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Hernando Today

Back to the drawing board

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By JEFF SCHMUCKER

Hernando Today

Published: October 20, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - Hernando County School Board members and area parents agree on one thing with magnet schools — there are too many problems to solve in one sitting and a committee is needed to sort all those problems out.

But the board did receive cheers Tuesday after they opted to go back to an original system plan for applicants — 70 percent applications from portfolio, 30 percent applications from a lottery system.

That means, for example, if 100 seats at a specific magnet school are open, 70 of those would be selected from portfolios while the remaining 30 would be initially selected using a lottery number system.

Board Chairman John Sweeney said a committee would likely be formed, and soon, to address other concerns including a more fair application process and creating more diversity in the schools.

Hernando County's three magnet schools are Chocachatti Elementary School, Challenger K-8 School of Science and Math and Nature Coast Technical High School.

For Andrew T. Caamano — a concerned parent who criticized the board earlier in the meeting for rushing a different application process — he said he's pleased with the new direction the board is taking.

"I think this is a responsible step in the right direction toward making policy that's going to make sense across the board," Caamano said. "I'm very happy with this decision and I hope everyone continues to take a deep breath and think."

In June, board members approved for kindergarten applications to be originally chosen 100 percent through a lottery system. From there, magnet school officials would consider their portfolios.

Jim Knight, director of student services, said children in grades first through 12 would be considered through portfolio applications.

However, during the meeting board members went back and forth on the merits of a lottery system and porfolios along with whether the schools were "diverse enough" or how kindergarteners were expected to show aptitude for applying to the magnet schools and how much parents played a part.

Jim Malcolm, who has a long history with both the board and the magnet school issue, said inconsistency and changes to magnet schools was in large part hurting the schools and upsetting parents. He added students should be selected to the schools based on ability, not interest.

"I don't know where that came from," said Malcolm, a former school board member. "This admission policy is broken and you aren't applying the standards envisioned by the schools."

He added officials should base admissions on the portfolios and then focus on ensuring the portfolio selection process is done fairly.

However, both parents and board members had different opinions on how best to be fair to students with some still supporting sibling preference to keep them together in the same school (previously removed by the board a few years ago) and whether children of magnet school teachers should be given preference.

"I sense the board is just continuing to grapple with this issue," Sweeney said.

Meanwhile, magnet school and district staff members are working to get the word out to parents about the change in the application process. Interim Superintendent Sonya Jackson said she would also seek additional help to review the expected surge of applications expected with the policy change.

Reporter Jeff Schmucker can be reached at 352-544-5271or jschmucker@hernandotoday.com.

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