Schools

Freedom Of Choice: Are Montclair Schools Truly Integrated And Diverse?

It's that time of year again when Freedom of Choice applications are coming due.

Comparing enrollment at Montclair schools, one finds that 10.6 percent of students at Bradford Elementary are eligible for free or reduced lunch. At Hillside, the percentage is double that, at 23.2 percent. At Watchung the number is 9.9 percent while at Bullock the number is 24.8 percent.

Just over a year ago, the Board of Education approved a new student enrollment/assignment-by-zone policy. Under the plan, the Township was split into three zones, labeled Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C. Students are now assigned to zones based on census data, including household income and Title 1 status (eligibility for Free or Reduced Lunch). Students from all three zones are to be represented in each school.

As Montclair parents begin handing in their "Freedom of Choice" applications this month for school placements in September, it's helpful to look at how the district is organized.

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According to the Montclair school district's website, court cases involving Kentucky and Seattle ruled in 2007 that using race as a determinate of placement was unconstitutional. In light of these cases, Montclair—which has boasted a magnet system for more than 30 years—enlisted the expertise of Kirwan Institute researchers at Ohio State University to review Montclair’s school assignment policy and procedures and develop a plan and recommendation that would maintain a policy that supports integration and diversity without using race as a basis for placement.

But a look at the data a year after this new system was approved reveals that school populations still differ greatly despite use of the Kirwan model, which creates educational zones based on factors such as the number of Free and Reduced Lunch students, parental education levels, and median household income.

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Last year, 16 percent of Glenfield Middle School's student population was eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch. This year, the number is still around 16 percent. Last year, 29 percent of Mount Hebron's Middle School's student population was eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch. This year, the number is 25.7 percent. At Renaissance, the percentage has gone from 10 percent to 12.7 percent.

Looking at elementary schools, the number at Northeast, for example, has gone from 14.7 percent to 14.4 percent while at Nishuane the number has stayed at around 20 percent. The number at Watchung has gone from 7 percent to about 9 percent.

Tanya Coke, who co-chaired the district's school integration working group last year, said that, because the policy is being phased in, the socio-economic disparities between schools will not be corrected in one year.

"Instead, we expect that they will be smoothed out over time: in K-5 schools, it will take six years for the full effect of the zone policy to be seen," she said.

According to the school district, as this policy has been phased in, beginning in 2010, students enrolling in kindergarten are initially given priority if they are siblings, have specific programmatic needs such as ELL (English Language Learners), or require specific services under special education—as has always been the district's policy.

After those priorities, a computerized system randomly assigns students with a number, according to zones, with 1st to 6th ranking of parental preference of schools. Students are assigned to schools from this database, based on school enrollment/spaces/slots.

But some parents have complained that those who scream the loudest often get into the school of their choice no matter what factors are supposed to be taken into consideration.

Last year, when a number of families were denied entry into Glenfield Middle School and were told they had to go to their feeder school, many protested. Eventually, the Board of Education granted dozens of requests to go to Glenfield.

As one parent said Wednesday, "if this continues to happen the schools won't be properly mixed economically."

But Dr. Felice Harrison, assistant to Superintendent Dr. Frank Alvarez, said the same scenario is not likely to occur this year.

"Lots of unknowns were occurring [last year] ... change in administrators at Renaissance and Mount Hebron, site location moves, etc.," she said. "This year, those factors aren't in play. And we will adhere very closely to our policy on enrollment."

Coke said that nothing about the new policy reduces the likelihood of a parent getting their first-choice school.

"Schools were previously balanced by race (and gender)," she said. "Now they are balanced by zone (and gender)."

Coke said that the greatest constraint on school choice continues to be the small size of several schools, and the fact that the town—continuing past practice—gives first priority to siblings of current students, and special needs, or ELL placement (as these services are concentrated in just a few schools).

"At the smaller schools, this sometimes leaves just a handful of spaces left for the parental choice lottery," Coke said.

Certainly, it's still too early to tell how this year's application process will pan out as Freedom of Choice applications aren't even due for middle school students until April 1 and for elementary school students until May 1.

One mother, Susan Worth, said this town's system of choosing schools has never worked for her family.

She said that when her daughter was entering 1st grade—about 12 years ago—she didn't get any of her top choices. Later, when she requested Glenfield for one of her children, she was denied as well.

Parent Dan Scarfo said that Montclair's so-called magnet school system is an illusion, done with smoke and mirrors.

He said the school district turned down two requests to send his son to Watchung, less than half a mile from their house. Then the school district turned down a request to send his son to Glenfield.

"Parents and children should not have to go through this stress until college ... it is ridiculous," he said.

Another parent though, Brian Collins, said the school district has generally granted his family's requests for certain schools.

"When my oldest son started elementary school, we had listed Nishuane as our 5th (last) choice, despite it being the closest to us geographically," he said. "The reason we put it last was that its late start time would mean that our son would be in both before-care and after-care, due to my wife's and my work schedules.

"Oddly, the Board of Education placed him at Nishuane," he said. "We applied to have him changed to Rand (our first choice), and fortunately for us, our request was honored. Later, we used a 'Freedom of Choice' application to have him moved to Hillside for 4th grade.

"Even though we've had some school placement issues, the BOE was accommodated our requests and we ultimately got the school placements we desired," he said.

For more information on school placements and a look at the zoning map, go here.


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