Four of the 12 elementary schools, and one of the 5 middle
schools in Stamford, are so called magnet schools. Each magnet school
focusses on a certain theme (science, reading,...). Admission to magnet
schools is based on
policy
5117.2.
The zoned magnet schools primarily serve the students in
their district ("attendance zone"), whereas the district-wide magnet
schools do not have an assigned attendance area. Students from other
districts are admitted via a "controlled" lottery process. Some magnet
schools show much higher test scores than their peers, and therefore
have many more applicants than free spots. After a policy change
in November 2006 (magnet school
policy
5117.2), the purpose of the
magnet schools changed from providing educational choice to the
following: "..to assist in managing enrollment and racial balance
through educational choice...". As a consequence, if your child
is a minority student in a
school with a shortage of minority students, he or she will be denied
access to a magnet school, just the same way a "majority" student will
be if he or she happens to live in a district with a shortage of
majority
students.
This letter by
Judith Singer clarifies what policy 5117.2
boils down to.
Thinking of moving to Stamford to get the best education for your
child? Take a look at the
Stamford
public school district strategic school profile. You'll find that
- Stamford has 12.4 students per teacher, vs a state average of
13.6, and the class size varies between 18.7 and 23.3 students,
depending on grade level.
- Stamford spent $13,568 per student in 2004-05 (not including
land, buildings, and debt service) compared to $10,994 state average,
i.e about 23% more than the state average.
- The Stamford school district average scores are below state
average for every grade level.
You may find the following collection
of test scores useful for
deciding whether you want to enroll your kids into the Stamford public
school system, or look for a house in another district. The scores show
how the Stamford public schools compare
to some of the neighboring districts.
