The Lansing School District has launched a huge marketing
campaign geared at suburban households. The campaign includes sending 25,000
East Lansing, Okemos, Grand Ledge and DeWitt households a flier about the
district.
According to excerpts from the article:
Worsie Gregory, head of the district's magnet office,
said the move was in recognition of the fact that many parents now evaluate
schools like they do consumer goods.
"(Students are) very happy in the elementary
schools, but when they get in fifth grade, the parents go shopping."
The move comes in advance of the district's magnet fair
Feb. 9 at Eastern High School and a schools of choice enrollment period in
March.
The Lansing School District is the area's largest
district, serving more than 15,000 students. However, the district has lost
more than 4,000 students in the last 15 years, and loses more students to
suburban districts through schools of choice than it gains back.
The focal point of the effort is on the magnet schools'
expanded programs, including the popular International Baccalaureate program.
Lansing has added a new K-10 aspect to its International
Baccalaureate program, currently available to juniors and seniors at Eastern
High School.
The International Baccalaureate program is an advanced
course of study that focuses on an international mind-set. In addition to their
other classes, which are comparable to advanced placement and honors studies,
students are expected to be fluent in a second language and learning a third.
To that effect, a Mandarin Chinese immersion program
already at Post Oak Elementary will eventually expand throughout the
International Baccalaureate program, offering a second language choice of
Spanish, which is already available, magnet schools spokesman Mark Mayes said.
Read the entire article here.
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