New Mozart playground!

I told myself I was going to take a break from blogging until school preview season really kicked off. So I've held off blogging about the school budget, the assignment zones possibly being redrawn, along with countless achievements of students and teachers around the zone. But this one was too good for me to pass up.

The Mozart school is getting a new playground through Boston Schoolyard Initiative. It's really about time. This is one of our go-to playgrounds within walking distance, and even my 3-year-old realizes that the playground is kind of sadsack. He prefers to walk over to the Bates, where they have more space, better playground equipment, and a green circular path that serves as a racetrack for him.

We're very happy with this development.

Mayor Menino also announced that the Mendell would be among those getting an outdoor classroom.

BPS getting public input for assignment zone changes for 2010

BPS had been looking at changing the current three-zone student assignment system into a five-zone plan for 2009. That got tabled. Now they're looking to gather public input on a revised assignment plan for 2010.

These changes will definitely affect my family as we go through the registration process for K1 next winter. I don't have a problem being put into a new zone. I like a lot of the schools that are in our neighborhood. I just really wonder how they're going to handle existing students that will suddenly be in a new zone. Will they have to switch schools right away? I hope parents will get more answers this time around.

The first presentation of the revised five-zone proposal is Wednesday, April 29 at the School Committee meeting (26 Court St., 6 p.m.). Then on May 26, Irving Middle School in Roslindale will host a community meeting. (Check the BPS website for meetings in other neighborhoods.) The school committee plans to vote on the zone proposal on June 24.

Budget hearing in JP tonight

A reminder to West Zone families -- BPS is holding a budget hearing tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the English High School, 144 McBride St., Jamaica Plain. I had planned on attending this, but child care arrangements aren't feasible for me, so I'm eager to hear feedback from people who are able to go.

There will be two more hearings downtown and in Roxbury, and then the School Committee is expectd to vote on the budget on March 25.

Popularity of West Zone schools by parents' lottery choices

I’ve always been curious about what the most chosen schools actually were, beyond what I hear on the playground (or playspace, now that it's winter). In a document presented to the Boston School Committee last week on the proposed five-zone assignment system, BPS also laid out a map showing schools that had the most (and least) families list them as their first or second choices. It’s like everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask. Here are the West Zone and citywide elementary schools in the top quartile for the 1st and 2nd choices in the first round of the lottery for the 2008-9 school year:

Curley
Haynes EEC
Hernandez
Kilmer
Lyndon
Mission Hill
Young Achievers

The second quartile:
Hennigan
Ohrenberger

Third quartile:
Agazzis
Conley
Haley
Manning
Mozart
Sumner
West Zone ELC (I think this is in the 3rd quartile. It’s difficult to read.)

Fourth quartile:
Bates
Beethoven
Ellis
Hale
Kennedy
Mendell
Philbrick
Trotter

The map actually has the city divided into the proposed five-zone system if you prefer to look at schools that way. I still think in three zones.

There’s definitely a lot of data in here on the proposed vs. existing zones. The last page notes all of the outstanding issues associated with this plan, including grandfathering in existing students.

By the way, the superintendant’s meeting with Roslindale parents on K-8 options was postponed until Thursday, March 12th, 7:00 p.m. due to the snow. Judging by the above document, the five-zone system would increase Zone 5's proportion of K-8 schools over the three-zone system from 31% to 40%. Maybe they're taking the BTU school into account. The proportion of the zone’s middle schools would drop from 8% to 5%.

Proposed assignment zones to be revamped

The Globe has been following the proposed assignment zone changes the past couple of days. On Wednesday, they had a story noting that under a five-zone plan, poorer neighborhoods, particularly Roxbury and Dorchester, would have more schools that did not do well in standardized tests. They also have a handy map showing the current zones overlaid with the proposed five-zones. So my proposed new zone would now include Hyde Park and Mattapan. I haven’t visited any of those schools, but solely judging from the map, the picture in Mattapan isn’t pretty. All of the Mattapan schools are expected to be overhauled based on test scores.

Today, they covered Wednesday night’s meeting of the Boston School Committee. There, Superintendent Carol Johnson told the committee that the plan needed to be revamped because of the inequities and the lack of seats in some zones.

BPS does want to hear from parents about this issue. They have a survey on their website regarding the budget.

Roslindale parents, don’t forget about the meeting with Johnson on K-8 options at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 2, at the Roslindale Community Center. I’m going to try to make it. Although the focus of the meeting isn’t on the proposed zone changes, I’m sure it will come up.

Haley not expecting to lay off teachers

I'm just catching up on all my reading. The Transcript had an article last week about BPS budget cuts. It didn't have a lot of news in it except for a bit about the Haley school, which is going pilot next year. Among other things, this means they get more autonomy in their budget decisions. Principal Ross Wilson said he doesn't expect to lay off teachers next year. Instead, they will shift positions around, and they may no longer have a library paraprofessional. I guess something's gotta give.

Arts in Boston Public Schools

Not surprisingly, a new report has found that arts education varies widely within Boston Public Schools. The report from the Boston Foundation concluded that BPS should “expand equity and access to arts education across all [schools], prioritizing the initial expansion of sequential and consistent arts instruction for all students, from Kindergarten through Grade 8.”

The report found that 70% of students in the district receive some sort of daily arts education, including art integrated into the core curriculum. It looks like West Roxbury/Jamaica Plain/Roslindale fall just under the district average.

Eleven percent of schools reported that their students receive no arts education. Students in K-5 and K-8 schools get the most exposure to the arts (e.g., dance, music, drama, folk arts, media arts and visual arts), followed by middle and high schools. Here is the percentage of BPS students who receive of weekly arts education:

• K-8: 81%
• K-5: 75%
• 6-8: 48%

I guess that’s one more in the plus category for trying to get into a K-8 school (as much as I loved many of the K-5 schools I visited). The report also found that smaller schools had a greater percentage of students regularly taking arts classes, compared with larger schools. But these larger schools offered more variety.

Making Music Matters gets a shout-out in the report (p. 20). It’s a partnership between the Ohrenberger, Beethoven, Mozart, and Washington Irving schools that teaches students the violin, clarinet, flute, or trumpet beginning in third grade.

The first page of the appendix has an alphabetical list of individual schools and the type and frequency of arts instruction offered. They’re not listed by zone, so you kind of have to wade through it. The Haynes EEC fares really well, with all of their students gets twice-weekly arts instruction.

This was very informative, but I worry that these numbers might change drastically in the coming year(s). Arts education always seems to be one of the things schools threaten to cut when the economy gets rough. As an example, listen to WBUR’s story on Belmont’s proposal to eliminate all after-school programs, including performing arts and non-varsity sports.