Will someone please tell me what the f#@& the people at the Department of Education (DOE) do all day? Are they all power-tripping? Do any of them have kids in the public school system? Are they on drugs? Are they enjoying this mess they've created?
Lucky for us, Little Joe got back into the charter school in Manhattan that we love. But no thanks to the DOE. And since this mess began I'd been thinking, if only I'd known before we sent in our Kindergarten applications about the new "No Out of District Kids" rule, then I'd have applied to charter schools in Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn charter school closest to our house that we applied to in 2008 for Pre-K, kept our son's name for their kindergarten lottery, and sent us a letter in April saying he didn't make the cut. Then yesterday we received another letter from them that reads as follows:
Dear Ms._______Did y'all get that? The DOE's own mapping database gave the schools incorrect results. That's just brilliant. Why do we even have a DOE anyway?
On Wednesday April 8, ______sent you a letter informing you of the results of our admissions lottery for the 2009-10 kindergarten class. Pursuant of a change in the Charter Law two years ago, our admissions system now gives preference to students residing within the school's Department of Education school district, District 14. Therefore we hold two lotteries one for in district or preference students and another one for out of district students. During the lottery held on Tuesday April 7, 2009, your child's name was put in the in district or preference lottery based on district information from the DOE website.
We subsequently were notified by the DOE, however, that the mapping database provided as a reference for our use produced incorrect or misleading results for residents of certain zip codes and that your family does not in fact reside within the school's home district. We therefore are required to change the waitlist place for your child and will be conducting a parallel lottery to determine his or her new position....
2 comments:
It is pretty incredible. I blame dependence on machines. It contributes to lazy record-keeping and anonymity. What I mean is, no PERSON is an expert of an area. Also, the high turnover in the DOE (all the way up and down the system) contributes to people not really knowing what they are doing - at least not to the degree of comfort. It's not their fault; it's just that there's not a feeling of "I'm going to stick around and train the next guy" in the DOE. When you do run in to someone who has done a job for a long time and well (and they do exist!), it's a welcome relief.
I hope everything turns out as you want.
Sounds like you have the inside scoop on the DOE situation. And it doesn't sound good - except for your last sentence. I wonder why the turnover is so high...
Post a Comment