Parents and students across Montclair most likely received a letter on Saturday—or will receive one today—from education officials pertaining to middle school assignments.

So far it seems many families are happy with what they've heard.

Brian Collins said his son Walter received his choice of school—Mount Hebron. And Edie Locke said her daughter Lily also received her choice of school—Glenfield.

Both students currently attend Charles H. Bullock Elementary, which is the feeder school for Renaissance Middle School.

Today, the Montclair Public Schools website explained the process for how freedom of choice school selections are made.

"In February 2010, a new student enrollment/assignment-by-zone policy was approved by the Board of Education.

"Under the plan, the township was divided into three zones, labeled Zone A, Zone B and Zone C. (These zones were conceived by the Task Force for public school enrollment purposes only, and are not intended to replace existing township or ward delineations.)

"Students are now assigned to zones based on census data, including household income and Title 1 status (eligibility for Free or Reduced Lunch). Students from all three zones are represented in each school.

"In 2007, court cases involving Kentucky and Seattle ruled that using race as a determinate of placement was unconstitutional. In light of these cases, Montclair enlisted the expertise of Kirwan Institute researchers at Ohio State University to review Montclair's school assignment policy and procedures and developed a plan and recommendation that would maintain a policy that supports integration and diversity without using race as a basis for placement.

"This is an important aspect as Montclair remains under a mandate by the State of New Jersey to desegregate our schools.

"Thus, Kirwan modeled several educational zones for Montclair, based on five equally weighted factors. Each factor was calculated at the neighborhood level, using 2000 census data.

  • # of Free and Reduced Lunch students
  • Parental Education Levels
  • Median Household Income
  • Household Poverty Rates
  • Race, by neighborhood

"As this policy phases in, beginning in 2010, students enrolling in kindergarten are initially given priority if they are siblings, have specific programmatic needs such as ELL (English Language Learners) or require specific services under special education.

"After those priorities, a computerized system randomly assigns students with a number, according to zones, with 1st to 6th ranking of parental preference of schools. Students are assigned to schools from this database, based on school enrollment/spaces/slots.

"From this database, a wait list system is utilized and places students in their higher-ranked preference of schools, according to zone balance, as space becomes available."

School district officials said they wanted to remind parents that placement in a 1st-ranked "preference" is never guaranteed and that parents will be notified according to the number on the wait list should space become available.

Freedom of Choice (request for change in elementary placements) are for the coming year. Mid-year transfers, after initial placement, and other than waitlisted students, are rarely granted, and are determined by the superintendent designee. Mid-year transfers are not the practice of the district and are not educationally sound.

Freedom of Choice requests for students who have siblings in the requested schools for the year of the request are given priority although placement is not guaranteed due to space/slot availability. Again, a computerized database for placement will be used to create the students' ranking on the roster/list.

"We want parents to understand this is an electronic process that will ensure that a certain proportion of students from each zone will be assigned to every school and thus remain balanced," explained Felice A. Harrison, Assistant to the Superintendent.

On July 1, parents will be notified regarding K through 5 school placements.

See also complete registration information for incoming students.

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