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• 3under7 commented  ·  October 11, 2009  ·  Delete

  I believe there is a need for grandfathering of siblings. We, too, are one of those families on or near the newly-drawn boundary line, and it happens that our child's current school is within walking distance, closer to home (.25 miles - our current reference school is .23 miles) , and in the opposite direction of our "new attendance plan" school, which is far enough away to require busing.

  It is not that the change is inherently bad. The previous system was crazymaking in its complexity, and clearly drove plenty of families away from public schools. If I had no children already in elementary school I would wholeheartedly embrace the new plan, bus and all, knowing that at least all 3 of my offspring would be headed to the same, reasonably competent, school.

  But for those families with the bad luck to have children who are starting elementary both before and during this time of transition instead of after it, there are very real challenges without grandfathering - such as the possibility of having to deliver multiple children to multiple elementaries or bus stops at the same time of day and attempt to be "engaged" in multiple schools at once - already a challenge once kids are at different grade-level schools, but more difficult when they are youngest and most dependent.

• Concerned Parent commented  ·  October 08, 2009  ·  Delete

  I have seen no evidence that grandfathering siblings would increase transportation costs. Of the people I know--myself included--the majority actually will need to be bussed to their NEW attendance area school, but could walk if they are grandfathered. (We live .3 miles from our current reference school but were drawn out of that boundary). So I don't see a cost savings. To the extent there are transportation costs, deal with that issue by not providing transportation to grandfathered students once their sibling ages out of the school.

  Grandfathering siblings is irrelevant at the high school (Garfield or any other one) level. That is because there is a10% set aside for "choice" seats, with siblings as the first tiebreaker. So grandfathering isn't needed.

• kerry commented  ·  October 08, 2009  ·  Delete

  I disagree. Some things do need to change and this would drag on some situations like expenses we are trying to eleminate including bussing across the city when the first sibling no longer attends the school, or over crowding at Garfield with siblings of APP students from across the city.