Archive
Apply now for next year’s STT 9th-grade science course at Fernbank
Current DeKalb County eighth graders who are interested in hands-on science should check in with their school’s guidance office about enrolling in next year’s Scientific Tools and Techniques (STT), offered at the Fernbank Science Center.
STT is a half-day program taught in the first semester of ninth grade, focusing on scientific inquiry. The county provides bus transportation from the student’s home school to and from Fernbank. The program is free to DeKalb County students.
Students who successfully complete the course will earn one credit for biology and one for earth systems.
Each school sets its own application deadline. Fernbank will hold an open house on Thursday, Feb. 13. For more information, contact Denise Savage at the science center, at (678) 874-7102.
DeKalb school choice application period is near
Open enrollment for school choice in DeKalb County will take place from Jan. 8 to Jan. 28, 2014. This includes enrollment for the county’s high achiever magnet schools.
If you’re thinking of applying for a school outside your attendance zone, this week is a good time to get ready. Two big things to do now to prepare are:
1) Check out the school choice catalog to learn about the options and the enrollment process. (Note: This is the 2013-14 catalog, but the information about the available schools should still be valid.)
2) Create your “e-portal” account so you will have access to the system to apply for enrollment at the school of your choice.
Visit the district’s school choice page to learn more.
Information for DeKalb’s 2013 Serendipity summer program
You can’t register yet, but here is the basic information about this summer’s session of Serendipity summer camp, a program of the DeKalb County School District.
Dates: June 10-13, 2013 (That’s not a typo. The camp is four days long.)
Location: Midvale Elementary School
Open to: Students currently in grades 1-5
Serendipity camp is open to children who participated in the gifted program at a DeKalb County public school during the 2012-13 school year. If you have a student in DeKalb’s gifted programs, you should receive a flyer from the school with more details. The county’s gifted coordinator, Donyell Atkinson, told me the full information should go home by the end of April. Registration will take place from the end of April until mid-May.
DeKalb School of the Arts accepting applications for 2013-14
DeKalb School of the Arts has released its application for admission for the 2013-14 school year, and is hosting information sessions for prospective students.
DeKalb School of the Arts is a public school within the DeKalb County school system which offers intensive education in the visual and performing arts. Students must apply and audition for admission.
Information sessions will be held at the school on Monday, Feb. 11, and Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 6 p.m.; and on Saturday, March 9 at 10 a.m.
Applications for School of the Arts are due by March 29, 2013.
DeKalb school choice season is upon us
Open enrollment for school choice in DeKalb will take place from Feb. 11 to March 1, 2013. This includes enrollment for the county’s high achiever magnet schools.
If you’re thinking of applying for a school outside your attendance zone, this week is a good time to get ready. Two big things to do now to prepare are:
1) Check out the school choice catalog to learn about the options and the enrollment process. (Note: This is the 2012-13 catalog. The 2013-14 catalog isn’t yet available, but I’ve been assured by the county office that the information hasn’t changed, other than the enrollment dates.)
2) Create your “e-portal” account so you will have access to the system to apply for enrollment at the school of your choice.
If you want to learn more about your options, the DeKalb County School District will host its annual School Choice Expo Fair this Saturday, Feb. 2, at Stonecrest Mall from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Magnet and charter schools hosting open houses for 2013-14
The metro area’s magnet and charter schools are beginning to host open houses for prospective students for 2013-14. Below is a round-up of the information I could find. If you know of other open houses taking place, please post them in comments.
You can find links to any of the schools listed here by visiting the appropriate county page under “Gifted Ed in Local Schools” on this site.
CLAYTON
Lovejoy High School – International Baccalaureate. Open houses will take place Nov. 13 and 14 at 6:30 p.m. for eligible 8th-grade students.
Fine Arts Magnet High School. Auditions in January. You must submit paperwork to the school by Dec. 16.
COBB
Campbell High School – International Baccalaureate. Open house Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Applications are due Dec. 7.
Kennesaw Mountain High School – Academy of Math, Science and Technology. Open house Oct. 23 at 6:30 p.m. Application deadline Dec. 7.
South Cobb High School – Academy of Research and Medical Sciences. Open house Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. Application deadline Dec. 7.
Wheeler High School – Center for Advanced Studies in Science, Math and Technology. Open house Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
Pebblebrook High School – Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts. Auditions will be held in spring semester; arrange at your convenience.
DEKALB
DeKalb School of the Arts. Audition / admissions information will be posted online in January.
FULTON
Riverwood International Charter School. Prospective parent tours Nov. 9, Dec. 7 and Jan. 18, all at 9 a.m. Applications will be available in November and due Jan. 31.
North Springs Charter High School. Open houses Nov. 4, 2-5 p.m., Nov. 8 at 1:15, Dec. 7 at 9 a.m., Dec. 13 at 1:15, Jan. 11 at 9 a.m., Jan 17 at 1:15 p.m.
Westlake High School – Math and Science Magnet. Open house Nov. 28 at 6:30 p.m.
Tri-Cities High School – Visual and Performing Arts magnet. Auditions in February. Applications available now. Tours by appointment.
GWINNETT
Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Open houses Nov. 13, Dec. 13 and Jan. 15, all at 7 p.m. Open houses are organized by your home high-school cluster, and ideally you go to the one for your cluster, but you can attend any session. Registration packet will be available Nov. 1.
2012 Serendipity camp for gifted students registration open through May 11
Registration for the 2012 Serendipity summer camp for DeKalb County gifted-identified students is due to the gifted office by next Friday, May 11. To be eligible, students must have participated in the gifted program in a DeKalb County public school this school year. The camp is open to current 1st-7th graders (rising 2nd-8th graders).
Camp for students in grades 1-3 (rising 2-4) will be held June 4-8; students in grades 4-7 (rising 5-8) will have camp June 11-15. Both sessions meet from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily at Midvale Elementary School. Cost is just $100 for the week, including breakfast and lunch daily. Courses are determined by the child’s grade level.
If your child is eligible to attend Serendipity, he or she should have brought home a registration form already. Unfortunately, DeKalb doesn’t post the form online, so if your child didn’t hand the form over to you (as in my case), the best way to get one is to ask the gifted teacher at your school. If that fails, contact the county’s gifted office at (678) 676-0718.
DeKalb sets dates for 2012 Serendipity summer program
Information has been updated. See the latest post on 2012 Serendipity camp.
At a meeting this week with the heads of gifted programming of DeKalb, the dates for the 2012 Serendipity summer program were revealed:
- June 4-8, 2012 for rising 2nd-4th graders
- June 11-15, 2012 for rising 5th-7th graders
Serendipity camp is open to children who participated in the gifted program at a DeKalb County public school during the 2011-12 school year. In the past, there’s been no information online about the program. If you have a student in DeKalb’s gifted programs, you should receive a flyer from the school with more details. If history provides any clues, the information will probably be distributed in April.
You can expect the cost to be around $100.
I will let you know as soon as the information becomes generally available.
Open enrollment for school choice in DeKalb begins Monday
It’s school choice season in the DeKalb County School District (the new name of the former DeKalb County School System). That means you need to register now to get your child into the lottery for magnet and theme schools, including DeKalb’s magnet schools for high achievers.
Dozens of elementary, middle and high schools are part of DeKalb’s school choice program. New for the 2012-13 school year are International Baccalaureate (IB) programs at Salem and Tucker middle schools. There’s also a new start-up charter school, DeKalb Preparatory Academy, which is so new there’s hardly any information about it. DeKalb’s school choice page connects you to a full list of the schools you can consider. Officials said the school choice catalog would be online today.
To enter the lottery, you’ll need to register on the school choice portal. Open enrollment is from March 12-30, but you can go ahead and set up your portal account now, as it takes a couple of business days to get your account authorized. School choice administrators, who met with parents on Wednesday, advised that you may see some error messages when you complete the online form, but as long as you see the status listed as “eligible,” everything is OK.
Parents need to understand that just because a school is listed in the school choice lottery system doesn’t mean there will actually be spaces open in that school for the 2012-13 year. Seats are always made available first to students living in the school’s attendance zone, if it has one. Only if the school is below capacity will seats be opened for school choice students.
Also note that DeKalb School of the Arts (the high school) does not conduct its admissions process through the online portal. You can obtain an application for the school online or at your home school. Deadline to apply is March 23.
Director of DeKalb gifted to speak Wednesday morning
Pat Copeland, director of DeKalb County Schools’ gifted and theme programs, will speak at the Dunwoody-Chamblee Parents Council meeting this Wednesday, March 7, at Huntley Hills Elementary School, at 9:15 a.m. The topic is the county magnet and theme program, so I can’t say how much of her talk will focus on gifted students, per se, but if you’ve ever wanted to meet and hear from Ms. Copeland in person, this is one chance to do so.
Gifted Atlanta 