By Laura Weisskopf Bleill
“Did you find out where Nessa is going to school yet?”
Over the weekend we spent some time with Grandma. Unbeknownst to her, she asked the $64,000 question.
We registered for the Unit 4 school kindergarten lottery in early March – March 9 to be exact. In the meantime, our daughter has started to catch on more and more as to what is going on. Her best friend has an older sibling in the system and is all but sure where she is going. Our daughter wants to know, and she wants to know now! Five-year-olds aren’t known for their patience.
Between her questions and those (very well-intended) from family and friends, it’s unavoidable. I don’t know if it is worse than the constant vigil every very pregnant woman faces as the days go by, no relief in sight, but maybe close.
When I applied to college, I knew there was really only one place I wanted to go — so I applied to the early decision pool. At this university, early decisions was a make-it-or-break-it proposition: you either got in, or you didn’t. Leading up to the notification date, there were many, many trips to the mailbox. Dec. 15 came — and it went. And I had no letter.
A few days later and still no letter, my mom decided to take control of the situation and called the admissions office. A long story short, evidently the admissions office had “misplaced” my letter. What really happened to it, we’ll never know. When they told my mom they would drop it in the mail, she said “I’ll be right over.”
Of course, the story is now a family legend. And it had been years since I though about that incident, until recently. Now, I’m feeling a bit of dejavu as we wait for our daughter’s Champaign Unit 4 kindergarten lottery assignment letter to show up in our mailbox.
When we registered, the representative at the Family Information Center (FIC) gave us a vague answer about when the assignments will be distributed, something along the lines of mid-April.
Lynn Peisker, Community Relations Coordinator for Champaign Unit 4 Schools, told me via email that last year, letters were mailed out on April 22. This year, she wrote, the district anticipates having the information out sooner — but there are no guarantees.
“I’m sure it is not surprising to you that there are many variables to the process which is why an exact date cannot be identified. FIC staff makes lots of checks and balances before submitting the data and final placement is made for special education students according to programmatic needs and for those students repeating kindergarten,” Peisker wrote Thursday.
Waiting is difficult, but really what about this process isn’t?
It is fitting that tomorrow is election day. There are four slots open and five candidates on the ballot in the Unit 4 School Board race.
I will be voting for newcomer Jamar Brown along with incumbents Kristine Chalifoux, Sue Grey and Greg Novak. It is my hope that they will look to improve the kindergarten assignment system — and believe me, I have plenty of suggestions, but that is another column — and not let this issue continue to fester.
I was encouraged to read Sue Grey’s recent comments on this topic delivered at a candidate forum. Wrote News-Gazette reporter Jodi Heckel, “Grey described schools of choice as a “flawed” system that has “created great anxiety and stress to families coming into the district.” She said the district needs to look at what it can do differently in terms of assignment.”
Perhaps in the near future, there will be change.
In the meantime, I have a money-saving proposition for the cash-strapped district: when that letter is ready, save a stamp and call me. I’ll be more than happy to drive to the Mellon Center to pick it up.
Laura Weisskopf Bleill is the co-editor of chambanamoms.com. You can reach her at laura@chambanamoms.com.