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The lottery will also be used to select students for the STEM magnet middle school program, as it is now.
This includes the Danbury students who are in the Academy of International Studies Elementary School, better known as AIS.
Parents of current students and hopefuls filled the board room Wednesday night to tell the board their opinions before the vote.
Most parents at the meeting were of one mind: Getting into the new magnet Academy of International Studies Middle School should be fair and equitable.
"We are not sure why the parents of the current AIS students feel a sense of entitlement," said Wendy Wright, a mother and member of the Shelter Rock Elementary School PTO. "I don’t think anyone should have entitlement when we all pay the same tax dollars."
Many parents agreed, saying that if the current AIS students were grandfathered in, then their children had not only lost out on the opportunity to be in the elementary school but would also have their chances diminished for the middle school program.
On the opposite side, parents of the current AIS students said they wanted an opportunity for their children to continue the very special learning that they had been receiving.
"We want the culture to move," said AIS PTO Co- President Kathy Keefe. "And that’s why we’ve been fighting for our kids to be grandfathered."
The board had little discussion on the issue. A vote of nine yeses and one abstention sealed the policy to have a lottery for every student who wants to attend the new magnet schools.
The new magnet middle school will be housed at the Mill Ridge Education Center after renovations are completed. It will house both the new AIS program and the current STEM program, currently housed at Rogers Park Middle School. The middle school programs will draw students only from Danbury.
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