The Seattle School Board is considering changing its student assignment plan for the 2008-2009 school year to a more simplified version that will enhance predictability for families and students.

The district says the current system is just too complicated. Parents are given up to 80 pages of information to read through, and rules, reference areas and boundaries vary between grade levels.

Currently, families can apply to any Seattle school and students may enroll at any time. Priority assignment for students is during the open enrollment period from mid-January through February.

Preferences are given to certain schools based on the students' addresses. Those who apply during open enrollment are given priority to schools in their reference area, the area immediately surrounding a school site.

But the system hasn't been evaluated for several years, and the district is looking to update it to reflect Seattle's population and density changes.

Under the framework being discussed by the School Board, families would still be able to choose to enroll in another school outside their reference area. Students already enrolled in a school that would not fall in that area would have the option staying.

There are a number of challenges with the current system, according to the district.

The current late winter deadline for priority applications makes it difficult for delayed applicants to get their desired school and also makes moving into or within the system very challenging.

Students from the same elementary school don't always end up at the same middle school, which hinders continuity for students and families advancing from elementary to middle school.

But on the other hand, families have the luxury of considering different schools and choosing the one that best fits their child's needs.

Tracy Libros, the district's manager of enrollment planning and student assignment, said there's only one constant under the current assignment plan--sibling priority.

"It's too complicated - it really is," said Libros.

Libros facilitated a community drop-in workshop to discuss student assignment changes at the school district headquarters last week.

Predictability surfaced as one of the most important issues in terms of student assignment.

Which schools are over enrolled changes from year-to-year, and "that's the predictability problem," said one parent.

Others said the current system poses a "pathway problem." When a child enters a middle school in a certain reference area, there's often no guarantee they can enroll in that school's feeder high school.

Seattle Public Schools loses about 200 to 300 students to private schools every year between elementary and middle school, said Libros. Several people said that's probably because parents are offered no guarantee that the middle school their child attends will lead to a spot at the feeder high school.

Parents might also be enticed to leave the system at that point because the large "super" middle schools with 500 or more students can be "very off-putting to a number of parents," said one woman.

Trading a nurturing, often close-knit environment of an elementary school, where the class sizes are relatively small, for the anonymity of a large middle school can be a shock to parents and children.

"It's terrifying to think of your little person going to this huge middle school," one woman said. "Many kids are not socially ready to be in an autonomous school."

One man suggested the district survey families who opted for private education to find out why they left the public school system.

Another parent said he preferred a plan that would let him choose a school based on its merit and match with his child's needs and personality, much like the current system.

"That's superior to a student assignment plan based on zip codes," he said.

Program availability was also important to parents. Some schools offer programs for advanced learners and special needs students and others don't, so parents end up having to jump around to schools that offer the best programs.

"When those links are missing, you're not going to have continuity," said another parent.

Art and music programs aren't consistent throughout the district either, often leading to lower enrollment at schools lacking those programs. It's of the biggest reasons families leave the system at the middle and high school levels, said Libros.

Some question if the cash-strapped district is motivated to change the assignment plan to reduce transportation costs. A system that allows more students to walk to school means fewer dollars spent toward yellow school bus services.

The district has been making efforts to reduce costs in that arena. Seattle high schools are switching to Metro bus service during the next few years and Ballard High has already made the change.

As it is now, the choice system works for people who are used to dealing with paperwork, the written English language, deadlines and bureaucracy, said Libros.

"But that leaves out a lot of our kids," she said.

Rebekah Schilperoort may be contacted at rebekas@robinsonnews.com