Holy Magnet School, Batman! There was more information about magnet schools and school choice on display today at UCLA’s Ackerman Union than you could shake a stick at, or possibly process in one day. It was the kind of outing best done on a full night’s sleep, with a clear head and set of intentions, And since it took place the day after Halloween, it’s a sure bet only a tiny fraction of people there today had much of any of that going on.
However, it’s vitally important that we, as LAUSD parents, take an active role in our children’s education, so sleep-deprived or not, candy-overdosed or not, we were there. And probably, by the looks of things, most of the entire population of LAUSD was indeed there. It was CROWDED, to say the least. Tons of people and tons of information.
I learned a lot — did you know there was a magnet middle school for aerospace engineering? Or a magnet high school at the police academy? What about the orthopedic surgery high school magnet — didja know about that one? Or the high school at the LA Zoo? (I knew about that one already and had come for some more info on it, actually.) But those others were news to me, I must admit.
I missed the lectures about how to actually apply to get in these magnets, because I was at the doctor’s office with my son whose cornea may have been scratched (it wasn’t, luckily), but I have been schooled in the ways of the “unofficial” application process from parents of older kids who’ve been through it already: If you’re in an elementary school you like, but want a middle school magnet, you apply every year to rack up the points (the more points, the better chance of getting in), but you don’t want to get chosen during elementary school, you want to save those points for middle.
So, you give your cell number, and never answer it in March and April, when they’re making the magnet decisions. You claim you never received the letter, if it says you got in. If you have an in, that is, if you know people who know people, you apply, and should you get in, you have your people call those people, who calmly take you off the list without losing all your points. Or you have people who just put you in when it’s time; done.
It’s very complicated and there are a million ways to game the system. A system, by the way, which was designed well more like imagined but never actually designed to prevent the gaming, in order to level the playing field and give those children with fewer advantages in life the option to get a better education than their circumstances might allow. It was INTENDED for that, but wouldn’t you know, it has ended up a system that allows those who can play the game best the best chance for their kids to get in to the best schools.
So there we were, all of us parents looking for a way to educate our kids in the best way possible, jammed into the grand ballroom of the Ackerman Union on a Saturday. Wish us luck!
This post is cross-posted at my site: GrandViewPTA.com.
An original post by Sarah Auerswald.
