by Erin Tarr
Review. Rank. Request. This is the advice offered by the Unit 4 Registration website. So, being the law-abiding and rule-following mother that I am – I have been REVIEWING my schools for the last two weeks. I did two things that helped profusely with my review process.
1) I called The Family Information Center(351.3701) and spoke with a Choice Specialist. She was extremely knowledgeable, personable and helpful with all of the questions my husband and I had outlined prior to my call (I always forget something when on the phone, so we wrote out the major questions that morning. And, lest you think I am super on-top-of-it, the questions were written with crayon on the back of an envelope as I was herding kids in the car who were still eating breakfast, headed to a dentist appointment where said call was made in their parking lot.)
She’s making her kindergarten lottery list and checking it twice. Photo by Morguefile
2) I attended a Community Forum with Showcase of Schools (there is still one more on Feb 19 if you haven’t had the chance to attend).
From the phone call I garnered the following information:
a) If I choose a magnet school (Stratton, Booker T. Washington or Garden Hills) and don’t get in – my second choice DOES become my first choice, so I don’t “waste” my Proximity A. (Proximity A normally only provides preference if it is your first choice.) And, as astute chambanamom Betsy Crocker pointed out on my last post – 100% of families who requested a magnet school last year received their choice (WOOT!)
b) Dr. Howard (recommended by a friend) is also a historically under-chosen school, so if we were interested in this, our chances of getting in are likely to be quite high.
c) PE, music, art and other electives…I wanted to know how they are handled at each school. How many times a week, how long, etc. I was told that IN GENERAL (dangerous terms, I know) these are handled in much the same way from school to school, but that the best method would be to narrow down my schools and then ask specific questions at those schools about how often and when these classes are offered. I was fine with that answer.
d) My last question was about safety of my child. The Choice Specialist let me know that ANY time a dispute or issue arises within the neighborhood surrounding a school – the school is notified by the authorities immediately, and goes on soft lock-down, meaning no one goes outside. Good to know.
Armed with this information, I marched on to the Community Forum with Showcase of Schools (Yes, I feel a little like I am at war, mostly with myself, the end goal being to conquer the fear that I may choose the “wrong” school for my children.) Extreme side note warning: Community Forum WITH Showcase of Schools? Why not “Showcase of Schools” or “Unit 4 Community Forum” … but I digress.
At the forum, there were (evidentially) introductions of various people whose names were listed in the printed program… I admit I took a wrong turn getting to Carrie Busey and showed up a few minutes late. We were then shown a propaganda type film (~15 minutes in length) for the Controlled Choice System. It was slightly informative and slightly interesting to see people I knew or knew of talking about their experience with Controlled Choice, but I was ready to get on with the evaluation of the individual schools. After the video, several parents in the crowd had questions regarding the system – things that were still unclear to them. Props to everyone there for not being redundant and wasting time – being one who values efficiency, I truly appreciate your contributions to the evening.
After about 15 minutes of Q & A we were set loose to grill, I mean, peruse and make small talk with, the schools of our choosing. Each school had a trifold set up on a table with 2 to 3 faculty members present to answer questions about the schools.
Based on the information I received from the Family Information Center, I had narrowed down the schools that I wanted to evaluate further (based on our likelihood of getting into them). Stay tuned tomorrow to find out what schools I am further investigating and the specific pros and cons as they relate to my family!
Erin (Trent) Tarr made the three-hour drive from Southern Illinois to Champaign in 1997 to attend the University of Illinois and never left. Mother of two beautiful girls (2 & 4 years old), she is currently working at the University of Illinois and enjoys reading non-fiction, listening to leadership podcasts, singing, taking pictures of her kids, and blogging at www.erintarr.com. The epitome of an extrovert, she is an active participant at Quest UMC and loves getting together with strong women for book clubs, writing clubs, and wine tastings. You can often find her (with two kids in tow) at Champaign Centennial sporting events where her beloved husband of nine years, Adam, works as an Athletic Trainer.
Playing Devil’s advocate, I am curious how you (and other readers) would respond to “Why do we have Controlled Choice (aka, Schools of Choice) in the first place?” Or perhaps a better question would be “What is the purpose of Controlled Choice?”
In asking this, I am personally interested in how you arrived at your answer, whether it be one of the many documents on the Unit 4 website, google, and/or the grapevine and by talking to other parents.
By the way, the next Community Forum (Feb 19th) should be a tad more interesting; you heard them talk about the interface with EduLog at the Carrie Busey forum? Dr. Wiegand has specifically asked that this tool be available, at least in some beta version, by Feb 19th.
Your description of the Community Forum with Showcase of Schools made me chuckle.
If I understand correctly (you tell me, being much more of the expert on all topics Unit 4) the Controlled Choice was implemented to spread SES and racial diversity equally amongst the 11 schools… whether or not that is actually achieved and what the real or perceived benefits of this are … that is not so much on my radar at this point… we should chat sometime!
Haven’t heard about the EduLog (or wasn’t paying enough attention) … details?
And finally — glad you got a good laugh!
There isn’t a whole lot of public information about EduLog, but basically it is a piece of software the district has been using for a number of years that helps to organize the busroutes and has a mapping functionality to measure distances. They have shied away from cloud services like google due to the nature of changing streets that is prevalent in newer neighborhoods, and the district requires (driven by law but not exactly mandated by it) a way to insta-matically map out routes without worry of whether or not google has it.
Again, the point of me asking about the purpose of Controlled Choice was to learn how you all are learning.
And for the record, I have my niches within Unit 4 and am by no means an expert on all topics Unit 4. But thanks for the sentiment. 
Thanks for sharing. It helps to hear from others going through the process. I just told another mom today that every conversation in life used to make its way around to potty training. Now every conversation in my life ends up in kindergarten and school of controlled choice.
Happy to share my thoughts! I vacillate daily on all things related to school in Champaign… happy to have others to commiserate with.
I, too, am in the thick of kindergarten “choice”. I’m curious to know, what questions did you ask of the representatives from the schools you’re considering?
I actually thought the video at the forum was decent – it painted less of a rosy picture of the system than I expected (I liked the woman who said she received her 7th choice, and her face made clear her feelings about that!).
Charles, I understand Controlled Choice to be the outcome of the consent degree, and designed to diversify schools that previously had been unbalanced by SES/race. I gathered this mostly from the info. put out by the schools, I think.
Honestly, my questions varied greatly on each tour and I don’t put a whole lot of stock in the individual answers for a couple of reasons
a) A lot of the things I am interested in are COMPLETELY subject to change at a moment’s notice (i.e. how many strands; how often they have music, art, PE, etc.; how long the school leadership has been in place; what time of day do they have math; how much outdoor play time do they receive, etc.)
b) In addition, most of the answers for the above questions are fairly similar across the board for the Unit 4 schools
c) Having visited several schools, I am really looking for a vibe – as bizarre as that sounds – that I think will jive with my child’s learning style. Admittedly, I think this vibe stems largely from faculty and staff rapport, which I believe has a HUGE impact on student learning and, as I stated in (a) … this can turn on a dime from year to year.
If you want the God’s honest truth… I wish I could afford a private school.
Will my kids survive and probably even THRIVE in the Unit 4 schools, yes…. I just hate the uncertainty of it all.
Thanks for reading and posting – Best of Luck with your decision making!
You know, the “vibe” is actually an excellent way to say it, and perhaps the most important “metric” to go for. If you click with the teachers and the staff, I am willing to wager your child will do great there. Contrawise, if something doesn’t sit right or you get a “bad vibe”, chances are your gut instinct is giving you fair warning.
Thanks Charles… even when you believe something to be true in your heart, it is always nice to have an independent, outside source confirm that they concur.
Review, rank, request. The ‘request’ part is ridiculous (the fourth r!). It should be ‘register’.
I couldn’t agree more.
haha! Your “rank” IS your “request” … its rather redundant!