Magnet school preparations continue

Bedford County Board of Education heard an update on the magnet elementary school program Thursday night; applications for parents who wish to enroll their children at the school will be available starting Friday at the school system web site, www.bedfordk12tn.com. Betty Farrar, supervisor of elementary instruction, briefed school board members about the program's progress.

The school system has been holding awareness meetings throughout the county to discuss the program. More than 90 attended a meeting Jan. 15 at Cascade Elementary School; nearly 200 attended one Jan. 20 at Central High School. Meetings are scheduled Tuesday at Community Elementary and Thursday at Liberty School. Another meeting will be held at Central on Feb. 5.

Thomas School is being converted into a magnet for high-achieving elementary students from anywhere in the county. Parents apply to have their child admitted to the school, but enrollment is decided according to a set of defined criteria:

* TCAP scores

* ThinkLink assessments

* Additional assessments for students who do not have a TCAP score (for example, because they have moved here from out of state)

* Report card

* Attendance record

* Teacher recommendation

* Student work samples

Not all of those criteria apply to all students; for example, the TCAP test is given starting in fourth grade, so it only applies to applicants now in fourth grade who want to attend fifth grade at the new school. A weighted mathematical formula will be used to combine the different criteria and assign an overall score to each student, and that score will determine whether the student will be admitted.

Because incoming kindergarteners will have no report cards or test scores on which to base admission, they will need to be assessed. That process will begin March 13 and continue through April 18.

The last day for parents to turn in magnet school applications will be March 31. Parents will be notified May 1 whether their children have been accepted, and by May 8 they must make a final decision about whether or not to send the children to the school.

Board members asked Farrar to make sure that the policies state that the school is for Bedford County residents only. Transportation will be offered anywhere in the county, although in some cases that may mean a two-step process of transporting the child to his normal district school and then from that school to the magnet.

The magnet school program is in part a response to the "No Child Left Behind" act, which has forced schools and educators to shift some of their attention to at-risk or lower-achieving students in order to make sure that they pass their coursework. Some educators say this means that teachers have less attention left for high-achieving students who may need an extra challenge. The magnet school program, say proponents, helps make sure that children on both ends of the spectrum get the attention they need.

Critics of magnet school programs call them elitist and say they are a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts, widening the gap between high-achieving and low-achieving students and causing problems for schools by siphoning off their best students and most-involved parents.