schoolsearch: Dressing up schools to attract parents' tastes

Dressing up schools to attract parents' tastes

[Times photo: Michael Rondou]
Students in Brett Taylor’s life sciences class at Madeira Beach Middle School observe a cordgrass nursery and describe what they see in their journals. As an attractor, the school describes itself as “an outdoor living classroom.”

By DONNA WINCHESTER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 15, 2002

In the hopes parents will send students their way, schools have been playing up their "attractors,'' or standout qualities.

Schools have prepared a smorgasbord for parents in 2003-04.

Elementary offerings include marine science themes, a center for wellness and environmental studies and a Montessori program. Middle schools are featuring fundamental-style paths, a "traditional school-within-a-school" and a health and wellness program. High schools are introducing popular music, tourism and global studies courses.

There are schools with "safe learning environments," schools that are "family friendly" and schools that shape "lifelong learners."

If you think the schools are trying to sell themselves to you, you're right. The options they tout are called "attractors," and they were designed with help from administrators to entice parents to choose schools outside their neighborhoods.

For the choice plan to work, parents in predominantly black neighborhoods must be attracted to schools in predominantly white areas. Parents in predominantly white neighborhoods will have to be attracted to schools in predominantly black areas.

The schools hope that if they offer interesting programs, parents will allow their children to travel farther to get to them.

Parents can check out a school's attractors in school brochures available at Family Education and Information Centers and on the choice Web site (www.pinellas.k12.fl.us/choice/default.htm).

The best way to find out about a school is to visit and ask questions, said Andrea Zahn, the marketing coordinator for the choice plan. If possible, parents should visit all the schools in their attendance area. She suggests they talk to the principal, the office staff and the teachers.

In cases where a school's attractors aren't in place yet, they need to ask for assurance that what the schools are projecting isn't out of reach, Zahn said.

And before discounting a school whose claim to fame is a safe learning environment, parents should be aware that safety was the No. 1 response to last year's district survey that asked parents what they considered most important, she said.

At the same time, schools that aren't offering unique programs may find out they need to try harder to attract students, said magnet and fundamental supervisor Christine Lowry. Some schools, particularly in mid and north Pinellas, are doing little more than selling themselves as suburban schools. Their attractors may change over time.

Which brings up another question: How can parents be sure a school will follow through on its advertised attractor? Are schools whose programs are funded by federal grants more likely to fulfill their promises because they have big money behind them?

Making sure schools stick to their word will ultimately be the responsibility of the families, Lowry said. If schools don't produce the programs they've advertised, it will be up to the parents to express their dissatisfaction.

Parents also need to be aware that federal grants "go away," she said. Because the district is not funding attractor programs, schools that depend on federal grants will have to find alternate funding before their grant money runs out, she said.

Some schools, such as Skycrest Elementary in Clearwater, started tapping local resources several years ago. When principal Sheila Jaquish heard the first rumblings of choice in 1996, she encouraged her staff members to begin exploring community partnerships and nonfederal grants.

Since then, the school has built an arts and music curriculum with the help of visiting actors and musicians from Ruth Eckerd Hall, a handful of $1,000 to $25,000 grants from agencies such as the Pinellas County Arts Council, and a $100,000 extended year grant from the state.

"One of the things our principals are finding out is that they were not trained in marketing," Lowry said. "They're learning that they have to brag more about what they do well."

One thing parents are finding out is that with choice comes the responsibility for sifting through the options so they will be able to make the best decisions for their families.