OUSD-how to appeal K placement?

Sorry to hear this, we are in the same boat. Got assigned to Emerson. 

Chabot was our first choice we’re number 169 on the wait list 

103 Crocker Highland 

229 Montclair 

and so on. I guess this year you can’t file an appeal you just wait and wait to see if something better opens up. Which is not likely given these numbers. 

Do you work in a different school district? Maybe apply for a district transfer and try your luck that way? 

You just have to wait, unfortunately. The appeals process is no longer in place; it's been replaced with the waitlist process. Having had a kid go through each, the new waitlist process is much, MUCH better--with appeals, you had to pick a single school to be on the waitlist for, and if you chose wrong and it didn't move--oh, well! With the new process you get to stay on lists for all of the schools you ranked, so you have a shot at multiple schools. (Remember that everyone else gets to do this too, so the people ahead of you on the list may well be on lists for other schools that they want more--I would expect things to shuffle significantly as people headed to private or charters decline their spots and then others bump into them.) Also know that even in the old system, the majority of people seemed to land in their neighborhood schools for the first round--things do move, and will this year as well (just more transparently than in the past!)

Hi. I just wanted to offer sympathy, because you wrote, "I just want what is best for my son." I'd also like to say, doesn't everyone want the best for their children? I wish American schools were equitable - that ALL schools, irrespective of neighborhood or the demographic of the students - could provide excellent educational experiences for our kids. 

The appeals process is spelled out pretty clearly on the OUSD website. Please don't camp out in the school assignment office! Those patient and hardworking people cannot do anything magical for you and honestly, they already have enough to deal with.

Just want you to know that you are not alone.  We did not get our #1 choice which IS our neighborhood school, albeit Crocker Highlands which has seen an influx of children as of late, and is a small school, nor did we get any of our other choices.  This happened to at least 10 families in our neighborhood, maybe more.  We all got placed at Bella Vista which wasn't on any of our lists.  Turns out, if you can not get into your neighborhood school due to too many children in your neighborhood, then you get assigned to a school in your middle school district.  This was a surprise to most of us, and I personally hadn't seen it in any of the enrollment documentation, only the follow up FAQ after selection.  

We are high on the Crocker waitlist, so we have some hope, but no guarantee.   We are unsure about what we are going to do as Bella Vista is not a good fit for our family or my very shy daughter.  We were looking forward to transitioning into a local school where many of her pre-school friends go.

A group in our neighborhood is planning to provide feedback to OUSD so that this can be avoided in the future.  They need better messaging and improvements to the process so that there are fewer surprises.  No advice other than to wait it out.  You are above us on the Cleveland list, which is our next highest placement,  if that is any consolation.

As someone else stated the new appeal process is the automated wait list process. We live in the Thornhill school boundary, and somehow my son didn't even get a spot there and got wait listed. It was our first choice since it is less than a mile from my house. I stopped by the admission's office yesterday and they said to wait till after the March 29th deadline and there will be some movement after that and possibly having to wait until the school year starts. Of course that just leaves us extra anxious.

I couldn't find anything about appeals for this year--I'm pretty sure it is strictly waitlist. I also got none of my six choices. If it makes you feel better, here's where we landed. 

199 Crocker Highland

105 Lincoln

171 Cleveland

199 Thornhill

etc.

I toured Cleveland, and really liked it. Have heard positives from other parents as well. 

Good luck!

You don't mention which is your neighborhood school that you got assigned to, but I'm wondering whether you've toured or seriously considered it? The school ratings don't always tell the full story and there are a number of Oakland schools that are improving with more to offer more than you might expect. In our neighborhood, many dismiss the neighborhood school without ever having stepped foot inside it. We decided to give it a chance, got involved and our daughter is flourishing there. They have programs that people are always surprised to hear they have - science, music, computers, PE, library visits. I think if more people chose and supported their neighborhood, we wouldn't have all this stress about where to send our kids to school. The highly desirable schools got that way because parents got involved. And if you haven't toured, give them a call and ask for one - they'd probably be happy to show you the school.

I disagree that this system is better than the previous appeals process.  Currently, if one family was assigned one of their choices, they are automatically given a waitlist number for all of their higher-ranked choices.  There is absolutely no incentive for them to remove themselves from these waitlists, because "what if?" They can stay on these waitlists up to 10 days into the school year.  Meanwhile, other families who were offered none of their choices are likely sitting in line between these others who are hedging their bets.  Is it fair for one family to be offered 3-4 schools before others are even offered one choice?  No, it's not.  Do you know that other families have received multiple offers to schools?  We received offer letters from all six of our choices, plus our area school.  A lucky glitch, perhaps, but that shouldn't be happening either.  This system is totally broken and people need to speak up. As it is, kindergarteners are going to be shifting around all through the month of August.  That happened before too, but this year it will be even more so.

There seem to be a lot of misperceptions about what the old appeals process was and wasn't. The appeals process was simply the system for creating the waitlists in years past. You had to stand in line for a couple of hours to submit a piece of paper listing the school you preferred to the school you had been assigned. There was a section on the form to explain why you were appealing, but OUSD didn't weigh individual reasons to determine which kids were granted their appeals--they simply ran a new lottery of everyone who appealed for a given school (keeping neighborhood and sibling priorities in place) and the first x names got into the school after some of the initially assigned students declined. Everyone else went onto a waitlist and got called if/when spots opened up, right through the second week of school. It is the same process as this year's waitlists, except that this year it is automatic, and you essentially "appeal" for all of the schools on your list rather than just one. That does mean that all of the lists are longer, but they will also likely move much more quickly as spots begin to open up after the March 29th deadline (since a family accepting a spot at a school they ranked highly will come off the other wait lists). In past years when families had to choose a single waitlist, there were many that simply didn't move at all. The old appeals process especially favored those who had already been assigned to a school on their list; they could then appeal for a school they wanted more and know they had a safe place to land. It was an especially bad process for those who had been redirected from their neighborhood schools, though--they had to choose between appealing for the neighborhood school in order to stay on the list or trying for a different school where the odds might be better. And it was terrible for parents who couldn't take several hours off of work or easily get to the Grand Lake area during the day--they couldn't participate in appeals at all. At the end of the day, I do think this new process is going to mean more families getting into at least one school they chose--but only time will tell, and it certainly makes sense to ask OUSD for a debrief this fall to understand how the numbers work out in the end and how that compares to recent years.

We're one of those families who didn't get into any of the schools on our list--for the second year in a row. And we're also one of those families who is really grateful for the new assignment system. Last year, we appealed for a school that everyone told us we would "definitely" get into. Well--we didn't get in, because everyone else appealed there too. This year, it's a huge relief to be able to stay on wait lists for all of the schools we chose and not have to choose one wait list blindly. (Good thing, too, because by far our worst wait list spot is at the school we heard would be easiest to get into after kindergarten!) Is it ideal that there are families ahead of us on some of those lists who've already gotten into a school on their list? Of course not--but if the alternative is a system where you just get what you get and can only choose one school's wait list, I'll gladly take having a few luckier folks ahead of me on the list. If they do get in, that will open up spots at all the other schools on their lists, including the spot they were fortunate enough to get in the first place. So my child will have a better shot at all of those schools as she bumps up the list. Last year, the lists just froze, for the most part, after an initial shuffle following the confirmation deadline. Most people we knew who didn't get in by April didn't get in at all. This year, I have hope that things will continue to move, albeit slowly, through the spring and even into the summer.

I don't debate that the system is unfair. Fair is having a high quality school in every neighborhood, so no one feels the need to go into Options in the first place. But we're a long, long way from there, and in the meantime, this year's system does feel like it levels the playing field a little over the old system, even if it means the waiting game might go on a little longer.