Philly schools to notify families of special-admissions decisions by Jan. 31, an official says

Admissions decisions for Philadelphia School District critieria-based schools should be released by Jan. 31, an official said Saturday.

The school system received 1,000 appeals to its eligibility decisions and has reviewed all but about 10, spokesperson Monique Braxton said.

“Right now, the School District of Philadelphia is performing test runs of the lottery, and students should be notified of the lottery results by Jan. 31,” said Braxton.

The Jan. 31 date also applies to decisions about families who applied for their children to attend neighborhood schools outside their designated attendance zone.

Parents and counselors were initially told they would be notified about admissions decisions by Jan. 13.

The process has caused widespread confusion, with the district releasing few details to counselors and families, and parents panicked about eligibility status and the results of the high-stakes lottery. In some cases, students’ eligiblity status for individual schools has changed multiple times this week, with students marked ineligible after appeal deadlines had passed.

Braxton said some families may have confused eligibility status for lottery results; no lottery results have been released as of Saturday, she said.

The district remade its special-admissions process last year for equity reasons, moving from a system where principals control who gains admissions to their schools to a lottery-based system for those who meet admissions criteria, with four top schools — Carver High School of Engineering and Science, Central, Masterman, and Academy at Palumbo — giving preference to students from certain underrepresented zip codes.

Those zip codes are 19139, 19134, 19132, 19121, 19133, and 19140.

The changes have not been universally well-received. Some parents sued the district, alleging the policy is “blatantly unconstitutional” because it institutes a race-based system.

And while many say the district needed to fix diversity at some magnets, where student demographics do not match the city’s or the school system’s — officials have taken heat for bumps in the process, and for poor communication along the way.

Braxton said officials were working to ensure the process ran as smoothly as possible.

“We understand that parents are anxious and wanting schools of their choice,” Braxton said. “Our goal remains to provide an excellent education for all students in Philadelphia.”