Lost Out on Lottery on Our School Choice selection...help!

I have neighbors that do have children that have to attend different schools. I also know someone that made a huge deal to the school board about it and had their choice changed. You know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

In Manatee siblings are automatically assigned to your choice school. You are in an impossible situation. I have no knowledge of Hillsborough. Are you sure this is the case?

Have you heard of Learning Gate? It is a chater school in Lutz. There might be a waiting list...Check it out

My sister is having this same challenge. My nephew is disabled and is at one of two schools in the county that has a program for him. My niece starts kindergarten this year so my sister requested that she be at the same school. With my nephew's disability, and his therapy sessions after school, it would be impossible for her to have kids at two different schools. Her request was denied! She called the appeals number and was told that parental transportation issues and siblings are no longer automatic approvals, and that only 100 hardship requests were approved out of the thousands that applied. She has one more board that she can appeal to. You would think that the county would want to accommodate a child with a disability as much as possible. The superintendant's website talks about how important it is for parents to have a choice of school and how academic achievement is tied into parental involvement...she needs to look at the processes that are occuring within her own administration! A friend told me that this is definitely a news story, but my sister does not want to be interviewed, so someone else should definitely run with it! Good luck to all of you...maybe one giant squeaky wheel will get the policy changed!

I lost out too, or my son did anyway! I just dont get it! Why are there Five new schools all within 10 min of each other, and not one school has an opening for one child? Well if that is the case then we arent having enough kindergarten classes formed! I applied for two school. each of which is in a neighborhood, and is five or less minutes from my home! Got into neither of them.......what irks me the most is now he has to go to his ditricted school which is 98% hispanic. The race doesnt bother me, what bothers me me is it isnt diversified enough, and the majority of those children will be learning english, well my son knows english and will be held back by these other kids, that is how i feel! They are builing a new school that will possibly be my districted but they arent positive that it will be open this year, they are hoping, but not sure...........I wouldnt mind sending him to this school, as i know it will provide him with a better education, because i know for a fact that it will be more diversified, with all the new families moving down here to my town......I am just so fustrated, I thought it was a for sure thing. UGH! I am trying to now decide wether or not to try to get him into another school by way of a fake hardship choice, meaning i would be using the excuse that my MIL (motherinlaw) will be watching them after school.........not sure if that will work, but then my other choice is just to homeschool him, and hope for a placement next year, I dont know what to do! I am so confused! Nothing ever goes my way anymore!

I have a hard time believing that the school district does not give sibling preference to keep them in the same school. I would definitely double check this and make some calls....doesn't sound right....Polk and Pinellas counties DO give siblings a spot. It would make it nearly impossible for families to juggle this and unfair to the girls that they don't get to experience school together. Being sisters in school TOGETHER is a big deal. Good luck...if this is truely the case...it stinks! Like another mom said, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, I would squeak loud and hard!
A.

Apply for hardship. Reason: transportation. One child attends this elementary school, it would be near impossible to pick up both children simultaneously from different schools. State that a neighborhood bus is not an option, due to the fact that no one is home to greet the child. Also state that you do not want to switch your daughter from an environment in which she has found success.

K., we too applied for the school choice for our son for kindergartin 2008-2009 and we did win the lotto and received a letter stating he was offered a seat at our first school pick. I signed the letter accepting it and faxed it in. The letter said to call the school for registration. I emailed the school and the school secretary told me the choice option was closed and were no longer accepting them. I said but we received a letter offering him the seat. She was confused as she says the vice principle said it was closed - SO now I panick too! I have to call someone else on monday to see what to do next. I didn't get a letter from pick 2 or 3 and I thought I would. One of the other 2 is still open, the other one closed out. So now I'm hoping either he can still have the seat or the other one left can take him - I absolutely DO NOT want him going to his zoned school. I'd rather live out of a box and sell my house to be near the better schools!! A.

I would look up the Hillsborough public school web site and find the email address to the head of the school board and start emailing him/her with what the trouble is and what you want to happen. Usually, if you go right to the top, things happen pretty quickly and you get good results.

We live in Pinellas Co. and we have the "grandfather rule" here - if one child in the family goes to a certain school for whatever reason, an incomming student from the same family will be allowed to attend the same school. I can't imagine that Hillsborough didn't have the foresite to do this too,

Good luck!

We very recently moved to a home very close to where we used to live. Basically now we're on the wrong side of the road and would've had to switch elementary schools! We filed for hardship...well, we did it immediately saying that this was the second time we would have to switch the kids school, my 3rd grader would've have to been switched in the middle of his school year cause he's taking his FCAT this year and we didn't want to disturb that...it helps that their older sister is a teacher there...but, we got it pretty immediately and we're set till 5th grade. Is it too late for you to file hardship??

Hi there K., I think with the lottery, if you already have a child in the choice program placed in a school, the other child gets a "grandfather" status, so that both children can attend the same school. I would check with the school district.

Sincerely,

R.'

My friend and coworker is going through this. First, I've heard from a friend who is a principal that the principals have the authority to overturn the county's decisions. So maybe talking to your principal might help (didn't help with my friend though). Next, my friend tried getting a letter from the school's guidance counselor asking her to back up her reasons for keeping the kids together (guidance counselor didn't want to do it). So, then my friend requested a letter from the pediatrician (because the ONLY way the county will overturn their decision is on a medical hardship- or so they say). Okay, so my friend has been collecting letters from every person she knows and will take all the letters with her to the appeal hearing (which you get when you call the school choice phone number and tell them you were denied.) Hopefully, the person in charge at the appeals hearing might be a little more sympathetic then the computer lottery system and actually grant permission for her children to be together. Hope this helps. Good luck to you guys.