Elementary School Transfer Rules

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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Viewpoints ID: #63237 Medium Elementary School Transfer Rules

Read the following article from a website.

Starting next September, families in the city could apply for elementary school seats outside their own neighbourhood boundary, under a plan the school board will vote on in February. Today, children must attend the school assigned to their address unless they win one of a small number of transfer spots. Last year more than eleven hundred families asked for a transfer, and fewer than three hundred got one.

Xiaoling Qiu, who leads a citywide parents’ group, says a line on a map should not decide a child’s future. “My neighbour’s daughter could see the arts school from her bedroom window, but she lived on the wrong side of the street,” Qiu said. “Brothers and sisters end up at different schools, and families spend years on waiting lists. That is not choice. It is luck.” She says French immersion programs have the longest lists.

Malachi Ramsaroop, a principal in the east end, warns that open choice could empty schools that hold neighbourhoods together. “Our school runs after-school care and opens the gym every Saturday for the whole community,” he said. “Every student who leaves takes funding with them. Lose enough of them, and the music teacher and the breakfast club are the first things to go,” Ramsaroop said. He says three of the five schools in his area already have empty classrooms.

Samina Rafiq, the board’s equity officer, asks who can actually reach a school across town. “Without school buses, open choice mostly helps parents who own a car and can get to work late,” she said. “The board has to show how transportation will be paid for before it opens a single seat,” Rafiq said. Taddeo Ruffo, a trustee, supports more choice but wants limits at first. “Let us open a few hundred seats next year and measure what happens,” he said. “I also want an outside auditor to check every lottery, so nobody wonders whether the draw was fair,” Ruffo added. He said the board could widen the plan in later years if the results look good.

Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

The article is mainly about 1.

a plan to let families choose schools outside their areaa new arts school opening in Septembera shortage of teachers for arts programsa vote to close schools in the east end

.

This article was most likely written for 2.

students applying to universityfamilies with young children in the citybus companies bidding on school routesprincipals working in other provinces

.

Xiaoling Qiu would likely say that the current transfer system 3.

keeps neighbourhood schools full and strongshould change only once buses existshould first be tried on fewer seatslets a family’s address count for too much

.

Samina Rafiq is most likely 4.

a trustee who wants a small trial firsta principal whose school may lose studentsworried about families who have less moneyagainst giving families any choice at all

.

The author treats the plan as 5.

a mistake the board should rejecta change that has not yet been decideda plan the board already approveda solution every parent welcomes

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

My son is in Grade 2, and I have spent more evenings than I can count reading school board reports at our kitchen table. I was shocked to read that 6.

two thousandabout five hundredeight hundredmore than eleven hundred

families asked for a transfer last year, since I assumed only a few parents bothered. Only 7.

about one hundredfewer than three hundredsix hundrednine hundred

of them got one, which explains why my own request went nowhere. The parents’ group leader says 8.

artsFrench immersionmusicscience

programs have the longest waiting lists, and that matches what I hear at pickup. I also understand the principal’s worry, since his school opens its gym every 9.

holidayFridaySundaySaturday

for the whole neighbourhood. Finally, I like the trustee’s idea of an outside auditor checking every 10.

lotteryseat counttransfer formwaiting list

, because parents need to trust the process.

AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.

Correct Answer: a plan to let families choose schools outside their area

Why this is correct: The board will vote on a plan that lets families apply for seats outside their own boundary. Every speaker reacts to it.

Passage Reference: families in the city could apply for elementary school seats outside their own neighbourhood boundary

Tips: Check each option against what Qiu, Ramsaroop, Rafiq and Ruffo say. The answer is the subject they share, not a fact about one of them.