"In a major step forward in Seattle Public Schools' central goal to deliver Excellence for All for every child, the School Board voted today 6-1 to approve the final recommendations for a new student assignment plan that is predictable, equitable, and easy for families to understand. Under the new plan, each student will have a school assignment based on his or her address. Families will still have the option to apply to another school, and open choice seats will be available at all high schools. The new plan will increase the opportunity for family engagement at each school in the District. It will also reduce transportation and administration costs - resources better spent educating Seattle's children. Responsive to concerns raised by families during the engagement process to develop the plan, the Board approved an amendment to address sibling enrollment in the creation of a transition plan that will guide implementation starting in the 2010-2011 academic year. "

I've been fighting city hall, or my local version thereof, and I may have won. (My sister told me all along they would throw us the grandfather clause to placate us.)

The Seattle school board has been in the process of changing how students are assigned to schools. The current system is citywide choice. You can go to any school in the city. And you get ranked to get in by these categories:

1. You have a sibling at the school.
2. You live in the reference area.
3. You are a shorter distance from the school that some other non-reference area person.
4. You live in the cluster.

There was some grand philosophy underlying this ranking system. Now, they are changing three things:

1. Sibling is NO LONGER the first criteria. Reference is.
2. They are redrawing the reference areas.
3. You get assigned to your reference school, and then if you put some effort into it, you have a chance to get into a different school.

There is some grand philosophy underlying this new system. I read the blurb. The only part I believed was about the money. They are changing the system because they hope it will save the school district money. Great. But what about those of us who have a child already in a out-of-reference school (like me!) and have a sibling waiting in the wings?

Take a moment and feel my pain: drop off and pick up at the exact same time at two different locations, double the school events to attend, splitting my volunteering energy, splitting my donations, not really being able to be involved in either community because I'm always running between the two, not being able to continue the great relationships I've formed with the teachers and staff at Rose's school. . .aggh!

Even though many many of us wrote letters, signed petitions, and showed up at board meetings, I was pretty sure the school board would just ignore our concerns. At one point, they were saying they couldn't grandfather us in because the computer was too old to handle it. We live in Seattle, home to Microsoft, and our school district computer is a tottering vax machine?

The language in the resolution is vague. It's like they'll try to grandfather people in if they can for awhile. Since my kid won't be going to kindergarten until 2011, I've got a feeling I didn’t win.