The Magnet "Lottery"

I was talking to an acquaintance a few weeks ago about school issues and something really surprised me. She had no idea that the magnet lottery wasn't a 'true' lottery. She thought that everybody had an equal chance of getting in--that they just drew the names out of one big "pot". This woman is highly educated and very involved in her childrens' lives and she didn't know this. It made me wonder how many other people don't know this simple truth about our system. I suspect that its a lot.

How do they choose the 'winners' of the magnet lottery if they don't just draw their names out of a hat? First, any siblings are given preference, as are students moving from a magnet elementary or middle to a magnet middle or high school. Those two criteria make sense and although it can make it harder for newcomers or students transfering from a non-magnet to get in, it is understandable. Diversity is the next and most significant criteria in choosing who gets the coveted magnet and voluntary year round seats. Higher income students coming from low poverty schools have a much better chance of getting a seat than higher income students coming from high poverty schools. Under our system, higher income students (and their families) are far too valuable to high poverty schools to let them out. If the low poverty school is overcrowded, then that's an even bigger advantage for the higher income student.

The converse is true as well. If a lower income student wants to leave a low poverty school to attend a magnet, his chances are pretty low. Not only do they need him to 'diversify' the low poverty school, but chances are that the magnet he's applying to has enough of his kind already. (Unless its a western ITB magnet, but that's a different issue altogether and one that's been addressed somewhat by the demagnetization of Root and Olds). Actually, low income students get treated the worst under this system.

Low poverty schools need low income students to diversify their student populations and it doesn't matter how they get there. If they already live in a base area near a low poverty school, they have a lower chance of being granted admission to a magnet and if they live elsewhere they can be bused into a low poverty school from as far as 15 miles away. If they live near a magnet school like Hunter or Ligon they are likely bused out to make room for the suburban/higher income students. If they do remain at the magnet school, they are often segregated from the higher income children by virtue of the special programs that are offered. The final 10% of magnet seats are drawn as a true lottery and I have talked to one BOE member who mentioned being surprised that a higher income student was let out of a high poverty school until s/he realized that the student got into the magnet under the '10% rule'.

As awful as the above instances are, the most distressing thing to me is that nowhere is the welfare or academic achievement of individual students taken into account. Diversity in our school system is a good thing, but when it is taken to the extreme it becomes a liability. When we think of our students solely as F&R numbers and not as children with individual academic, family, and social needs it is a travesty.