Board of Education approves feeder system,

neighborhood zones for 2009-10 middle school enrollment

ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 13, 2009) -- The Board of Education unanimously approved feeder groupings for 2009-10 middle school enrollment at its meeting Feb. 12, culminating a months-long study of enrollment options as the City School District of Albany moves to a new middle school configuration.

The district will have two main middle schools beginning in 2009-10 because the middle-level program at Philip Livingston Magnet Academy will be discontinued due to declining enrollment. Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School and William S. Hackett Middle School each will enroll about 650 students through a system of feeder elementary schools. North Albany Academy, the district's only school serving students from prekindergarten through eighth grade, will continue to serve about 150 students in grades 6-8.

Students graduating from the following elementary schools will attend Myers:

• Albany School of Humanities (ASH)

• Giffen Memorial Elementary School

• Montessori Magnet School

• Pine Hills Elementary School

• Schuyler Achievement Academy

• Sheridan Preparatory Academy

Students graduating from these elementary schools will attend Hackett:

• Arbor Hill Elementary School

• Delaware Community School

• Eagle Point Elementary School

• New Scotland Elementary School

• Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology (TOAST)

Hackett and Myers also will have half-mile neighborhood enrollment zones, allowing students living within that distance to choose the closer school. Livingston also will have a half-mile neighborhood enrollment zone. Families within that zone will have the option of choosing either Hackett or Myers. Additionally, Livingston students currently in grades 6-7 will be able to choose Hackett or Myers for next year, providing space is available. Specific details about these choice options for Livingston families will be available beginning March 2 at the Office of Central Registration, 462-7207.

The board's decisions in February followed four months of research and community outreach by a 30-member committee of community and district volunteers. The Middle School Enrollment Planning Committee began working in the fall to develop a recommendation for the board.

The committee focused on two options -- the feeder system, and a random school assignment system in which students would be assigned to Hackett and Myers by an annual, random, computer-generated process. The committee presented its initial findings to the board Dec. 2, and the board directed the committee to organize the public forums as its next step.

More than 200 community members attended six public forums held Jan. 7-12 across the city for the committee to provide information about the feeder and random school assignment models and to solicit feedback. The committee then formalized its feeder and random assignment recommendations in a presentation to the board Jan. 15.

The board reviewed the committee's work and approved the feeder model and neighborhood zones at its Feb. 3 meeting. The board completed the process by formalizing the feeder groupings Feb. 12.

Myers, Hackett and North Albany each have been part of the district's current facilities project for elementary and middle schools. Myers is a completely new facility that opened in September 2005. Hackett (September 2008) and North Albany (September 2005) both were completely renovated. As a result, all students in grades 6-8 will have the opportunity to access state-of-the-art school buildings beginning in 2009-10.

For more information, please contact Ron Lesko in the Communications Office at 475-6065.

The City School District of Albany serves approximately 8,400 students in 18 elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as well as other innovative academic opportunities for students. The district is more than halfway through its comprehensive facilities project to newly build and/or renovate nearly all of its elementary and middle schools. The ultimate goal of the facilities project is to provide schools with the resources necessary to help students succeed in the 21st century.