If u wanna move to Philly and have kids,know this: EVEN THO THE SCHOOLS THEMSELVES DONT MOVE,THE MAP DOES!! (Philadelphia: apartment, neighborhoods)

[Diggy0128]

So I call Hamilton Elementary (keep in mind, I can stand in my living room and see this school out my window) to make sure I can come and register my Meech for kindergarten.I give them my address. (Mind you, I picked my apartment to make sure he could go to this school as it is a magnet school and really good)

I was then informed that due to a change in the map for the upcoming year, based on my address, he has to go to another school six blocks away,not hamilton which is literally across the intersection and down the street. (The other school is a six minute bus ride away)So, I snap the hell out,and call the school district. Long story short, here is what I have learned:

The Phila. School District changes the boundary maps WITHOUT ,and in my case, I live on the wrong side of Pine street.(so apparently, the boundary is the yellow line in the middle of Pine street)

Also, YOU NOW HAVE TO APPLY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL (which is something I SWORE came along with living in and paying taxes in the city,and u could go to whatever school was ur neighborhood designated school) a year ahead.

Now, I have to do the following:Enroll my son into Mastery Charter so he can get on the waiting list, then go down to the school district ,inform them that my "neighborhood school" is full and APPLY for a waiver for him to go to the next closest available school,which is the one im looking at as I type.

Any city gov't just cannot understand why people are flying out of this place.

[pcity]

This issue is hardly restricted to Philadelphia. School boundaries change all the time, and because of population shifts, the "closest" school is often not the school pupils end up attending.

[JHG722]

Pretty sure you need to apply for magnet schools.

[Diggy0128]

Hamilton is a magnet schools.and the charter schools are all pretty much full.

[rotodome]

I thought the whole point of magnet schools was that you need to apply for them?

[JHG722]

Originally Posted by rotodome

I thought the whole point of magnet schools was that you need to apply for them?

It is. Just another unfounded complaint from the OP.

[FindingZen]

It does stink that the school district changed the boundaries so I can respect your frustration there. On a similar note, there was a thread here not too long ago about familiess who moved into the section of University City within the sought-after Penn Alexander boundaries only to find out that the school was "full". So they felt like they paid a premium only to send their kids to "just another" neighborhood school nearby.

Other than that, I'd have to agree with the other replies that magnet elementary schools - no matter what the grade level - must be applied to if you don't live within the boundaries. That's not a rule that's unique to Philly.

[Diggy0128]

Originally Posted by JHG722

It is. Just another unfounded complaint from the OP.

No honey I don't do unfounded complaints. You do have to apply to magnet schools. But if you would have read my post, you would see that when I moved to this appartment, Hamilton was my neighborhood school by address.

WHICH MEANS THAT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO APPLY AS I WOULD GET PREFERENCE OVER SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T LIVE SO CLOSE.

Don't try to play me, you'll lose everytime.

[JHG722]

Still need to apply 'honey'.

[Billy Ray Valentine]

To the OP - sorry to hear about your frustrating experience. Unfortunately catchment boundaries do change sometimes. I wish you good luck with your out-of-catchment request. Is your apartment now in the Bryant catchment?

regarding the rest - what the OP wrote is accurate on the whole. She now has to submit an EF-36 to get her child into Hamilton since the catchment boundary changed apparently. What probably is causing some misunderstanding in this discussion is Hamilton's status as a magnet school. Hamilton does contain a magnet program (AIMS) for grades 6 - 8, but it is otherwise a regular neighborhood school AFAIK.

What this situation points out (unfortunately in a very frustrating way for the OP) is that there is some risk that you will be reassigned to a different catchment if you live near the boundary of your current cathcment. I think situations like the OPs are likely to occur more frequently over the next few years given SDP's need to better align enrollment with the number of buildings they are operating and the uneven distribution of enrollment increases/decreases in various neighborhoods.