District makes bad choice

The Intradistrict Transfer Policy 3152 (choice) is being reviewed by the Spokane School Board, and parents should be aware of this. The policy currently gives priority to choice students over neighborhood students at our schools.

A choice student at a given school has priority should a new neighborhood child need that slot, even if that neighborhood child has a sibling attending that school. The neighborhood child is placed in overload status and bused to another school until space becomes available, or the parent may choose to send that neighborhood child to another school.

Choice students are important to Spokane schools because they level classroom sizes, and not having to reapply every year adds stability, but at the cost of our neighborhood children. A group of parents has proposed a lottery system be added to upgrade the policy so that a choice student can be pulled should a neighborhood child need that slot.

I encourage any family affected by Policy 3152 to write a letter to the school board. My family has not been affected, but I would like a more principled policy that places the onus of the choice system on the choice student and not the neighborhood student.

Kirsten Robinson

Spokane