What Should be the Fate of Rancho School?

Now that Novato parents know that boundaries will be redrawn for at least some portion of the public schools, the anticipation for an independent report about the geography of such changes has people biting nails and tapping fingers.

The has contracted with Total School Solutions to devise a logical plan for new boundaries for each school, but kids and parents seem to have plenty to say about the issue as well.

Attention has spiked on the issue since the Jan. 11 announcement that — which serves residents that live closest to the downtown area — would be closing in June and reopening next fall as an alternative education center. Where those Hill kids will be sent is question many want answered sooner rather than later. An intitial recommendation to send all the Hill kids to was met with disapproval by Hill parents and the trustees elected to vote for revisiting the boundaries.

But it seems equal attention is being given to the fate of , the only public school in Novato that that does not have such neighborhood boundaries. Formerly a “back to basics” school, the Rancho curriculum has been identical to other elementary schools since 2005, yet parents wait in long lines each year to participate in a lottery to see if their kids can get a coveted spot there.

Although there are no plans this year to change elementary school boundaries, Rancho parents spoke up Tuesday at the school board meeting at which trustees voted to redraw the district boundaries instead of ship all Hill sixth- and seventh-graders south to San Jose for the next school year. Several Rancho parents defended the no-boundaries setup and explained why it works so well; the school is among the highest-achieving academic grade schools in Marin County year after year.

Opponents of Rancho’s enrollment lottery system have said Rancho’s student body is packed with high-achieving kids, parents who watch teachers like hawks, has less racial diversity than other schools and a PTA that wields more power over the school staff than most schools. People often wonder why a family that moves into the Rancho neighborhood can’t automatically send their kids there if the curriculum is identical to other schools.

Rancho parents — asking rhetorically if there’s possibly a more fair way to enroll kids than a lottery — defend the school by saying they care about their kids and participate more, leading to excellent teamwork and strong community feeling. Off the record, a few Rancho parents will say parents are other schools are just jealous.

For six years, ever since the state education board did away with the “back to basics” curriculum, the Novato school district has not fully explained to the public why the Rancho lottery system is necessary anymore and why it makes sense for kids who live that neighborhood to be sent to other schools. At the same time, Rancho has thrived and become the crown jewel of local elementary schools — for whatever reasons.

A high percentage of comments on recent Novato Patch stories about all the changes taking place in the district have been about Rancho’s fate rather than Hill students’ fate even though the topic of Rancho's boundary won't be on a trustees agenda any time soon. But let’s just go ahead and bring the Rancho conversation here.

Questions to ponder:

—   If the lottery system works at Rancho, why not have the same system at every school?

—   If the neighborhood school setup works at every other school, why have a lottery at Rancho?

—   If Rancho is changed to a neighborhood school and the lottery system is scrapped, will Rancho parents keep their kids in Novato public schools or take them to private schools?

—   If Rancho is changed to a neighborhood school and most of those kids stay in public schools, wouldn’t the average grades and academic performance indexes of all other schools get a boost?

—   What do you really think will happen to Rancho when the trustees vote sometime this spring?