Friday, February 04, 2000
Saturday last time for magnet school sign-up
Lottery system in works for next year
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Saturday is sign-up day for parents who want to enroll their children in Cincinnati Public Schools' popular, first-come, first-served programs.
This is the last year district officials will hold “Super Saturday,” which critics say unfairly penalizes parents who don't have access to a car, cell phone or other devices to assist their scramble for the quick-to-fill magnet slots. About two-thirds of CPS students are low-income.
The district plans to institute a lottery system next year, which they hope will give parents a more equal chance at a limited number of openings.
At 7 a.m. Saturday, sign-up sites will be simultaneously announced on television and radio, a practice officials adopted several years ago to avoid having parents camp out overnight to assure a prime place in line.
Registration sites will be open 7 a.m.-noon. An afternoon sign-up session will be 2-6 p.m. at district headquarters, 2651 Burnet Ave., Corryville.
Sites will be announced on TV Channels 5, 9 and 12 and on radio stations 700 WLW-AM, 100.9 WIZF-FM, 1480 WCIN-AM and 94.9 WMOJ-FM.
Or call the district's magnet hot line at 684-4172. Callers should use a touch-tone phone and know the district quadrant in which the child lives. To learn the correct quadrant number, call the CPS FACTline, 475-7099.
For the hearing-impaired, a TDD line, 475-4461, will be offered Saturday.
Magnet schools are programs with a specialized focus, including Montes sori, Paideia, college-preparatory, foreign languages and the arts. They're so popular that 1,900 students were turned away last year.
Students in public schools who do not go to magnet schools go to neighborhood schools, which historically have received less funding and generally have poorer achievement than magnets.
After Saturday, applications may be picked up at any CPS school or district headquarters.
Space is limited and siblings get priority in the magnet programs.
Few other districts hold sign-ups; most do lotteries.
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