MAGNET Responsibility:

Principals are responsible for Magnet programs at their campuses and are assisted by their Magnet Coordinators, who are responsible for day to day operations. Specifically, the Magnet Coordinator is responsible for providing support to implement, monitor, enhance, and sustain a quality Magnet program.

It is an expectation that Magnet Coordinators will attend all Magnet Coordinator meetings/trainings and all Magnet online application system trainings. Non compliance regarding these expectations may result in Magnet budgetary

consequences. The Chancery processes of monitoring non-zoned students’

Magnet address exceptions, enrolling Magnet transfer students, and the coding of all students being served by a Magnet program shall be completed by the magnet coordinator or trained data entry personnel on each campus under the supervision of the Magnet Coordinator

The designee and phone number of the Central Administrative contact:

Name: Mark Shenker

Phone Number: (713) 556-6947

Magnet Coordinators will provide appropriate data entry personnel with the names and coding information of students who are eligible, have been selected for participation, and are being served by the Magnet Program. Clerical personnel are not responsible for determining a student’s Magnet status. Magnet Coordinators are responsible for notifying data personnel of any changes to a student’s Magnet status. Data personnel are responsible for notifying the Magnet Coordinator in the event a Magnet student withdraws from the campus.

Authority: Board Policy and Magnet Guidelines

Board Policy provides for the creation of Magnet Programs. A request for the creation of a new Magnet program or a request for a major modification to existing program (changes in program design, program focus, or number of students to be served by an individual program) requires Board approval. Board Policy also provides a process to “sun set” or “demagnetize” Magnet programs that are underperforming or that do not meet minimum enrollment requirements. Magnet programs will operate in accordance with Board Policy and established Magnet Standards and Procedures.

Eligibility

Recruitment, Qualifying, and Selection

HISD Magnet Programs offer a district-wide system of educational choices from among a number of specialized programs at grade levels PK-12. Magnet programs provide a unique and enriched curriculum designed around a specialized theme that meet students’ interests, talents, and needs, and has relevance in today’s society. Pre-kindergarten Magnet programs are only available at the Montessori, Dual language, and Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet schools.

Each Magnet program will recruit students, process applications, and select participants in accordance with Magnet Standards and Procedures. Eligibility requirements vary by program theme and grade level. Magnet Coordinators are responsible for conducting these processes according to district wide magnet admissions criteria by theme and grade level.

Magnet programs may have one of three basic designs:

School-wide programs (SWP) are established at existing schools that have a specific attendance zone and are designed to serve all qualified students attending the school. All qualified students who live within the attendance zone and attend the school will automatically participate in the Magnet Program; there is no need to apply. In addition, students from throughout HISD may apply to the program. Pre-K students do not qualify except at Dodson, Garden Oaks, Wilson, and the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion School.

School-within-a-school programs (SWAS) are Magnet Programs established at existing schools that have a specific attendance zone, but are designed to serve only a subset of the school’s population. Students from throughout HISD (even students zoned to the school) must apply to be considered for the program. Students then must be qualified, be invited, return the entrance agreement, and enroll. The program is designed to serve only the students in the Magnet Program.

Separate and Unique School Magnet Programs (SUS) are established on campuses that do not have an attendance zone. Students from throughout HISD may apply to the program. Students must then be qualified, be invited, return the entrance agreement, and enroll. The program is designed to serve all the students in the school.

Program Services

The District’s Magnet Program is a system of educational choices developed to serve students with specialized interests, talents, and needs. The following characteristics serve as the underlying framework of the Magnet program:

• Each Magnet program offers an enriched curriculum designed around a specialized theme that meets students’ interests, talents, and needs and has relevance in today’s society.

• Each Magnet program strives to provide an ethnically and socio- economically diverse student body so that students may gain the experience needed to live in a multicultural society.

• Each Magnet program accepts, within their enrollment goal, students who have a strong interest in its Magnet theme and who have met the selection criteria appropriate to the program.

• Each Magnet program strives to increase student access to the program through the district’s awareness activities, transfer procedures, and transportation policies.

• Each Magnet program actively encourages parent, community, and business involvement.

Exiting Procedures

Magnet programs are unique to the campus at which a particular program is offered, and Magnet Standards and Procedures dictate the procedures that must be followed to withdraw a student from a Magnet program. A student is withdrawn from a Magnet program for the following reasons:

• The student withdraws from the district or from the school to attend another HISD school

• The student is exited from the Magnet program in accordance with the Magnet guidelines.

It is the responsibility of the designated data personnel to remove Magnet coding from a student’s record when the student leaves the school or in the case of a SWAS program, when the student leaves the program.

Note: In accordance with Magnet Standards and Procedures, All Magnet transfers are for a period of one year and may only be denied at the end of the school year. A student may not be exited from a Magnet program during the school year with the exception being placement at DAEP. In this instance, students placed in an alternative school (DAEP) will enroll in their zoned school upon completion of their alternative placement.

Documentation

Magnet Coordinators are responsible for the management and accuracy of the following. They may be assisted by appropriately trained and designated personnel on the campus:

Applications

Coordinators will collect, organize, evaluate, and record all applications to the Magnet program in accordance with current policies and procedures.

• Applications will be recorded through Online Magnet Application System.

• Once a student enrolls and starts attending a program, a Magnet Student Folder will be created, and his/her application with supporting documentation will be placed in it.

Records Destruction: Non-Vanguard Magnet applications from students who do not enroll or attend the program need only be retained only as long as

administratively valuable which is at minimum, one year from date of the parent notification of status (March 27, 2015). These applications will be destroyed following HISD records management procedures.

Note: All applications to Vanguard Magnet programs must be retained for five years from date of parent notification of status (March 27, 2015).

Note: It is the responsibility of the designated data personnel at the campus to assist the Magnet Coordinator in correctly identifying a student’s Chancery ID number or, in the situation of a potential student who does not have an HISD ID number, registering the student, thus creating a Chancery ID number, enabling the application to be entered into the Online Magnet Application System.

Transfers

Magnet Coordinators are responsible for managing all data related to Magnet transfers and address exceptions which include the following:

• Accuracy of Magnet student information in the transfer system

• Accuracy of Magnet student data in Chancery

• Documentation of voluntary and non-voluntary Magnet non-renewals in accordance with Magnet Guidelines

Note: Magnet students will be electronically transferred to their new next year’s campus. New Magnet students will be granted an approved Magnet address exception and, if necessary, withdrawn from their zoned campus, pointed toward their new campus, and coded as Magnet automatically.

It is the responsibility of the appropriate data personnel to assist the Magnet Coordinator to monitor the planning calendar to ensure that all returning and new Magnet students are included.

Student Folders

Magnet Coordinators are responsible for maintaining Magnet student folders for each Magnet participant in SWAS and SUS programs and for each student on a Magnet transfer (non-zoned students) in SWP and SWVP programs. Each folder should contain:

• Application with supporting documentation

• Qualifying score sheet (Matrix, if applicable)

• Signed entrance agreement(parent and student signature required)

• Growth Plans (if applicable)

• Voluntary withdrawal form or exiting documentation (if applicable)

• Records Destruction: Records of each student that received services in

a Magnet program will be retained for +5 years from the cessation of services. These records will be destroyed following HISD records management procedures.

Chancery Magnet Coding

Magnet Coordinators are responsible for correctly coding Magnet students in Chancery. Magnet students, for which there is a Magnet Entrance Agreement with a parent and student signature on file, should be coded as Magnet. Only Montessori, Dual Language and the Mandarin Chinese Language Immersion Magnet Programs will code PK as Magnet.

Note: It is the responsibility of the appropriate designated data personnel at the campus to assist the Magnet Coordinator in correctly coding Magnet students in Chancery. Magnet funding is tied directly to accurate coding of magnet students.

SCHOOL:

Program

Theme: DATE:

FEDERAL AND STATE COMPLIANCE