Pilot schools setting higher admissions hurdles
BOSTON --It's getting tougher to get into pilot high schools in Boston.
Pilot schools are experimental schools with more freedom in their curriculum and hiring, but are run by the public school system. They have been have praised for outperforming other traditional public schools.
They're also getting choosier about which students they accept.
Some of the schools are demanding student transcripts, teacher recommendations, and essays from students, according to a review of admissions policies by the Boston Sunday Globe.
Critics say those practices are more common of private schools and undercut the original purpose of the pilots schools -- to boost performance from the same pool of students as other public schools.
Superintendents in traditional schools who must accept any student who walks in the door say giving the pilot schools the opportunity to pick and choose students is unfair and diminishes the goal of the pilot schools.
It's especially grating, they say, because the pilot schools are routinely compared to other public schools and held up as national models for other districts.
"I think it's unfair, obviously," said Michael Fung, headmaster at Charlestown High School in Boston. "If you allow us to get rid of 25 percent of our kids, I can assure you I'd do a much better job than I am."
Superintendent Michael Contompasis in recent years has ordered pilot schools to stop reviewing transcripts and to phase out other requirements.
But some headmasters of the pilot schools have resisted. They say they use the information to better understand the needs of students and they don't screen for the highest achievers.
Similar concerns have been raised statewide with charter schools. Eighteen of the state's 62 charter schools, which are generally overseen by the state but run by parents or other private groups, have admissions policies.
"It's certainly not in the spirit of weeding people out," said Paul Niles, associate director of Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, which requires three writing samples and a meeting with parents. "The last thing we want to be is elitist."
