最初由 小傻 发布
Last year, Ottawa Citizen or Sun reported the lining up...
If I was the editor of local newspaper, I would go there this year (eg, Sunday midnight) to take some pictures and write my news...In every aspect, this is a very interesting topic..
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=2fae6d88-f600-40df-9054-fdc958896951
There's got to be a better way
The lengths to which parents will go to get children enrolled at Lisgar Collegiate
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Font: * * * * Kelly Egan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Last February, as it does every year, Ottawa's most prestigious public high school, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, briefly threw open its doors to admit any student from anywhere in the city.
It had 30 spots open to students outside its attendance boundaries who wanted to attend Ottawa's oldest high school in September. All the candidates had to do was line up at an appointed hour.
Jacques Barrette was ready. Boy, was he ready.
The University of Ottawa professor, no stranger to things academic, wanted to enrol his son, Alexy, who was then in Grade 8.
Mr. Barrette arrived at the downtown campus with a two-man winter tent and a sleeping bag rated to minus-40, both rented from Trailhead. He had hot water bottles, thermoses and an assortment of camping gear. He had reading material; he had a portable DVD player and a couple of movies.
He had done his homework.
When Mr. Barrette arrived at the school on a Saturday morning about 9:30, it was roughly 43 hours before the doors would open for registration.
He was met by a crowd.
To his amazement, he discovered parents and prospective students had begun lining up Friday at noon -- almost three days before the school would begin accepting applications.
He was lucky. He stood 22nd in line.
This year promises to be similar, if not worse. Beginning Monday, the school will be accepting 78 "cross-boundary transfers," students normally destined for the public board's 24 other high schools.
Principal Karen Gledhill said yesterday she hopes Lisgar doesn't see a repeat of last year, when a mini-tent city sprang up on the school's playing field.
"I hope they don't start lining up on the Friday. I felt very badly that people have to do this."
In 2005, Lisgar accepted an unusually small number of transfers, which may have fed the lineup craze. It all began, said Ms. Gledhill, with a Grade 8 student from Hopewell who was determined to enrol at Lisgar, though he was outside the boundary. He pitched his tent on the Friday, at noon, and was apparently alone in line for the first several hours.
It goes beyond camping. Ms. Gledhill says she knows of families that will rent a room in a nearby hotel and take turns keeping watch in line.
The principal said she does not offer guidance to prospective students about what time to show up this weekend; she merely instructs callers about last year's experience.
Lisgar, with about 960 students, is one of Ottawa's strongest academic schools and home to a large gifted student program. Though the school board does not officially rank its schools, Lisgar has scored well in independent school ratings.
Area trustee Joan Spice said 2005 was an unusual year, the first one she remembers that involved camping out for a spot at the school.
Normally, the lineup begins early on the Monday or perhaps the night before, she explained.
"I personally do not think it's a good idea," said Ms. Spice. "I think we should have a lottery system and I proposed that a couple of years ago."
The proposal lost. She's concerned this year will be as bad as 2005, though there are more than twice as many spots.
"What I'm worried about, frankly, is that they might start lining up even earlier than Friday. I mean, I don't know where you draw the line."
Mr. Barrette, meanwhile, said it was remarkable the degree to which the line found its own order.
"It was like a mini-society. It was very quickly organized."
Everyone had a chair, for instance, lined up in order of arrival. One of the first rules established was that those in line could leave their post for a pre-determined period -- roughly half an hour -- to make a food or washroom run, without losing their place in line.
Mr. Barrette said he was fairly comfortable, sleeping in a double sleeping bag, even though temperatures dropped to minus-21 at night.
Others were not, he recalled. Some simply sat in chairs all night, retreating to cars periodically to warm up.
He remains conflicted about the process. There ought to be a more civilized way to register your child for school, he admitted, but added that a system of first-come, first-served rewards those who are more motivated.
"On the other hand, you might say that those who sleep outside for three nights deserve a place. But it's a little bit wild," said Mr. Barrette, who teaches human resources management. "It was fun, also. I enjoyed being with my son during the night. And we made new friends."
Ms. Gledhill plans to stop by the school on Sunday to monitor the lineup. The school doors should open at about 6:30 a.m. Monday and applications will be accepted from 8 a.m. onward.
Contact Kelly Egan at 726-5896 or by e-mail,
kegan@thecitizen.canwest.com
