Michelle and Chuck Sherline have spent the last few months in a frenzied search for a preschool for their 2-year-old son.
The Lincoln Park couple have spent their mornings touring Chicago public schools, scouring the district’s Web site for test scores and visiting school fairs across the North Side.
The Sherlines understand the academic value of preschool, but they have an ulterior motive: Like a growing number of other middle-class couples in the city, they want to ensure their child gets into one of the city’s most sought-after neighborhood elementary schools. They hope that enrolling their son in the tuition-based preschool program at one of these schools will be the ticket to him staying there through 8th grade.
Using the preschool to gain entry to the elementary school is a new phenomenon for Chicago Public Schools.
“We have a lot of criteria we are looking at in choosing a preschool, but the driving force behind our decision will be whether we can find a program at a great school that will guarantee our son can stay there,” said Michelle Sherline, a stay-at-home mother of two. “It’s as much about his future schooling as it is about the preschool.”
Efforts to enroll a child in preschool to guarantee a spot at the elementary school are not new to Chicago parents. Across the city–and the nation–parents have scrambled to get their kids into top-notch private preschools.
For decades, young middle-class families fled the city or opted for private schools rather than enroll in a public school system that former Education Secretary William Bennett once called the worst in the nation. But a decade of school reform has transformed many neighborhood schools, and middle-class parents are giving the system a second look.
Barbara Bowman, who heads the district’s early childhood programs, is not concerned that middle-class parents use the tuition-based preschool as an entry point into the elementary school programs.
“I think it’s reassuring, rather than disturbing,” Bowman said. “I am reassured that we have an increasing number of middle-class families who want to live in diverse communities and are willing to take a little risk. I am reassured that there are increasing numbers who want a diverse environment, a quality program, and want to expose their kids to all a city has to offer.”
A dozen fee-based preschools
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Chicago has three preschool programs. Two serve pupils who are low-income, developmentally delayed or speak English as a second language. These programs are free to pupils who qualify.
The district launched tuition-based preschools four years ago. Today, 12 schools operate the fee-based programs, enrolling 400 pupils. Tuition runs about $370 a month at these preschools.
Children who enroll in preschool programs outside their home school are not guaranteed spots in that school’s K-8 program. Neighborhood children always get first priority.
Still, parents assume that if they get their child into one of these desirable preschools outside their neighborhood, they have a better shot at getting the child into the school’s kindergarten if space is available.
At South Loop Elementary, which is making a dramatic academic turnaround, more than 120 children vied for 40 preschool slots last year. The principal opened two new classrooms to try to accommodate everyone. At the up-and-coming Nettelhorst Elementary in Lakeview, 70 children already have applied for 20 open spots next year. The application deadline closes in March.
“I wish I could take all of them because I think Nettelhorst is such a great place to raise a child,” said Susan Kurland, Nettelhorst principal. “Obviously, some parents are going to be disappointed.”
Last week, 15 moms and dads packed a regular weekly tour at Nettelhorst. They came from neighborhoods across the city, including the Gold Coast, Lincoln Park and Logan Square, to check out the tuition-based preschool at the Lakeview school.
Clutching spiral notebooks, test score data and the Northside Parents Network school directory that many call the “Bible” on preschools, the parents quizzed the tour guide about the school’s academics, extracurricular activities and–most important–its policy on whether preschoolers are guaranteed a spot in the K-8 program.
“There is definitely a heightened anxiety out there,” said Jacqueline Edelberg, the tour guide and Nettelhorst parent who was a driving force behind turning the school around. “It’s like a wave of panic has washed over them. There’s this feeling that if you don’t get them in a preschool, you have locked yourself out.”
Rumors swirl around parents
Privately, parents discussed the veracity of the many rumors about how to guarantee admittance into the highly sought-after programs. Does donating money or materials to a school help grease the way? What about sending the application cover letter on your law firm’s stationery? Could dropping the names of prominent Chicagoans in front of the principal have a payoff?
On paper, admittance to the programs is determined on a first-come, first-served basis. But principals have some discretion in whom they select. At Nettelhorst, for example, Kurland tries to balance the classes by age and sex.
“There’s a lot of really bad rumors out there and some parents get caught up in that, and then spend their time trying to figure out how to finagle a spot,” said Cherrie Sanchez, executive director of the Northside Parents Network, a non-profit neighborhood group of about 3,000 families. “We advise parents to calm down and spend their time thinking about which school really fits their child. That’s energy better spent.”
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