Name: Some Philadelphia School District parents concerned as deadline for school selection application nears
Uploaded: 2021-11-19T18:30:59-05:00
Channel: Kelly Rule
Description: The deadline is approaching for Philadelphia School District families who want their child to apply to attend a magnet school.

Loading Video…

This browser does not support the Video element.

Some Philadelphia School District parents concerned as deadline for school selection application nears

The deadline is approaching for Philadelphia School District families who want their child to apply to attend a magnet school.

PHILADELPHIA - The deadline is approaching for Philadelphia School District families who want their child to apply to attend a magnet school and a new system has some parents concerned.

During Thursday night’s school board meeting, several parents made one last attempt for the board to hear them ahead of the Sunday deadline.

"Why change the rules for the existing students, how does this lead to equity for all?" says Tanya Folk. Folk’s son is an eighth grader at Carver Engineering and Science in North Philadelphia.

She says the principal, at the time when he enrolled in seventh grade, explained that good grades and behavior could keep their kids there for high school—same building, same teachers.

Mom Miriam Hill told the board a similar story."The principal did tell us that if our kids got A’s and B's they would get preference for admission to Carver High School."

In the past, school administrators has a say in who could get in, but that is now changing.

Students who want to attend a district criteria school, like Carver, in the 2022-2023 school year, still have to meet certain academic criteria. However, from there, for the first time, a lottery system will then choose who gets in.

On top of that, four of the magnet schools will give priority to six different Philadelphia zip codes that had the lowest enrollment rates.

"This is really an effort for us to have a more equitable process and allow students and their families to feel proud of the schools that they attend again regardless of their zip code or neighborhood," said Monica Lewis, a spokesperson for the district, after the announcement in early October.

Folk says she can understand the equity issue and the need to fix it but argues that Carver doesn’t have one. She says the school is 91% non-white, 63% of students are African American, and more than 70% are economically disadvantaged.

"I am all for equity and for access I know what means, I know what it feels like to not feel you have access to something," Folk says. I’m not sure how this process would make that school more equitable."