Schools--and Parents--Jockey Over Class Lists for Fall

The school year has not quite ended, but the big decision affecting every child next year is well under way: Who will the new teacher be?

In the back rooms of elementary schools across the county, teachers and principals are thrashing out the lineup for next year. It’s a carefully orchestrated process that sometimes gets snarled by parents putting in their two cents.

“It’s a myth that it’s the luck of the draw--nothing could be farther from the truth,” said Sergio Robles, principal of Topa Topa Elementary School in Ojai. “Quite a bit of thought and planning and configuration goes into each class.”

The process is under way now, as public schools prepare this week and next to close for the summer.

The goal, principals say, is to achieve a well-balanced mix of students. At Robles’ school, and most others, the process begins in late May and early June. The principal might meet, for instance, with all the third-grade teachers who bring “profile” cards they have prepared for each student.

The cards detail each child’s academic abilities, special needs, personality, exceptional skills, work habits and even the parents’ involvement in the classroom. Some profiles include a picture of the child.

“I’ll say, ‘Give me five boys with normal abilities,’ ” Robles said. “Then I’ll ask for five girls with normal abilities.” Next, he might ask for three “high functioning” boys or girls. Then he might go to special-needs children, or those who have discipline problems.

“The gifted children, too, we try to spread those around,” he said. Or, if a child thrives on music and a particular teacher enjoys music, the two might be matched. Parents at Robles’ school don’t find out which teacher their child has been assigned until the first day of class.

Most schools allow parents to request a certain teacher for their child, but they don’t encourage it or guarantee the choice--for fear of being swamped.

Parental requests got out of hand at some Ventura elementary schools last year. At Poinsettia School, Principal Dan Munday was deluged with requests from 87% of the parents.

“It made it extremely difficult to balance the classes,” he said. Problems arise when the parents of gifted children all request the same teacher or one teacher is sought out because of a reputation for being more effective with boys, he said.

“We believe a heterogeneous mix is better--then there are role models,” he said. “If you group them together, it creates a feeling of elitism.”

A new policy discourages parents from making teacher requests and the number of them has dropped sharply this year, Munday said.

Debbie Golden, Poinsettia’s new Parent Teacher Organization president, said the school has strong parent involvement and parents were accustomed to making the requests each year, just as a matter of course.

“There are some people I would say are upset about (the change), but I see the administration’s point,” she said.

At nearby Mound School, Principal Beverly McCaslin sent out letters to parents this year discouraging them from requesting certain teachers.

“The PTO has accepted it 100%,” she said. Requests have dropped from 40 to 10 this spring.

Teachers are in a better position to know which children are best suited to which teacher, she said.

“I’m not saying parents don’t know their child, but we see the children all day,” she said. Also, it is hurtful to some teachers when parents favor others, she said. Sometimes the preference is based on inaccurate information from other parents.

At Simi Valley’s Crestview School, Principal Ronda Oster said she doesn’t take parents’ requests, partly because of the improbability that she could honor them. “It’s not fair to the kids or the teachers,” she said.

She said parent interest in choosing teachers varies from school to school. It often correlates with overall parent involvement in school affairs.

“The parents here know how we set it up, and they trust us,” she said. “We spend a lot of time really trying to make a good match. We don’t just throw the cards up in the air.”

Rachelle Morga, principal at Park Oaks School in Thousand Oaks, said: “We try to tell parents all our teachers are good.” Teacher requests are few, she said.

But that doesn’t stop Candice Fletcher, whose two children attend school there, from making teacher requests each year after discussing the issue with her children’s current teachers.

As PTA president, Fletcher has been active in school matters, including helping in her children’s classrooms. “I’ve definitely always been in there trying to get who I felt was best for my child.”