Sixth-grade students use their laptops and tablets during a science class at Tyrone Middle School in St. Petersburg. The school’s Center for Innovation and Digital Learning is one of about 70 choice programs offered by the Pinellas County school system. The choice application period for the 2018-19 school year runs from Jan. 10-19.

If history is any guide, more than 20,000 applications from some 11,000 students will flow into the Pinellas County school system’s computers over the next two weeks as families seek access to choice programs.

Those numbers have been fairly consistent in recent years, part of a winter application cycle that has become a familiar annual ritual. Families looking for options outside of their regular zoned school will be vying for entry into special programs like magnets, fundamental schools and career academies.

Source : Pinellas