COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS 2006-2007		CONTROLLED CHOICE
FACTOR	STRENGTH	CONCERNS/CHALLENGES	NEEDS
1.  Cost	No impact on title 1 Funding	Very costly option for racial/	Additional money for bus
	to the district.	socio-economic balance specifically in	transportation.
		regards to transportation.
	Different schools may hire		Cost:  $705.648.00 per year
	differently run programs	Busses $241 bus/day
	according to the "Controlled	$3856.00 per day or $705,648 for year
	Choice" there.
2.  Educational Merit	Developed leadership skills;	Does ot eliminate the low	State funding hasn't
	increased number of college	achieving student due to	increased in years; mandated
	students going to urban city	socio-economic issues	programs must still be maintained.
	mojors.
	Values acquired through
	working with others; fewer
	racial issues
3.  Parental Involvement	Involvement should remain	Could be tension between the	More racial education needed
	unchanged regardless of which	races (among parents)
	plan is chosen.
4.  Socioeconomic Balance	Since Manchester schools	Socioeconomic percentages	Given that each school would
	would be drawing from all	at schools can be hard to	have a theme to attract
	neighborhoods in town, each	gauge, since not all families	student, it is likely that some
	school has a shot at a repre-	who qualify for reduced or free	schools would have greater
	sentative mix of the socio-	lunch sign up for it.	concentrations of students
	economic classes of the town.		who qualify for free or reduced
			lunch, thus making some
			schools, and others not.
			Therefore, if a student choses
			a non-title school, he/she
			would not have some services
			available to them that they might
			have had in their former
			neighborhoods.
FACTOR	STRENGTH	CONCERNS/CHALLENGES	NEEDS
5.  Fairness	Tie potential benefits of	The greatest benefits will go	A workable system for selecting
	magnet schools are available	to families that are motivated	students for a school when
	to all families.  Controlled	to seek out the best match	the school has a limited number
	Choice gives parents options	for their child.	of slots.
	for their children's education
	and at the same time is a
	voluntary way to integrate
	schools.
6.  Neighborhood Schools	Neighborhood schools are not	Some children would not be
	retained, though some families	able to go to the nearest
	do elect (and are selected) to	school to their home.
	attend a nearby schools.
	Magnet schools develop a
	sense of community, after
	school activities, clubs, parent
	training.  Generally siblings are
	permitted to attend the same
	school.
7.  Transportation	Bus is safest mode of	Costly for "Controlled Choice"	Acceptable transit time (Bussing)
	transportation for students.	option.
			Families must be prepared to
	Not many safety issues	Set up on per bus/per day	cope with the ability to get to
	regarding transportation.	cost structure.	schools for events, conferences,
			etc.-emergencies.
		After school Daycare concerns
		Transit time - typical day-25
		minutes.  12 minutes from one
		end of town to another (without
		traffic)
8.  Degree of Permanency		Difficult for the "Controlled	To establish long-term balance
		Choice" Option to maintain	a centralized registration would
		racial/socioeconomic balance	be needed for on-going registration needs
		due to increased numbers of
		families moving in and out of	ie:  Permanent secretaries to
		district.  Numbers could easily shift	complete this ongoing process.
			A new plan????
FACTOR	STRENGTH	CONCERNS/CHALLENGES	NEEDS
9.  Family or School Disruption	This option will only serve to	Afterschool care….an area that still	Good public education on what this plan
	improve the learning process and	needs to be researched.	truly entails.
	not disrupt it.
			Very misunderstood plan.
10.  Timing		State has already declared Manchester	Registration will require more work from
		"out of balance", therefore there is an	secretaries.  Therefore secretary's time
		urgency to provide a solution which does	would increase thus adding some
		not allow much more time for weighing	possible costs.
		options.  Challenge to provide an efficient
		yet effective option.	Staff for placement of all children.
		Can not implement before out of compliance
11.  Change and Anxiety	Sense of control on the part of	Children possibly going to new neighborhoods	Allay fears of parents
	parents	far from home.	Allay fears of children
			Effective communication of plan vital
	Mechanism for siblings to attend	"White Flight" or at least "white anxiety"	"Special permits" for exceptional
	same school under plan.	pointed out in the literature.	situations - Pinellas County School
			district
12.  What is the impact of		Parents will not feel connected to schools out-
the option on political support		side of neighborhood.
for the school system?
		They want children to be part of the neighborhood.
		Less Choice than believed to receive.