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Parents say student-assignment lottery leaves families shut out, without schools for start of term
Summary
Several parents told the board they had been assigned to distant schools through the student-assignment lottery or had no school assignment for the first day of classes, asking the district to explain the assignment system and to provide remedies for families who cannot manage the placements.
Multiple parents told the board Aug. 9 that the district’s student-assignment lottery system had placed their children far from home or left some without an assigned school for Monday, Aug. 15.
Archie Choice said the system ‘‘is not really a fair system’’ and described getting an assignment across town that is impractical for his family in Richmond. Sharon Kennedy and Chadi Carter said they had been assigned schools more than five miles from home and that one child still had no school assignment for the upcoming Monday. Kennedy said she felt ‘‘faceless’’ after receiving a generic email response to a medical or hardship appeal and urged the board to consider the system’s impact on working parents and single-parent households.
Speakers requested clearer information about how many families in their neighborhoods face similar problems and asked for more transparent hardship and medical-appeal processing. The comments were presented as part of the meeting’s general public-comment period; the board and staff acknowledged the concerns but did not take immediate remedial action at the meeting.
