SFUSD held its annual school registration fair at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium today.

This is where parents of incoming kindergarteners, 6th graders and 9th graders come to see which public schools they should enroll their future scientists, doctors and lawyers.

All of the public schools (except for Treasure Island) were there with a table, brochures, at least one parent and usually the principal.

Popular schools like West Portal, Alice Fong Yu and Rooftop had parents crowding around the table. Other schools had people in the aisles-hawking their school.

All of the principals and many of the parents were aware that schools have been closed last year due to decreased enrollment. Yet, some schools were more organized than others. When I went up to Malcolm X Academy to sign up for a tour, the principal wasn’t sure that they did tours. But after some discussion (and morale boosting from another principal), she took my name down and gave me the date of when Malcolm X incoming parents tours would begin.

But as I waited to speak to talk to the principal of Rooftop, I noticed that they had already signed up all of their tours for November-and were giving people reminders of the date and time of their assigned tour.

I almost caused a faux pas when I walked up to Bessie Carmichael’s table to arrange a tour. I noticed that no one behind the table was paying attention to the people in front of the table, but rather they were talking to another (tall) person behind the counter. At that point, someone mentioned a camera. Figuring out that everyone was posing for a photo, I got out of the way-and noticed that Mayor Newsom was part of the photo with the staff from Bessie Carmichael.

Upstairs, SFUSD had a consultant who had formerly worked for the District and is now teaching at Skyline, explained the school lottery process. Last year, SFUSD had 4,018 new kindergarteners, 3,501 incoming 6th graders and 4,606 new 9th graders.

Students (and their parents) get to list seven schools that they want to enroll in-and last year, 84% of the incoming kindergarteners were assigned to one of their schools on their list. Approximately 65% of the incoming kindergarteners got their first choice as their school assignment.

Approximately 96% of the incoming 6th graders got one of the schools on the list. Interestingly, 62% of the incoming 6th graders listed Hoover as one of their choices.

Getting into your choice for high school is somewhat tougher. Only 85% of the incoming 9th graders last year got into a school on their list. Approximately 63% got their first choice.

The consultant explained that with high school placements, there is something that SFUSD’s Enrollment Placement Center calls the “L” factor. Each year, an average of 72% of the incoming 9th graders put Lincoln as one of their choices. Since there are only 500 spots and 3,000 applicants, many of those students are disappointed when they receive their assignment.

I’ll update you on my progress with school tours. I am hoping to get a number in before November 10.