Hollister
– Hollister School District’s magnet school program, which is
scheduled to be launched this fall, has extended the deadline for
those students and parents still interested in applying.
Hollister – Hollister School District’s magnet school program, which is scheduled to be launched this fall, has extended the deadline for those students and parents still interested in applying.
The two new magnet schools – a dual-immersion school taught in Spanish and English, and an Accelerated Academy for academically gifted students – received a lot of attention and interest from parents when they first were approved by the school board in July. However, district officials didn’t receive as many applications for the schools as they had expected.
District administrators said the reasons for the low enrollment numbers aren’t clear. Some parents didn’t think the programs were a good fit for their children, and others had never heard of the magnet school. In the meantime, the district is giving parents and students more time to apply and will aggressively advertise the programs to families throughout the area.
“I did not apply, and I was going to,” said Mary Maggio, who attended the meeting for the Accelerated program held in late January. Maggio said she thinks the program is not going to appeal to parents such as herself, who have older children who are already attending the middle school.
“I think it’s great for families just starting out in the school system, but I’ve had kids go through the system and I’ve been really happy,” Maggio said.
Applications for the magnet schools were initially set to be due on Feb. 9, but Sharon Kurtz, the special programs coordinator for HSD who heads the magnet program, said the district decided to extend the date.
Most of the programs are about two-thirds full, Kurtz said. She said there is little risk that any of the programs will have to be canceled because of low enrollment numbers. Administrators would like to see a larger applicant pool, specifically for the Accelerated Academy program.
It is difficult to ascertain exactly how many students they have for the Accelerated Achievement Academy, because students have yet to be assessed, Kurtz said. Students will be selected based off a variety of criteria, from teacher evaluations to standardized test scores.
Despite the small applicant pool, Kurtz said the method for selecting students will not be altered.
“We will not lower the standards,” Kurtz said. “We want children to be successful.”
She said the point of the program is to challenge academically advanced students, so lowering the standards would defeat the point.
But despite the lack of applicants, administrators say they aren’t concerned and have plans to increase the number of students who apply.
“I feel like you give it your best shot, you throw a party, and you see who comes,” said Dennis Kurtz, the principal at Gabilan Hills where the Dual Immersion program will be taught. “Now we’re going to have to do some target marketing.”
Hollister School District will be holding additional informational meetings through the month of March, and will be sending out invitations to parents in the district. Sharon Kurtz said she was surprised when several parents told her they had not even heard about the programs.
Currently, the programs needing the most students are the Dual Immersion program for first-graders – especially bilingual students, and the Accelerated Academy at all grade levels.
Sharon Kurtz said parents who met the first deadline will receive preference.
Alice Joy covers education for the Free Lance. You can reach her at (831) 637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
