By the time the important letter� containing details on the enrollment deadline parents had to meet to get their children special help in school�reached their mailboxes, parents had about a week to act.
The Detroit Public Schools system (DPS) sent the letter, dated Aug. 25, informing parents that they had until noon on Sep. 15 to apply for school transfers or Supplemental Educational Services (free tutoring), if their child was attending a school deemed in need of improvement by the federal government.
The letter, however, was not mailed until Sep. 6.
�That is insufficient time for parents to get the paper work, fill it out and submit it to the proper office,� said Monique Miller, BAEO�s Director of Project Clarion.
�And it had to be the proper office, because the application had to be date- and time-stamped by a staff member in the NCLB call-in center,� she added. �In addition, guidance offered by the U.S. Department of Education said parents should have at least two weeks upon receiving the letter to apply.�
The Detroit Project Clarion team had made attempts to work with DPS to ensure that parents were informed of the application process in an adequate amount of time. Radio and print ads were planned, but without an application deadline, the spots were ineffective.
Miller went on to explain how on three occasions Detroit Director of Project Clarion Mary Crawford visited the administration offices of DPS to ask when the enrollment period would start. The response: They didn�t know.
The last visit was Aug. 31.
However, on Sep. 8 (six business days later) the Education Leaders Council�an organization BAEO has been working with to inform parents of their options in Detroit�informed Miller that the school district was in the midst of its enrollment process.
�We were very shocked and surprised to find out that � the deadline for enrollment was Sep.15 at 12 noon,� Miller said. �Because of the short notice, we created more of a PSA (public service announcement) type of radio ad urging parents to call us and get more info about public school choice and SES.�
Miller and the Project Clarion staff got busy, unleashing a massive communications blitz to get the word out to parents about the enrollment deadline and their options through 52 radio spots, contacting media outlets in the area, taking calls from parents and participating in two live radio interviews.
As she worked to inform parents of the closing date, Miller partnered with the Education Leaders Council and the Detroit Parents Network to extend the deadline.
�We did this by creating a community call to action press release that we sent to media in Detroit as well as to several other organizations,� Miller said. �We also called James Humphries, the executive director of Title I compliance, as well as made follow-up calls to reporters urging them to cover this story.�
It worked.
The action led DPS to extend the deadline twice, first to Sep. 20 and then to Sep. 27, a timeframe BAEO still considers unreasonable.
Despite this, the dogged work resulted in 12,500 parents being able to apply.
Miller said DPS is now sorting and verifying the eligibility of parents who applied. If approved, parents were notified by mail in October of their choice of schools and/or choice of provider.
Transfers were to begin Nov. 15, a fact that leaves Miller deeply dissatisfied with the DPS process for implementing Title 1. She said the late transfers would disrupt classrooms.
Milwaukee�s Title I implementation practice requires parents to apply for transfers in July, and they may apply for SES through October. In Philadelphia, Miller said, SES applications were mailed out in September with an Oct. 25 deadline.
Miller, meanwhile, said she is looking to the future and hopes to assist DPS, which has about $27 million for SES and transfer implementation, fine-tune their process for the next year.