Monday, March 18 update: Letter arrived in this afternoon’s mail and we are happy with its contents. Click here for data on the assignment run.
7:30 p.m. update — mail arrived, but no SFUSD letter today. Monday . . .
I’ve gotten a number of questions on this so I thought I’d post a quick update — I was told by Educational Placement Center director Darlene Lim that 14,000 placement letters were mailed yesterday as promised. I am hearing that many people have not gotten a letter today — I am waiting for a 9th grade placement letter myself but as of 2:30 p.m. my mail carrier hasn’t arrived. I have a very anxious 8th grader I’m trying to keep occupied!
Usually the district does a press release and press conference with highlights of the run, and that did not occur yesterday as checking and preparing the mailing consumed all of the department’s time. I was told by Ms. Lim that they expect to have highlights ready for release on Monday.
Anyway, so far as I know, letters were mailed on time and people should be hearing very soon. Good luck, everyone!
Rachel Norton 
“I really think we should get rid of the “swap” policy. I understand from a game theory perspective why this is better but it is really confusing and is an invitation to abuse.”
Getting rid of the swap would seriously degrade the quality of the matching. That it creates an incentive to list more schools on a form is *a good thing*, not a bad thing – it reveals more about potential preferences of parents.
If we got rid of it, we’d have 1,000 posts on the TheSFKFiles moaning that X person got their #10 choice of School A but they really wanted School B, but person Z got their #10 choice of School B and they really wanted School A, and how awful SFUSD are for not having a swap mechanism.
I really think we should get rid of the “swap” policy. I understand from a game theory perspective why this is better but it is really confusing and is an invitation to abuse. There is too much corruption in San Francisco as it is. We need more transparent and open processes, not ones like this that are confusing and opaque.
Rachel,
Many parents on other blogs report the following: ranking their attendance area school #1 but being assigned elsewhere even though spots at their attendance area school are being filled by children from other parts of the city who do not necessarily live in CTIP1. While this can be explained by “the swap,” it doesn’t intuitively feel fair or right. Why doesn’t the placement algorithm include where someone ranks their attendance area school? Shouldn’t the family who ranks their attendance area school #1 be given preference to a non-CTIP1 family from out of the area?
When will the full results for the 2012-2013 school year come out? The highlight results just scratch the surface, and I’m anxious to delve into the details. Last year’s report came out on Mar. 5, so I was expecting similar timing this year.
Some are happy, some are sad. I am really feeling for my 8th grade daughter who has worked so hard and has received an assignment to a school that we did not list and that is a poor fit and not remotely close to where we live. Just like what we went through prior to kindergarten. Too many sad faces in SF with this placement system.
Rachel, can you ask the EPC to provide the number of CTIP1 requests for each kindergarten program in addition to the enrollment highlight files it has on its website? It would be helpful to know how many seats are actually available to those without the sibling or CTIP1 tiebreakers. Thanks!
I’m glad it worked out for your family. We are the 20% who didn’t get any school on our list. Our assignment is awful – a terrible day.
Rachel,
We just got assigned Caesar Chavez.Unfortunately, we are a minority of folks in SF, that got the worst of both world (we have a low performing school as our assignment school- but are just outside the CTIPI area.This is just so unfair! Why did families like us not get any choice in school assignment (unlike others who also have poor performing schools as their attendance area school)… So very bummed. Sorry to offend, but we will absolutely not be sending our son to CC- so what can we do? Please give us some advice.
Rachel, I don’t know how much control the district has about enrollment policies in afterschool programs, but making a SFUSD policy to delay afterschool enrollment until later in the week (say Thursday) after acceptance letters go out would be fair, especially given Saturday delivery is going away.
I know when I enrolled my kid in Kindergarten, half the available afterschool places were gone by before noon on the Monday after the letters went out. So those who got their acceptance letters a day or two later were probably screwed for aftercare that year. Delaying afterschool program enrollments until after everyone has gotten their first round acceptances would seem fairer.
Yes. I rarely delete/refuse to post comments but reserve the right to do so. https://rachelnorton.com/contact/comments/
Do you moderate all comments Rachel?
You guys have to learn to speak “SFUSD”. They say they mailed them Friday, but what they don’t say is they mailed them Friday NIGHT.
Please change the bad district policy where the immersion schools hold open half the spots for native language speakers until 3 weeks after school starts. Two years ago the policy was to open them up after the first round. This allowed my daughter to join Starr King. The change leaves the K classes at SK with openings that we will never fill. This is already causing funding problems for the school.
I appreciate this information–moderates my fury a bit –absolutely cruel to the 8th graders who have worked so hard–how hard is it to time the letters to arrive when the rest of them do?
Yes, though I think they encourage people to wait a day or two before they will release results. If you go there, make sure you have proof of identity and ideally a copy of your application. And honestly, I would wait till Tuesday.
Rachel, if we do not receive letters on Monday can we go into the EPC? The SFUSD site says registration starts Monday and we want to make sure we can obtain an after school program where we get accepted. Thanks!
Did you get your response in the mail today? I didn’t. And none of the other anxious parents I know received theirs. This is a terrible position to put parents in. Was there some kind of explosion in birth rates? Of families moving into the city?
the reason is that we have cut as much infrastructure spending as possible in the past four years to keep cuts from hurting the classroom too badly. District IT infrastructure is gradually improving but is not near where you might expect it to be in 2013. Superintendent has made technology upgrades a major priority in coming years. Thanks for the suggestion.
Rachel, is there a reason why this notification process has not been digitized –either login or email? USPS could still be used for non-digital families. It’s a very costly process to maintain and, frankly, is ridiculous in 2013.
Truly sad that a quality education at the school of our choice even requires “luck”.
Good Luck Rachel.