

This has, also, been talked about here http://www.city-data.com/forum/colum...-columbus.html

[YoMikey617]

CPS is strang like that. They have all these annexed areas way out in the suburbs, and then sometimes there are grey areas that are part of a suburban district but then switch to CPS at a later time. I have always wondered if builders use a bait and switch with potential home buyers. A lot of the cheaper new homes and condos tend to be in those grey areas, and a lot of realtors don't even know that the grey areas exist.

I'd do as the prior poster mentions and see where your kid would be assigned to attend in CPS.

Then maybe check with CW and Pickerington and see if you can simply pay tuition for your kid to attend one of their elementary schools.

[babybear101]

Streetcreed that was an excellent post on how to maneuver CPS district thank you. CPS is very confusing on boundaries.

[jajosh07]

Depending on how far you are willing to take your child to school you should check into the open enrollment policy's of nearby school districts... I know the school district that i attended allowed anyone from anywhere to attend through open enrollment to i would try and contact all the school districts within range! If worst comes to worst consider nearby catholic or christian schools many are very very good!

[mommyofthree]

I can tell you that other districts will probably not allow you to pay tuition for your child - they are overcrowded. There is an excellent Christian school not too far from Canal Winchester - I have friends whose children attend and they are very pleased - Madison Christian School on Bixby Road. Good luck!!

[thartson]

Originally Posted by mommyofthree

I can tell you that other districts will probably not allow you to pay tuition for your child - they are overcrowded. There is an excellent Christian school not too far from Canal Winchester - I have friends whose children attend and they are very pleased - Madison Christian School on Bixby Road. Good luck!!

I highly recommend MADISON CHRISTIAN also. My children attended there and we attend Church there also. Very pleased.

[BigVill]

There is also World Harvest church/school(private) in Canal, Groveport schools, Reynoldsburg, and Pickerington nearby. Check with these schools on their open enrollment policy. I can't think of any Columbus School that is 90% black. Did someone at the school give you this figure? In Canal, I suppose the High School would be Independence or Walnut Ridge.

[streetcreed]

I can't think of any Columbus School that is 90% black. Did someone at the school give you this figure? In Canal, I suppose the High School would be Independence or Walnut Ridge.

Independence High School 91% BLACK
source GreatSchools.net

I found that statistic on greatschools.net. Independence High School and Walnut Ridge H.S. (both on the far east side of Columbus) are two very African-American schools. Most of the caucasion high school students from the far east side seem to attend another high school in the district like I suggested this woman could do with her children.

[jajosh07]

I have discovered two things from my research on this topic...

number one- In 1993-1994, Ohio implemented an inter district open enrollment policy. Under it, students can transfer only to adjacent districts, taking about $2,900 with them. Districts can decide to be open or closed but cannot prevent student transfers. In 1994, open-ended surveys were sent to the superintendents of open and closed districts, asking the reasons for their decision..... So it is very possible for you to find an open enrollment district

and even better for you- Open districts tended to be small, rural, racially homogeneous districts that had been losing enrollment. Their major reason for accepting transfers was to increase enrollment. Closed districts tended to be suburban districts with above average per pupil expenditure. Their major reason for not receiving transfers was insufficient space.....

So if you are willing to take your child to a nearby district places such as teays valley, bloom carrol, amanda clearcreek, liberty union.... these would also be much more in-line with what you are looking for being very safe, good midwestern schools.. i attened a school such as this and i can tell you that your child will have a much better experience at small rural school than most students do a a suburban or inner-city school do