Lottery Concerns Highlight Outdated School Zones

New Haven is changing, but school zones aren’t. This makes some schools nearly impossible to get into through the lottery system.

The fix is redistricting, Magnet School Assistant Program Coordinator Michele Bonanno told the Board of Alders Education. No such fix is currently being planned.

The occasion was a review of this year’s lottery process results.

“The zones are not keeping up with where the development is happening,” Bonanno said at the hearing, which took place via Zoom Wednesday night. ​“This starts putting pressures on certain sides of town.”

Bonanno was responding to a question about which schools are the most oversubscribed and why. The school system is not currently looking into redistricting.

The schools that usually have far more interest than seats are Davis Street Arts & Academics, Mauro-Sheridan Interdistrict Magnet School, New Haven Academy and Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, according to Office of School Choice and Enrollment Director Marquelle Middleton.

After a question from an alder, Bonanno said that the city had invested in a study of redistricting the neighborhood zones in 2012. She said that the Board of Education did not accept any of the recommendations at the time because there was a sense that one side of the city would get a worse deal from the change.

She said that since then Roberto Clemente has become a magnet school, which should ameliorate part of that concern.

Alder Darryl J. Brackeen, Jr. said he is interested in reconsidering the study. His memory was that the study was thorough and likely still relevant.

“After nine years, we probably should revisit the conversation,” Brackeen said.

Alder Steven Winter asked what that process would look like, should the alders want to take redistricting up again.

“Lots of community input. It’s a hot-button topic,” Bonanno answered.

This Year’s Fixes

The main reason for Bonanno and others to be present at the meeting was to present the results of this year’s school lottery.

Around 7,200 students applied to schools through the lottery system and 57 percent were matched immediately. New Haven Public Schools is now working through the lists of families that have said yes or no to their matches and pulling students off waitlists.

This year, students and their families were allowed to mark up to six choices for where they would like to go to school. An algorithm sorted them, giving preference at certain schools to students who live within the school’s neighborhood zone or who have a sibling enrolled there.

The students that were placed in seats had the option to accept or decline that one seat. If they got their third choice, declining would not give them the chance to get on the waitlist of their first choice, for example. Parents then had to register their child at the school.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Office of School Choice and Enrollment pushed the entire process online for the first time. Some parents, including Brackeen, experienced error messages with the website.

Middleton said that the office was never able to find errors when they tried to replicate what parents had done. Middleton said that his team worked with parents to find links that worked for them and has done extensive outreach to families to make sure they know how the new system works.

This was also the first year since the Board of Education directed the office to increase the number of seats available to New Haven students at interdistrict magnet schools.

Middleton reported that around 80 percent of families said that they were satisfied with the school choice process this year.

“There’s always room for improvement but I think that overall we are trending in the right direction for sure,” Middleton said.

Everyone’s A Winner

The alders and administrators discussed the sense among many families that if they do not get into one of their choices, their child will not be able to succeed.

“We are focusing on making every school a school that is desirous. Until we get there, we are going to get disparities,” said Superintendent Iline Tracey.

Tracey said that nearly all magnet and non-magnet schools are centered around themes, such as social justice and project-based learning. The disparities occur because magnet schools get dedicated grants, which the district needs to make its budget work, Tracey said.

When families call Middleton, worried about their child going to a neighborhood school, he tells them his story, he said. He graduated from James Hillhouse High School, focused while there, and went on to higher education.

Middleton said that he then connects families with principals who can talk about the programs that can make a school special for a child. He shared an anecdote about a mom upset about the lottery who came back later to say her child was getting straight As and loving Hillhouse.

Tracey pointed out that several other members of her team are products of Hillhouse or Wilbur Cross as well. Bonanno attended Wilbur Cross. Assist. Superintendent Keisha Redd-Hannans went to Hillhouse.

Tracey said that changing the perception of a school is difficult but possible. She recalled the effort to merge two schools into King-Robinson Interdistrict Magnet School.

“It was hard to even sell it in the magnet lottery. I heard one parent say, ​‘I wouldn’t want my cat to go to that school,’” Tracey said. ​“We worked hard and became a school with a long waiting list.”