Parents, others offer input on modifying School Choice system

But diversity and ample academic choices are positive attributes that parents value.

South Lee County parents and community members registered their comments Monday night during a public forum at Estero High designed to gauge opinions about the future of student assignment. Lee County's court-approved School Choice system is expiring, and the district is seeking advice on how it should be modified.

"For the past 40 years, the federal court has told us how to assign students," Superintendent James Browder told 98 audience members. "Now, we as a community can decide."

Lee County has used School Choice since 1998, allowing parents to rank schools from a list of facilities located within three geographic attendance zones. A lottery then uses race, sibling preference, proximity and other factors to assign children. That system, though, has assigned some students to schools located 20 miles away from home.

"For a high schooler, that's OK, as long as it's their choice," said parent Roger Shelly of Bonita Springs, who doesn't want to see elementary-age children bused long distances to class.

Prior to 1998, Lee County assigned students to the school closest to home. Because of the area's housing boom, however, attendance boundaries continually were shifting and some children were forced to switch schools several times. But many parents prefer geographic boundaries because they instill a sense of community pride in their local school, and allow new families to know where their children will attend school when purchasing a home.

"You need to live near the school your child will attend," said Bonita parent Debbie Gress. "That's the way they do it all over the country."

The community has debated the pros and cons of School Choice vs. neighborhood schools for the past decade, and those alternatives continue to split parents. At Monday's forum, 52 percent of parents reported that they did not like the former boundary system, while 51 percent said they are not satisfied with School Choice either.

School Board members will decide in February whether to keep the current form of student assignment, a scaled-down or modified form of School Choice, a return to neighborhood schools or a combination of options. The district's Student Assignment Task Force spent one year developing alternatives that create smaller geographic zones; diversity based on race, socioeconomic status or academic achievement; a feeder system that advances children to specific middle and high schools; and initial assignments based on proximity with options for choice.

The board has yet to weigh in on the student assignment debate, Chairwoman Jeanne Dozier said, because members first want to hear from the public. Monday's discussion at Estero High was the third of four public forums, and the comments will be added to comments received during outreach sessions at local shopping centers and suggestions tallied through a telephone poll.

Browder has said the final plan is likely to be a hybrid of several options and ideas that will satisfy a majority of the public. Most of the parents at Monday's forum lived in Bonita, Estero, San Carlos Park and south Fort Myers, and the sentiment was that schools should be located close to a child's home, but that parents should still have the option to select other schools.

The district's final public forum starts at 7 p.m. today inside the auditorium of Lehigh Senior High. Parents and community members who have not participated in any forums can register their comments through a telephone poll by calling 461-8400 or e-mailing opinions@leeschools.net.