Once again, the topic of sibling preference for magnet schools came before the Hernando County School Board, as it has multiple times since the district dropped it in 2009.
But the conclusion remained the same at the May 5 workshop, at least for the majority of board members, and so will the status quo. Sibling preference will not be returning for the next school year.
“I was around as an administrator and a board member when all of this started way back before,” board member Susan Duval said. “I believe that what has evolved for this district is the appropriate path to follow.
“We’ve been at it with this policy at least eight years, nine years, and I think this is a system that works. It’s not perfect, but it works well and it’s fair. And that’s the biggest thing for me, is a chance for all kids in one form or fashion to have the opportunity to attend one of our three magnet schools.”
The decision to eliminate sibling preference was originally made in December 2009 and first went into effect for the 2011-12 school year. It was brought back before the board in 2014, 2015 and 2017, each time coming up with similar findings that the siblings would take up far too many open seats at Chocachatti Elementary School, Challenger K-8 and Nature Coast Technical High School.
Dawn Williams, supervisor of school choice, presented data based on the 2024-25 school year at the May 5 board workshop and brought with her the principals from all three of those schools.
At Challenger, which had 162 available seats filled for this current school year, there are 83 siblings on the waiting list, while at Chocachatti, there are 19 siblings on the waiting list after 80 seats were filled, and 22 siblings are waiting after 133 seats were filled at Nature Coast.
Some of those seats go to children of school employees or children of military personnel. Portfolio selections account for 30% of the remaining seats, while a lottery fills 70%. Sibling preference would eat heavily into the space for portfolio and lottery selections.
“You’re going to make parents upset if you don’t do it, but then you’re going to make parents upset when the siblings are getting in and they’re taking our spot,” Nature Coast principal Toni-Ann Noyes said.
Fairness became the centerpiece of the discussion. Board member Mark Johnson was the biggest advocate for bringing back sibling preference, citing examples of parents stretched thin because they have to transport their children to multiple schools.
“My thought on sibling preference was to take 20% of the lottery seats and make that available for sibling preference, and when that 20% is gone, that sibling preference closes,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of families in this district, some of them are not too well off, that have more than one student in a grade.
“… It would give parents who have a financial hardship, and there’s a lot of that in this county if you look around, a lot of people not as fortunate as everyone in his room. There’s some families that are well below the poverty level and for them to have to go to more than two or three schools at a time, it’s a burden.”
Hernando County magnet schools do offer busing, and it is recommended that if transportation is an issue, then students should stick to their zoned schools.
“That child just automatically got in because they have an older sibling there, but the other family that had the one child has to do the portfolio, lottery and possibly may not get in. The other kid just slid right in,” Board chairperson Shannon Rodriguez said. “To me, it needs to be fair for the students in the entire district.
“… I definitely would love to see us have more seats and the school be five times the size and everybody be able to go, by all means. But this is also a personal preference. It’s also a decision. You, as a parent, don’t have to drive to school after school after school. It’s a choice. And if you choose to do that, as a parent, if we make a hard call like that, it does inconvenience us. But it’s a decision we chose to do for our children.”
A big selling point for Rodriguez was the opinion of the three principals. She asked each one, as well as Williams, if they were in favor of sibling preference and all said no.
“I know we’re working for the community and our constituents, I know that, to make people happy,” Challenger principal Rosemarie Maiorini said. “It’s very difficult for me to sit here knowing that. I represent an amazing school and I love the people I work with, and I love my parents that I work with them and their students… we have to think back of why it was done historically, why it didn’t go back.
“… I just think that we need to stick with what we’re doing. Because now we do it next year, well then, everyone else that didn’t get it the last couple of years, I just can see a lot of phone calls, I can see a lot of upset people. I think we just need to keep it the way it is so that it’s fair and equitable for everyone who applies.”
With Rodriguez, Duval and Michelle Bonczek all firmly against sibling preference, while Johnson and Kayce Hawksin were in favor, the consensus was to drop the matter.
