School District Changes Penn Alexander Admission To A Lottery
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Parents who camped out for coveted spots at a Philadelphia elementary school met with district officials yesterday over the decision to change the first-come-first-served admissions process.
Parents were outside the Penn Alexander school at 42nd and Spruce last week when the school district changed the rules midstream -- saying admissions would be made by a lottery.
Mike Lampson already has a daughter at Penn Alexander, and he was willing to camp to get his son into one of roughly 70 kindergarten slots.
"I think all of us were willing to do it. None of us were happy about it. So if we feel like that's what we have to do, that's what we'll do. But we would much rather -- I think a lottery's a much fairer system."
Superintendent William Hite met with 100 parents at a closed-door meeting yesterday. Karyn Lynch, the district's head of Student Services says there's no change in the lottery decision, for now.
"We're going to take their comments into consideration. We're going to hear their feedback and their suggestions."
But parents worry that as the district decides, the application deadlines for charters or parochial schools are passing by.
