by Laura Weisskopf Bleill
Here’s something I bet isn’t in the budget for the Champaign Unit 4 “Controlled Choice” kindergarten assignment process: group therapy.
Perhaps one of the local healthcare providers should do a before, during, and after study on parents going through the process of investigating, learning, and “choosing” a school for their incoming kindergartner going into the Unit 4 school system. Based on anecdotal evidence, I’m willing to bet that the stress level of parents trying to navigate the system would be off the charts.
Just this morning, I talked to one parent who recently toured her family’s Proximity A school — and left in tears because she was so turned off by it. (Proximity A means the family lives within 1.5 miles of a school, and that family’s student generally has the best chance of getting into that school).
I’ve talked to other parents who are making their charts to evaluate the schools, who are breaking their necks to visit all 11 schools, whose lives have been taken over by the anxiety and stress of trying to “play the system.” Parents who don’t want to choose their proximity A school, or their proximity B school (Proximity B means they don’t have a Proximity A school, and it is the closest school to their residence). Parents who are just plain confused – what is this new magnet school system? How does my child get in? Wait a minute, the weighted system applies for the magnet schools too? How does the waiting list work? Wait a minute, the weighted system applies for that too?
That’s not choice, folks.
I’m not a therapist and I wish I could help more. But the bottom line is this: forget the word “choice.”
I know that the term “controlled choice” is the name of the program developed out east by educational consultant Michael Alves. It is a complete and total misnomer. There is not much choice involved. Sure, parents will get to preference the schools they are interested in; but the reality is that for children without a sibling in the school system, the weights built into the program for residency and socioeconomic status — and a computer a thousand miles away — will determine what school a child gets assigned.
We can all sit around and complain about it, or we can do something about it. We can let the Unit 4 school board members know that this system isn’t acceptable to us — or at the very least, that the way that the system is presented is unacceptable. Email the board at u4boe@champaignschools.org.
(Incidentally, if you are a parent/guardian of a child who has gone through the system in the past two years, the district has hired a group at the University of Illinois to conduct an independent survey about the “student assignment model” used by Champaign Unit 4. The survey is available here.)
We can hope that in the future there will be more transparent communication between the district and parents. We can hope that the process — and how the system works — won’t be so vague (that’s probably the No. 1 complaint I hear).
Let’s call a spade a spade.
This is about preference, chances, and a little luck. And patience, and perhaps a dash of perseverance — if you have the patience to ride out the waiting list.
There’s little “choice” here.
And lost in all of this — is that good for our kids?
Laura Weisskopf Bleill, a co-founder of chambanamoms.com, is perfectly aware that today’s column has nothing to do with being Jewish in C-U. She writes “Being a Jew in C-U,” a column about being a Jewish suburban girl in a cornfield, on Thursdays. You can reach her at laura@chambanamoms.com.