Bureaucracy Rant – Gifted Classes
November 1, 2009
I have a series of CPS bureaucracy rants queued up in my head, so I’ll start with a short one:
I found out this school year, that if a child drops out of a gifted (and I assume classical) class during the school year, CPS doesn’t fill the spot. Even if it happens during the first week of school when plenty of families would be eager to get that spot.
A boy in my son’s 1st grade class dropped out right at the beginning of school this year due to transportation issues (never attended, and I’m sure had notified the school.) When I inquired about the spot being filled, I was told that CPS doesn’t do that. So that one spot still sits empty.
In fact, this past week (7 weeks into school) the school added some bus routes so the family inquired about getting their son back in the class, but CPS (GEAP) said no. Policy says no.
* Bureaucracy rant over.*
Entry Filed under: Bureaucracy Rant. Tags: GEAP policy, gifted class size.
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1. KevinG. | November 2, 2009 at 10:39 am
My son goes to Edison Regional Gifted. In his class, 2 students just didn’t show up on th 1st day of school. Another student has left because her family move to another state. I guess I should be happy that there are fewer kids in his class, but I can’t help but think of all the Chicago parents out there that would kill for their son/daughter to go to Edison. I guess the issues of buses/transportation, “taking” a student from another school (along with consequent funding issues, etc.), making the proper minority/non-minorit fit (although the end of the Consent Decree has rendered this moot, so CPS most likely doesn’t even know how to handle this issue yet, since socioeconomic guidelines are still in the works), not to mention other logistical headaches, of which I’m sure there are many, all make things too cumbersome to enroll new students after the start of the new year, but still…. –what a waste of a much sought after educational opportunity!!
2. turn it positive | November 2, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Hey, perhaps folks could let you know when there is an opening in their child’s school and what grade it is. That way when parents are ranking their choices, they can put the ones that they know have an opening first.
Edison just had one kindergartener move. That means at least one 1st grade opening in the Fall.
3. no can do | November 3, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Here is the dirty little secret. If a parent with a student from a private school or a parent with a student just moving into the city of Chicago has a child that could be in that grade (and for gifted/classical, brings the test scores to prove it)…Guess what? That new parent gets to enroll that new kid into that SE school—yes, they do. So no ‘opening’ is held by the SE school, for the next year. There is a slice of reality.
4. Y | November 3, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Supposedly, CPS used to fill the spots unclaimed at the beginning of the year. This policy seems to have changed in the recent past. I received this information from an informed parent of an 8th grader at a RGC.
5. RGC mom | November 4, 2009 at 12:16 pm
As recently as two years ago they were offering spots at RGC’s and Classical schools in September. And at my daughter’s magnet families have enrolled mid year on at least 2 occasions. This leads me to speculate that if this parent had clout or knew who to talk to she could make this happen.
6. Mayfair Dad | November 4, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Typical CPS. If managing a waitlist properly and filling sudden opportunistic openings with qualified applicants means extra work for some CPS paper-pusher, it aint gonna happen. But if you are in-the-know or have clout, you can muscle your way in.
I’m sure the consent decree fallout muddies an already murky situation.