By Jenny Lokshin
The results are in!
After turning in our registration, and seeing the dashboard on display at the Family Information Center, I was certain we’d be getting our second choice. The numbers were right there for me to agonize over: our first pick was already overchosen with a week of registration to go.
Our second and third choices still had room, so of course that’s what we’d get. I would have been fine with this, as both are fantastic options and my son would have been thrilled to start kindergarten at either. I spent weeks strategizing how we’d manage our days if we received our second, third, fourth, or fifth choice, wondering about bus schedules and how we’d ever get the family out of the house so early. Weekday life in the Lokshin house would just be a little more hectic.
We’d make it work.
Imagine my surprise (and relief!) when we found our school assignment letter in the mailbox less than two weeks into April, when I was certain we’d still be stalking the postman closer to May! Maybe there was an extra lack of drama this year, maybe assignments were more straightforward, I don’t know.
We were very, very lucky, and we received our first choice: my son will be a Bottenfield Bee.
I know several other families with kids starting at Bottenfield this fall, as well as families with kids already there, and I’m excited to join this little community! I look forward to getting involved with the PTA and in the classroom, and seeing my kids make new friends from all over Champaign.
Almost everyone I’ve spoken with is just as thrilled with their child’s assignment. Every family I know whose first choice was a school where they had sibling or proximity preference received it. Every single family. Obviously, I don’t know everyone in town, and my sample size is limited, but for a few days, I was absolutely convinced the district must have made an error and just sent everyone a letter with their number one pick.
Thankfully, our kindergarten round-up letter arrived to reassure me!
The parents I’ve spoken with who ranked a school first where they didn’t have sibling or proximity preference weren’t as lucky, but all that I’ve spoken to received their second choice. Some are hanging out on the waiting list for number one, and some are happy where they’ve been placed. And of course, there are still families in parts of Champaign that aren’t within 1.5 miles of any elementary school. This year’s concession to let them designate their closest school as their proximity choice didn’t seem to have much effect, and left them at the mercy of the system.
I know that there are still issues with the lottery process, and there will never be a way to make everything fair and everyone happy. But based on my experience, and what I’ve heard from other families this year, it seems like Unit 4 is getting closer to a system that works.