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Old 06-09-2016, 03:12 PM
 
Location: Cary, NC
4,292 posts, read 5,938,468 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DC Fairwinds View Post
So it's basically school choice for parents? Or, just a few schools per area? We have 1 school per town (although due to low student numbers some schools are closing their doors).
It's sort of a choice program. For your address, you have a base school you're assigned to, and then you have a calendar alternative or two in case you prefer year-round or traditional and your base is the opposite one.

And then there's a list of magnet options. For my address there are 17 magnet elementary schools, for example, that you could apply to depending on what programs you're interested in. Magnets are by application process, with priority for siblings of course, but for the general applicant your chances depend significantly on whether you come from a high-performing area of the county or not. If you're coming from a high-performing area, you're more likely to get a seat at a magnet, as you're likely to be helping pull up that school. If you're already in a low-performing area, you're less likely to get a magnet seat, as you're more likely to be hurting your base school by leaving it.

Busing to magnet schools is generally (but not always) provided, although sometimes its express buses where you have to drop your child off at a central point somewhat close to you so they can efficiently serve large areas with only a few stops.
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Old 06-09-2016, 04:19 PM
 
1,155 posts, read 2,228,098 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Myghost View Post
It's also a function of the parents and the child. Best or worse school in the world is still what you make of it. (Not railing against MB1972, just saying that it goes beyond what is offered up, and includes what one makes of it.)



Miles Davis always said that when he played a wrong note, it was the NEXT note that determined if it was a good thing or bad. Same concept applies here. No matter what your school serves up, it's what you and your child do with that which will determine the long-range outcome. (even a crappy school can be a life-lesson.)
I get your point. However, one of the terrible years we had involved a teacher who went on maternity leave prior to Christmas, never returned and we were stuck with an uncertified substitute for the rest of the year. This was in a class where we had a pretty terrible bully and some mean girls who ruled the roost. I'm a very involved PTA volunteer, but it still was a terrible year in 2nd grade for my son. This year, he's got a teacher who refuses to let kids go to the bathroom, so a boy ended up peeing his pants, in the 5th grade. I think that's pretty terrible.
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Old 06-10-2016, 07:54 AM
 
2,819 posts, read 2,561,985 times
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I wouldn't count on school choice. You're best off getting in a good district in the beginning, if you wind up in a less desirable one it can be all but impossible to get out of it. We applied to charters, magnets, regular transfers and our calendar option. At the last possible minute we got in to our calendar option. They definitely use a formula to figure it out and if you are in a lower performing school and at the upper end of middle class you are pretty much screwed (from personal experience).
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Old 06-10-2016, 11:26 AM
 
Location: Raleigh NC
25,118 posts, read 16,071,655 times
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don't ever think that a magnet school is a choice.

The closest it will ever be to a choice is if you have a rising kindergartener AND you live in a high-income node in an already-crowded assigned school.

After that, it's a lottery crapshoot. A lottery with low odds.

You don't take a test to show aptitude in the given school's curriculum.
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