The High School Wait-List

I’ll start off by saying that I really dislike the system our school district uses to enroll Grade 8 students into highschool for their Grade 9 year. It puts a lot of pressure on a 13 year old kid that impacts their life in a significant way- all in a matter of weeks. Once the decision has been made there’s no turning back either. I understand why the old system needed to be changed, but the new one is unfairly penalizing kids that have worked hard and keeping others that live close to their neighbourhood schools hostage on a wait-lists for more than a year while kids that are “connected or know people” that live out of the city are breezing by these wait-lists.

For many years the highschools in the city’s uptown (South Central) were bursting at the seems while other schools in the East, West and North were practically vacant. The system needed to be changed to make the schools more evenly populated and cut transportation costs. Students would now be assigned to the school that was closest geographically. I remember a huge media frenzy after the initial announcement was made. Parents upset that their family legacy would be broken, many angry letters being written, and concerns that these under-populated schools could ruin their kids’ highschool education.

Over the years the new system was tweaked a few times to bring us to today’s way of doing things. Everything kicks off in February with the “Open Houses” where the prospective students and their parents have a designated night (all in one week) to visit the various schools. Each school works hard to lure you in, you start off the the auditorium, listen to the school’s principal make a speech, take a tour and then your 13 year old needs to make their decision and have their colour coded form returned to school in a matter of weeks. Kids are allowed to attend open houses off all of the schools but they must choose a first and second choice. Students in the geographic area of the school are (supposed to be) given first priority to their first choice. Sounds reasonable right?

Here’s my  first beef- 3 weeks is no where near enough time to learn about the various schools and how they differ, and differ they do! The District doesn’t want to admit it, but each school is very unique and many of these differences are not pointed out at open houses and if this is your oldest child and you don’t know anyone that’s already in highschool you don’t find out until it’s too late. For example one highschool doesn’t not allow Grade 10 students to choose from grade 11 and 12 elective courses, and students were not given this information until they were 3 quarters through their grade 9 year! There was absolutely no mention of this at the Open Houses! Once a child’s decision has been made, there is absolutely no changing your mind. At age 13 your friends one week may have a completely different influence on you than a few weeks later, and in my daughter’s case that’s exactly what happened. A few weeks after the Elusive “Orange Form” was passed in, she changed her mind to the other school that she had as her second pick. ( I will mention both schools are within 5 blocks walking distance from our house.) I called the District right away thinking no problem, we live Uptown, they can just switch her over. Boy- was I in for a shock!

I was quite positive that my call to the District in March would go over well, and we could get her switched over to the other school and reassured Kenz things would be OK as she had really been suffering from a lot of anxiety and was punishing herself over her bad choice. Never in a million years did I think that call would turn into a year of follow-ups and her sitting at number 75 on a waiting list. There were lots of tears afterwards from both her and I and in the end we had to chalk it up as a life lesson that if you make a decision that isn’t right for you there can be some serious consequences. We were still hopeful that she’d move up on the waitlist and get into her school by September. A few more calls were made and by the end of the school year the numbers were a little more firm and she still sat at number 57. Her summer was miserable, being in limbo is not good for a child that suffers from anxiety.

Then we were given a ray of hope in July! A facebook friend who had moved out of the city, had revealed in a status update that her child that was number 77 on the waitlist got in to this school, went from 77 to in, just like that! I was beaming with joy as I knew Kenz was sitting at number 57. I called up the District and all excitement was instantly shattered when they told me that no she had not moved up the list and that this other child was still on the waiting list. I had a really uneasy feeling that something was not right as this friend also deleted her entire status update and replies after I replied to the thread.

The new school year quickly arrived and she headed off to her second choice school. It was quickly apparent that things were going downhill quickly. 5 days into school and it was already a struggle to get her to go. I sent off a very heartfelt email to the District employee that handles the waitlist to explicitly ask if exceptions are ever made. I received an email reply saying a voicemail was left for me on my cellphone. The voicemail stated her name and number and to call her back. I called for a week straight never reaching her and she never returned any of my calls. I let it go, to my daughters detriment.

This entire year has been miserable for her, I don’t often write about this stuff as I don’t want to upset her. Outside of school she does not have any type of social life, and even during school hours she comes home for lunch 99% of the time and straight home afterschool. She is depressed. Finally after March Break a few teachers had taken notice and one of the guidance councilors got in touch with me when she had still not filled out her Grade 10 course selection form. I filled her in that she’s now sitting at number 7 on the waitlist at the other school and would prefer to choose some of the electives that are available to her there. We were informed that she could not do this, she had to choose courses from the school she’s attending now. This meant no electives and only a handful of courses to choose from unlike the 35 available at the other school. I was belittled by the senior councilor when I tried to point out that she’d like to take a few of the courses offered there. I said to her, “If she can choose a course that actually interests her to keep her interested in school vs. something that she’s she’s been dictated to take, don’t you think that’s a better option? I just want her to go to school and it not be such a struggle everyday.” Her response, “She can’t pick courses from a  school she’s not attending even if she’s that high on their waitlist. We prefer that kids in Grade 10 not take the 11 & 12 elective courses, they have plenty of time in those grades to do them!”  My worry was that if she selected the only options from that school she would automatically be rolled into those courses and not given the option of electives at the other school. I walked out of the room in tears of frustration.

I decided to go straight to the school she wanted to go to and meet with the guidance councilor there. He confirmed my fears, when they receive the transfer, they automatically put the student into the courses that were selected from the other school, meaning no choice of electives. I voiced my concerns and he was extremely sympathetic and he had a solution for her! Have her fill out the course selection form from their school and attach is directly to the school transfer request. Simple as that.

Over the coming days I talked to a few parents who were shocked at this process, and one parent who’s just about to start it. Her daughter is in Grade 8 and waitlisted for this same school. She’s number 70. She’s a top achieving straight A student in her school and chose this school because of it’s background in academics and that they also offer the International Baccalaureate Program (starting in Grade 10). She is geographically not in this school’s area, her second choice wasn’t in her area either. Her acceptance letter from the District came and she got into choice number 2, while other classmates that all live in her area got into her first choice school. She passed in her form before it needed to be passed in, she knew this was the school she wanted to attend. How does this happen?

Her mother has found out from other people that they do make exceptions and pull people off the waiting lists and is trying hard to make this happen. I also have since found out that there are other students that live out of the city (not just the school area) that are attending the school the girls have been waitlisted to, including the one I mentioned above in the facebook story. Exceptions are made you just need to know the right people. All of these highschools are very unique  and rich in school history, but if this entry system is ever going to be fair they need to have a consistent program and courses that are the same at each school or this problem will never be resolved. I’m extremely jaded by the whole process as I’m sure you can tell. I know that my daughter made a lousy choice last year and because of it, it’s put a huge stress on her and her mental health. Yes she may have learned a hard lesson, but she’s also learned how people can scam the system too, by using someone’s else’s address or an “inside connection”. I don’t think there was anything wrong with me asking if exceptions were made for certain cases, but when I’m told that they strictly stick to the waitlist that’s an outright lie. Once I know that she’s been accepted to the other school, I will be writing to the Superintendent of the District to voice my concerns and request a meeting, this isn’t over just yet.

Advertisement