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Having grown up in a 'neighborhood' school system, v. open-enrollment (for Elem + Middle schools)
I wholeheartedly support neighborhood schools, and am torn on the moving from open-enrollment to neighborhood schools, because it can split children into multiple schools.
Bozeman Montana Local News (http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/02/10/news/000school.txt - broken link) <-- heres an article from the Local Bozeman paper that I just read about it. Im curious what other people think about their idea.
I've always been in consolidated school systems where there isn't much rhyme or reason to which school you are zoned for. I lived 2.5 miles and 3 miles from two different high schools in the city I grew up in, yet I had to attend a different HS that was 11 miles away so the system could balance the proportions of economically disadvantaged students in the district.
As a student I wanted to attend the schools in my neighborhood. As a future parent or future educator, it would depend on what kind of neighborhood I lived in.
I think it's good to have some choice in schools. I live in a neighborhood where the families can choose between 2 middle schools and 2 high schools and you can pick the school that is a better match for your personality. It's not uncommon to have siblings in different schools because their personalities demand different environments. Luckily the schools are quite different from each other.
My kiddo is in private school and I like being able to pick out the exact right school for him.
We took advantage of public school open-enrollment. My kids were six years apart in age anyway, but regardless, I did appreciate being able to have more choice.
MN has statewide open enrollment but it is all by choice. I don't agree with not being able to attend your own neighborhood school because there isn't room. In MN if a school has a population issue they don't allow open enrolled students, even if they attended previous years. I would say in the case of this story that the family living in the boundaries should have priority over anyone that is open enrolled. Our schools will not add staff to accommodate open enrolled students but they will add staff to accommodate students in their boundaries.
I'd be interested to see the differences in city-wide property crimes between school districts with open enrollment and school districts with neighborhood schools. I like the idea of neighborhood schools and the way it could tie a community together. The kids on your street would go to school with each other. They could walk home together instead of walking home alone. I remember walking home from school and the streets would be full of kids.
Parents and others in the neighborhood would also know the other kids in the neighborhood. It might help to reduce property crime and vandalism because the kids know the people who live in the houses. And the people in the houses know the kid's names and who their parents are.
I think one of the biggest social problems we face is how isolated people in our neighborhoods are from each other, and anything we can do to increase the amount of community would be helpful.
I think it would also help if the parents felt as though a school was "their" school and was representative of their neighborhoods. The focus could be on improving the neighborhood school rather than focusing entirely on their own student.
I'd be interested to see the differences in city-wide property crimes between school districts with open enrollment and school districts with neighborhood schools. I like the idea of neighborhood schools and the way it could tie a community together. The kids on your street would go to school with each other. They could walk home together instead of walking home alone. I remember walking home from school and the streets would be full of kids.
Parents and others in the neighborhood would also know the other kids in the neighborhood. It might help to reduce property crime and vandalism because the kids know the people who live in the houses. And the people in the houses know the kid's names and who their parents are.
I think one of the biggest social problems we face is how isolated people in our neighborhoods are from each other, and anything we can do to increase the amount of community would be helpful.
I think it would also help if the parents felt as though a school was "their" school and was representative of their neighborhoods. The focus could be on improving the neighborhood school rather than focusing entirely on their own student.
See, thats my feeling having grown up in a neighborhood school system.
However, I understand the fact that if your child is currently attending another school outside the area, how you would be reluctant to relocate them. And Bozeman is a small enough place that its a pretty short drive from one side of the town to the other.
On the other side, in Highschools, the academic quality varies extremely, and its very important in my opinion that students who can excel are allowed to do so (back to the gifted thread). And that a neighborhood school may not be the best place for a child that would be able to succeed in AP/IB programs that aren't offered at their neighborhood school.
For elementary and middle school though, I don't think its necessary to do that, since the academic programs don't vary much.
Im debating finding the next city council meeting and stating my opinions there, since this doesn't seem to be in stone yet.
Edit: Im also entirely against moving students from the school they're in.
Here there is no "either or".....open enrollment in a school is allowed, as long as there is room after all the neighborhood kids zoned for that school are accounted for. There is no "once in then guaranteed in" here. Each year it's a whole new story. So just because your child got into a school you wanted them in one year, they might not the next.
My son has always gone to his neighborhood school. He has grown up with these kids since kindergarten - he'll be in high school next year. I would not want to move him around as the connections he's made are very important.
Then again, the schools he is zoned for are ones that people not zoned for want to have their kids in.
There are some girls apparently stressing because they've open enrolled in the middle school for a few years, but are now on a waiting list for the high school next year. If they don't get in, they go to their neighborhood school - a tough time to have to make new friends.
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