New Haven Independent

On Wednesday night, about two dozen parents came out for a Puerto Rican dinner and a meeting to learn about options for their rising kindergartners — in magnet school and district schools.

Parents, kids and school personnel enjoyed empanadas, alcapurias and sorrullos de maiz. Meanwhile, Deborah Lawson (pictured), a student recruiter who works in the magnet schools registration office of the New Haven Public Schools, tolled the virtues of the city’s 30 “schools of choice,” including magnet schools, charters and ACES. The magnet schools have various themes meant to draw children (“like a magnet”) to the programs they or their parents are most interested in.

With Columbus School principal Abie Benitez (pictured) translating everything into Spanish, Lawson explained that the booklet parents were handed includes descriptions of all the magnet school programs and the dates of their open houses. “You as the parent are the main factor in choosing a magnet school,” she said.

If parents decide to apply to the magnet program, they must pick at least one school, but they are strongly encouraged to rank their first, second and third choices to increase their child’s chances of getting into at least one. Magnet schools (several of which are inter-district, attracting students from New Haven and other towns around the state) are designed to increase racial diversity, and receive additional federal funds that districts schools don’t get.

The deadline is Feb. 13, at which time the names are deleted from applicants’ forms and replaced with a PIN (personal identification number) to prevent favoritism, and put into the lottery. The lottery takes place at school headquarters on Meadow Street on March 3 at 10 a.m. Magnet schools do show favoritism in one way — to siblings who want to attend the same school as an older brother or sister. Lawson cautioned parents, “Keep that number in a very safe place,” since that’s how they’ll be notified if their child is accepted into the school of their choice.

p(clear). Parents must also apply for their child to attend Columbus School, even though it is a district (non-magnet) school, because of its unique Spanish-English dual language program. And Benitez told them, “You must help your child with their homework in Spanish, even if you don’t speak Spanish, or in English even if you don’t speak English. We encourage parents to come to us for help,” she said. Applications will be available at the school on April 1.

Melissa and Tiernen Sands (pictured at top of story) came to the meeting to learn about their options. He attends a private pre-school in Fair Haven, but she’s leaning toward enrolling him in Columbus, where she’s the art teacher. “I live here, I work here, and I love the school,” she said.

Samantha Mendoza (pictured) will be 5 in March. She currently attends pre-school at Columbus, and her parents would like her to start her formal education there as well. But she’ll have to be prepared to work hard.

The Spanish component kindergarten teacher, Luz Nelly Tobón (pictured), sounding more like a drill sergeant, told the parents and any young ones who might be listening (as the meeting wore on, fidgeting increased) that in the old days kindergarten (literally, “children’s garden” in German) was a place for kids to play and explore. “But now they have to learn math, science and reading,” she said sternly. “They must be more independent — able to tie their shoes and button their clothes. And it’s a long day. They have to go to bed early.”

Samantha, who stifled a yawn as someone prepared to take her photo, seemed ready to start that discipline this very night.