NHPS
Marquelle Middleton is working hard these days to help parents find “the right four-year fit” as the sometimes confusing, sometimes contentious annual school choice lottery gets underway.
The application period for the school choice lottery will remain open for only one more week for families looking to get their students into New Haven’s magnet, charter, or kindergarten at a Neighborhood School. Click here to apply before applications close Feb. 28.
Middleton, the system’s director of school choice and enrollment, has been the middleman of the lottery process for the past three years, working to provide families with explanations and advice.
Middleton and New Haven Magnet School Coordinator Michele Bonanno walked this reporter through the do’s and dont’s of the lottery process Wednesday in his office at 54 Meadow St.
The school choice process consist of four steps for families: Explore. Apply. Accept. Register.
Once applications are all in, the computerized lottery system begins to fill each school’s open seats, prioritizing if the student has a sibling at the school and if they live in the school’s attendance zone.
Families this year can rank up to six school choices in order of preference.
Middleton advised parents to rank only those schools that match their students’ interest and not feel pressured to select six choices.
Bonanno and Middleton, New Haven natives and Wilbur Cross and Hillhouse high school grads, respectively, have a mutual goal of “placing a child is in a school where their needs can be met.”
School Choice office.
Three years ago the school choice office tweaked its lottery system’s algorithm to keep families from “gaming the system” and to prioritize applicants with schools where they have sibling and/or neighborhood preferences.
More recently, Middleton has pushed the office into a more digital direction for families to have information about schools, including virtual tours, application simulators, and enrolled student-parent testimonials at their fingertips. Click here to access the new School Explorer tool.
Middleton reported that the majority of available seats this year are for grades pre-K‑3, pre-K‑4, kindergarten and grade 9. A limited number of open seats are also available for grade 6 at Engineering and Science University Magnet School (ESUMS) and grades 5 and 6 at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School.
For the past two years, the number of School Choice applicants has been on a decline, Middleton said.
Christopher Peak Photo
Middleton presenting to parents at pre-pandemic in-person school choice fair.
One of the main concerns on Middleton’s to-do list to address when stepping into the role was keeping parents from having to find time, a babysitter, and parking to make a trip to the office in order to participate in the process.
“We are committed to transparency and giving as much information as possible so kids will land in a school that they’re comfortable with and that meets their needs,” Middleton said. “The transparency will help to demystify this whole concept that there’s gaming of the system on our end.”
Families can visit the office for use of computers and paper applications on an appointment basis.
The duo are encouraging parents to dedicate time to identifying their children’s interests and talents through one-on-one conversations, sit-downs with school guidance counselors, and the School Explorer tool.
“Before applying, you want to be locked in with your child’s educational interest,” Middleton said. “My goal is to minimize kids jumping from school to school to school.”
Families should consider a school’s theme, distance, and uniforms, Bonanno added.
Parents will learn the results of the process on March 31. Those who learn their students did not make it into any of their school choices sometimes accuse others of “gaming” the system. Middleton firmly denied that that happens with the new system’s algorithm. He said he “can’t wave a wand and make more seats.”
The hardest part during the school choice lottery period for both Bonanno and Middleton is dealing with parent and student disappointment, they agreed.
“No matter what you do there are going to be winners and some who consider themselves to be losers of the game,” Bonanno said.
The most rewarding part of the journey for the duo is visiting schools throughout the year and seeing students engaged and excited at their school choices.
The selection process for the lottery’s new algorithm organizes applicants into four “buckets” Middleton said.
The buckets each represent the system’s priorities. Priorities in bucket #1 for open seats include students who have chosen schools where they have a sibling in the school and live in the school’s attendance zone.
The remaining seats go to the bucket #2, which is full of applicants who don’t have a sibling in the school but live in the school’s attendance zone.
Next is bucket #3, with applicants who have a sibling in the school but have no attendance zone priority.
And finally, if open seats remain the system, is bucket #4, students with no sibling or attendance zone priorities.
Middleton encouraged families to look at all of New Haven’s school options during the explore step of the process. He emphasized that magnet schools are not better than other schools but instead just are run on specialized themes which are not always for every student, he said.
“Just because your child in a magnet school does not mean your child is receiving a better education; they’re getting a theme-based education,” Middleton said. “You can’t count any school out.”