Press release from the Fort Wayne Community Schools:
Success Starts Here at the FWCS School Choice Fair
(January 11, 2011) – Fort Wayne Community Schools will host its annual School Choice Fair from 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 29, at Northrop High School, 7001 Coldwater Road. More than 1,000 parents attend the event each year to learn more about the variety of educational choices they have for their children within the public school system.
The free event highlights the district’s seven magnet schools and special programs offered at other schools and provides information on how parents can choose and apply for the program that best suits their children’s needs. While all students are assigned a school based on where they live, parents can apply to have their child attend one of the magnet schools or request an intra-district transfer to attend a different school within the district.
Fort Wayne Community Schools offers the Montessori curriculum at Bunche Early Childhood Center (pre-kindergarten and kindergarten) and Towles Intermediate School (first through eighth grades). The arts magnet program is offered at Whitney Young Early Childhood Center (pre-kindergarten and kindergarten), Weisser Park Elementary School (first through fifth grades) and Memorial Park Middle School (sixth through eighth grades). Croninger Elementary School offers a magnet program focusing on communications, and math and science are a special focus at Irwin Elementary School. Magnet schools have no boundaries and draw students from throughout the district. Each high school will have information on their Programs of Study: Project Lead the Way-Engineering at Northrop; Global Studies at North Side; Project Lead the Way-Biomedical at Snider; International Baccalaureate at South Side; and New Tech Academy and Business at Wayne.
Parents wanting to request that their child attend a different school must have their transfer application submitted by Friday, Feb. 25. Applications are available in the School Catalog that will be handed out at the School Choice Fair and mailed to families in the district. Copies are also available at schools and online at www.fwcs.k12.in.us.
If there are more applicants than spaces available at any of the schools, lotteries will be held to determine admittance. The lottery for secondary students will be at 9:30 a.m. Friday, March 4, and for elementary students at 9:30 a.m. Friday, March 25, in the board room of the Grile Administrative Center. The lotteries are open to the public.
Applicants are chosen according to a random computerized listing. Parents will be notified in writing whether their child has been admitted to their school of choice or has been placed on a waiting list.
Free transportation to the Choice Fair will be available. Buses will pick up at South Side High School, 3601 S. Calhoun St., at 12:15 p.m., Weisser Park Elementary School, 902 Colerick St., at 12:35 p.m. and Bunche Early Childhood Center, 1111 Greene St., at 12:40 p.m. Return transportation will be provided at 4 p.m. from Northrop.
This year’s fair includes entertainment from the Kekionga Steel Drumz, Memorial Park Jazz Band and Swing Choir and face painting and balloon art from Sweetcakes Comedy Entertainment. United Way of Allen County will give away books to the first 200 children who attend, and Parkview Community Outreach will provide free Flu Mist vaccines. Visitors will also have an opportunity share their own success stories to be recorded by Anthis Career Center students.
Child care for children ages 3-5 years old is available at the School Choice Fair, and translators are available for those needing assistance.
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