Staying on the wait lists

We got our letter from BPS in the mail yesterday. It appears we're in the Curley's integrated classroom. That's fine. It makes no difference to us in our decision.

We've decided not to take our names off any wait lists. My husband really likes one school on the wait list and I like the other just a little bit more. It was turning into a staring match that only the cat could win, and the cat has no opinion on schools. So rather than turn it into a big deal, we're just going to let BPS and the wait list system decide our fate. We'll be happy with whatever we wind up with: Curley, Haley, or Mozart. We're in the 40s on the Lyndon's wait list, so that's not even a consideration.

Boston gets anti-obesity grant; Will recess be expanded?

Boston has received a $6.4 million grant to help prevent obesity in the city, according to the Boston Public Health Commission. Part of that will be used to "enhance the integration of high-quality and frequent physical activity and education into the school day."  Does this finally mean that elementary recess will be longer than 20 minutes a day?

The grant will also help create more space for community and backyard gardening. Better yet, they should give some of the money to schools to help start or maintain schoolyard gardens.

Along these same lines, I'm eager to see Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which will premiere on ABC next Friday. He goes into one of the unhealthiest cities in America, transforms the school lunches, and teaches the citizens how to cook at home.

Housekeeping note

The blog has been getting a lot of comments lately, and I'm having trouble keeping up with approving all of them.  Believe it or not, I actually don't want to be chained to my computer all day.  So I've turned the comment moderation function off --  comments will be posted automatically.  Please continue posting, but keep it cordial and no porn spam. That's why I turned on comment moderation in the first place.

Thanks,
The Management

We got our assignment

I called the Family Resource Center (617-635-8040) this morning and got our assignment. We got a spot at the Curley. We're very happy, but we don't know for sure whether we're going to take our name off the wait lists for other schools just yet. The Curley was our #8 choice out of 15 schools we selected. We would have been be thrilled with anything in the top 10.

Here are our wait list numbers for our top three schools:
1) Lyndon: 42
2) Haley: 5
3) Mozart: 3

There are some very good things about the Curley, and my husband and I are going to talk it over tonight. Our second and third choice schools have very low wait list numbers, so if we don't take our names off those lists, I think there is a very good chance we will be placed there, probably soon. I think we have to decide whether we're done with the whole uncertainty thing and want to take our names off the wait list, or that whether things we like about Haley and Mozart (proximity, for one thing) outweigh the uncertainty part. If our son has a lot of friends going to the Curley, that might be enough to sway our decision.

How did everyone else do?

Soon...

very soon.

Judging by the recent increase in site traffic, many of you are thinking the same thing I am.
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(edited to add:)  Apparently not so soon. I called the Family Resource Center at 4, like a lot of you, and was told that Court Street mailed school assignments to parents yesterday but the FRC couldn't look information up on the computers until Thursday or Friday. I don't really understand how the central office could have the information, but the resource centers don't. Am I calling the wrong place?

BPS to hold student assignment summit later this month

Boston Public Schools, along with several civil rights groups, will convene a Golden Opportunity summit to look at student assignment in this city on March 27.

Last year, Boston received a two-year federal grant to work with community members to improve school assignment options. They will also study how other urban schools equitably make school assignments. Eventually, the groups hope to make recommendations to the school committee on ways to redesign the student assignment and school choice policies.

They tried to redraw the assignment zones (from three zones to five) last year, in the middle of the registration period, but there was little notice given to parents ahead of time. For a while, it was even uncertain that existing students who lived outside their school's proposed zone would be grandfathered in and allowed to stay. Also, under the proposed plan, certain zones had a higher percentage of struggling schools. I’m glad they’re taking a more deliberative approach this time.

Haynes may lose violin program because of cuts; Nonprofit trying to raise funds

Music Drives Us is trying to raise $3000 for the Suzuki violin program at the Haynes Early Education Center. According to this nonprofit, Haynes is about to lose its strings program because of budget cuts.

Haynes teaches students from K0 (3 year olds) to first grade. Students ages 4 and up receive a 30-minute individual violin lesson and a 30-minute group lesson weekly.

You can make a donation through the Music Drives Us website.

Neighborhood House Charter School lottery

We received our final charter school lottery results this afternoon. We're number 29 on the wait list for Neighborhood House Charter School in Dorchester. We're happy that we got something lower than 70 this time. Neighborhood House has two K1 classes, so I suppose getting off the wait list is not out of the realm of possibility.  We may have found our Plan B.

Boston Renaissance Charter School lottery

We got our letter from Boston Renaissance Charter School today. We're number 71 on the waitlist.  At their current location downtown, they have 11 K1 classrooms, so being #71 may not be as bad as it sounds. However, I don't know how many K1 classes they'll have at their new Hyde Park location.

We're still waiting for the letter from BPS.

Roslindale K-8 feeder program approved

The Boston School Committee approved a K-8 feeder system for students at Roslindale elementaries on Wednesday. Fifth graders at the six Roslindale elementary schools (Bates, Philbrick, Mozart, Sumner, Haley, and Conley) will be offered priority admission to the Irving for sixth grade.