Suburbanites Go Urban Magnet Shopping

One school rep said Charlene Penna could double up on courses; another said she could join a nationally ranked robotics team.

So went the competition to lure a gifted suburban middle-schooler to a New Haven magnet high school.

All around Penna in the Floyd Little Athletic Center on Wednesday night, families from the city and its suburbs listened to other schools making their pitches during the Magnet Fair, as parents searched for a fit that their kids would have a chance of getting into.

The annual race to fill up all the district’s open slots was officially on.

“I’m trying,” Penna said, ​“to keep an open mind.”

Every year, the district places over 4,000 kids at 34 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and 13 high schools, including independent charters, regional magnets and vocational programs.

Ideally, students will end up in a school that matches both their interests and their learning styles. At least, that’s the theory behind the ​“portfolio model,” which New Haven instituted a decade ago as part of its nationally recognized school reforms.

In practice, though, it can feel ​“overwhelming,” said Kristin Nowak, a city resident who was scoping out options Wednesday for her rising sixth and ninth graders. ​“It’s good to have choices,” she said, ​“but it’s almost too many choices.”

Kicking off with the Magnet Fairs this week, the matchmaking process takes several months.

After Feb. 11, at expos and open houses, schools sell prospective students on what makes them unique, sharing their pedagogical approach and extracurricular offerings.

By Mar. 17, students rank their top four picks for the school-choice lottery, gaming out how they’ll use priority status for living in the neighborhood or having older siblings.

On Apr. 10, a computer algorithm randomly chooses the first batch of admittees. Sudents then move off the wait lists throughout the summer, up until the state finalizes its enrollment numbers in early October.

On Wednesday night, at the very start of that process, families walked around the crowded booths looking at the options for their soon-to-be high-schoolers.

We watched three of them shop for the right deal. They said they are looking for an alternative to the boring schools in the ​‘burbs or the strict charter in the city. They want schools with specialized courses, high college-going rates and just the right feel.

Some of New Haven’s magnet schools seemed to offer just what they’re looking for.

Now, it’s a matter of seeing whether they’ll get in.

Penna Plays The Odds

Penna, an eighth-grader from North Branford who is enrolled in the Talented & Gifted Program at Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School, knows how tough it can be to play the odds in New Haven’s lottery.

Her older sister recently went through the placement process. She was dead-set on going to just one magnet school: Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School. She ended up placed on the waiting list. By the time classes started, she was still fourth in line. Now she’s stuck at her local high school.

Penna’s mom, Kim O’Hara, said they family won’t be making the same mistake this year. Penna will likely be applying to several schools, though she said she’s still figuring out which ones.

“I’m really looking for her to make an informed choice for high school,” O’Hara said. ​“What I really want is for her to be able to see what’s available and keep her options open, instead of pigeonholing herself into that one.”

Penna said that, after studying forensics and trials as well as health and nutrition in middle school, she’s interested in learning more about law and science. As she walked around the booths at Wednesday evening’s fair, she asked about each school’s focus area, especially whether they had college-prep programs. Luckily, she said, the majority of the schools offered both.

While she wasn’t sure what her final picks would be, Penna said she was ​“gravitating towards” High School in the Community.

“I heard that you get to choose the pace at what you learn, which I thought was really cool because I’m a really fast learner,” she explained. ​“So if you can, you can take two courses in a year.”

Abel Plots Charter Escape

Another family was also getting a second try at the lottery, as it considered transferring out of Achievement First Amistad High School.

Abel Campos, a city resident, said that his two daughters initially selected the charter school because of its impressive stats. But this time, he said, as he considers about pulling his youngest out of Amistad after its principal was caught on video shoving a student into a corner, he wouldn’t consider the numbers alone.

Campos said that he’d still be looking at graduation rates, average SAT scores and class sizes in the decision. But he also wanted to weigh more intangible factors like the school’s reputation, teachers’ classroom management and their recognition of Hispanics families.

“As a parent, I’m really concerned with the things that have been going on” at Amistad. ​“When we did the research, that was the school that stuck out,” Campos said. ​“But now it makes me second guess. They’re focused on academics, but there’s also a social part, to be able to form a community with your classmates and to feel that you have an identity.”

Many students at Amistad have complained about the demerit system that punished students for minor infractions, including his older daughter who said they were ​“too tough.” Campos said that he still wants classes to be ​“well-behaved.” He said that might means doling out punishments. His kids are shy, he said, so he wants to make sure they’re ​“able to concentrate and able to listen.”

With all that in mind, Campos concluded Wednesday that he’s leaning towards Metropolitan Business Academy or Engineering & Science University Magnet School.

Campos said that ​“the only downside” is the difficulty of transferring in. He said he wished the district had a selective high school that accepted students based on test scores. (Two regional high schools located in New Haven, Sound School and ACES’s Educational Center for the Arts, both require an application.)

“I understand you have to give everybody a fair chance, but there’s also kids could really excel in a school like that,” Campos said. ​“Because a good kid might not necessarily get their first choice and not develop as much as at a place where they’re really challenged.”

Juliette Narrows It Down

One last family from Hamden, who came with aunts and cousins in tow, was navigating New Haven’s school-choice process for the first time. They said that they’ll decide based on what schools their daughter could imagine spending the next four years in.

Juliette Lao, who’s currently in middle school, said she doesn’t want to stay in the suburbs for high school. She said she’s currently favoring New Haven Academy and High School in the Community. Both schools are small with civics-focused curricula and a focus on special projects.

Annie Garcia, the mom, said that her daughter will be signing up to shadow current students. She said she wants Lao to get a feel for whether she’d fit in, especially with some of the more progressive teaching like hands-on group projects.

“She doesn’t know what she wants, and I don’t want to pick for her,” Garcia said. ​“It’s to see if it’s something she can get interested in and say, ​’This is the school, I want to be here, I want to be part of this.’ I don’t want to pick one, have her say she doesn’t like it and then have to pick another school again. I want her to be comfortable with her choice.”