UPDATE: Penn Alexander Switches to Lottery System


UPDATE: The Philadelphia School District, to the dismay of the roughly 70 parents who were waiting in line (see below) to secure their kids’ places in the school, converted Penn Alexander registration to a lottery system at 6pm last night. Parents must now submit an application by April 1st, and the lottery will be conducted that month.

Parents remained unsatisfied and discussed possible options for action moving forward. “People are talking about going to get a temporary injunction,” Allan Balridge, a father of twins pre-kindergarten twins, said. He added that the change was “unacceptable.” Parent Steve Shade, who left work early to get in line, said he heard parents discussing legal action. “Some of the parents are attorneys,” he said.

There are 72 kindergarden spots this year, but those parents already in line have as much of a shot as the rest of the parents in the Penn Alexander catchment zone now. [Daily Pennsylvanian]

 

Last year, a line of freezing parents formed at the 4200 block of Locust St. 24 hours before registration began at the highly coveted Penn Alexander School. This year? As of noon, 66 parents (and at least one grandmother) are camping out a full 96 hours hours ahead of time. Why the Star Wars/iPhone level pandemonium? Because spots at Penn Alexander don’t quite come with the territory anymore. A few years ago, when parents moved into the West Philly catchment housing the school, their kid was automatically enrolled. The hip, high-acheiving public school has gotten so popular, the system has evolved to first-come, first-served. Check back this weekend for more updates. Photo from a Twitterer. [West Philly Local]