Meetings to weigh changes to school enrollment plan

A series of community meetings — beginning with one at Dorchester’s Kroc Center on Oct. 8— will weigh the pros and cons of changing the current school enrollment system to include both charter and public schools in one “unified” application. Mayor Walsh’s office announced the initiative last week.

The concept of creating a unified enrollment system has been met with tentative support from Boston Public Schools and charters, according to Rachel Weinstein, the chief collaboration officer at The Boston Compact, which will organize the community meetings. Now, Weinstein says, the parties want to hear from parents, students and teachers about their needs and concerns.

“The meetings will be about collaboration across all of our schools in Boston,” said Rahn Dorsey, the city’s Chief of Education. “We have a framework. What we need is to understand what parents need it to do.”

The plan— still in its conceptual stages— would need legislative and Boston School Committee approvals and is not likely to be in place until the 2017-2018 school year. Students already enrolled in schools would not be impacted, according to Weinstein.

In addition to the Kroc Center meeting (Thurs., Oct. 8, 5:30 p.m.), meetings will be held in Mattapan at the branch library on Blue Hill Avenue on Wed., Oct. 21 and Grove Hall Community Center on Nov. 5.

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