Reply to Bowser's Latest on School Boundaries

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[quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]So, let me guess, those who fill out applications in December will have to redo them once she tweaks the boundaries?[/quote]

If she wants to change the boundaries, she is required by law to give notice a year in advance. The mayor's plan has not yet changed boundaries (that takes effect at the end of August). So, Bowser could announce in January that the current boundaries (pre-DME recomendations) would remain in effect. That would really only be a problem for those trying to get into pre-k because otherwise you don't have to lottery for your inbounds school. Charters don't have boundaries, so it wouldn't impact them either. I'm sure that there are some other cases in which someone's plans would be upset, but I think a delay would be more of a publicity problem than anything. Then, she would have until the end of August to announce her new boundaries.

But, the PR problem is of such magnitude that I find it hard to believe she will actually do it. She might be able to tweak grandfathering. The Crestwood/16th Street Heights situation is easy because Unicorn won't be open for a while. She can easily allow for a longer grandfathering period and kick that down the road a ways. Allowing EotR kids to keep going to Eastern might be more difficult, but there might still be room for them at Eastern if she simply grandfathers them as well. That leaves the students in SW who are getting booted from  Wilson to Eastern in the lurch. It's not clear to me that anyone cares about them (and maybe not even them). But grandfathering could kick that problem down the road as well. But, maybe she does want to take the heat for stopping the new boundaries. We'll see.
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I'm not sure about this.  
1. Could the one-year notice requirement be construed so that leaving boundaries as they are after announcing a change would also be considered a change?  In other words, would a court allow Bowser to decide on Feb. 1 2015 that all the boundaries for 2015-6 will be the same as they were in 2014-15, or would they say that decision was a change requiring one year's notice? I could imagine a judge issuing a restraining order and litigants dragging things out past the 3/2/15 deadline for the PK-8 lottery. Then it would be a real mess to change things after that.

2. If they did allow Bowser to do that, it's a big problem for Van Ness for 2015-16 since it wouldn't have a boundary.  The kids would be in their current (Amidon-Bowen) boundary. And THAT is a big problem because Amidon (as well as Van Ness) are schools where there is a right to PK for IB families who list it in their lottery choices.  Amidon could be overfull of PK in that scenario, and families that prefer Van Ness would be pissed. They could open it as a boundaryless school (with proximity preference?) but that would be politically very unpleasant.

3. There are families that like the boundary changes. For example, those in the expanded Cleveland feeder zone.  They might have decided not to enter the lottery because their K-5 kid could go to Cleveland, and then all of a sudden would have to get up to speed on where to apply if they didn't like the school they ended up having the right to attend.  It would really suck.

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The way I would interpret the "one year notification of a change rule" is this:

1) Notification is provided
2) One year goes by
3) Change takes place

Therefore, we are currently at step 2. I don't see why Bowser couldn't simply say, "About step 3? Never mind." She would basically rescind the notification. Changes require notification, but not making changes doesn't.

Your other two points are very valid and the sort of thing that Bowser probably hasn't thought through. It is those sorts of issues, plus the PR nightmare that will probably cause her to drop any plans she might have to change boundaries. That's why I think the "tweaks" are more likely to be related to grandfathering.

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