DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Finding a school that's a perfect fit for your child is getting more complicated as public, private and charter school options expand in Dayton, but new workshops aim to serve as a guide.

A total of 20 workshops, sponsored by a coalition of community education groups, were scheduled starting this month at area churches and community centers, and 15 of those remain for parents who want advice on choosing schools.

"It's not a simple process, choosing a school," said Andria Perkins, an outreach manager for the Web site greatschools.net, one of the partners in the effort. "We're just here to help."

About 17,000 city families with school-age children received a detailed "school chooser" in the mail this month with information about 83 local public, private and charter schools.

The School Chooser Guide is a joint project of the University of Dayton, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and greatschools.net. Others sponsoring the workshops include Parents Advancing Choice in Education and the Dayton chapter of Black Alliance for Education Options.

Beyond basic information, such as each school's address, phone number and principal's name, the chooser guide includes information about academic philosophies, programs, after-school offerings and tests scores.

Dayton now has 33 charter schools, making it the second-biggest charter school city in the nation, behind New Orleans.

Perkins said the key to choosing a school is narrowing options down to a manageable number and then visiting the schools. The workshops aim to prepare parents for those visits. They are aimed at parents in the city but are open to all parents.

"They're for any parent who wants help with the process of choosing the right school for their child," she said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2485 or

selliott@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Parent workshops include:

Christ Episcopal Church, 20 W. First St., 5:30 p.m. Wednesday

Wesley Community Center, 3730 Delphos Ave., 5:30 p.m. today and Tuesday

Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 266 Bainbridge St., 5 p.m. Thursday and

1 p.m. Saturday

First Baptist Church, 111 W. Monument Ave., 5:30 p.m. March 5, 7:30 p.m. March 6

Fairview United Methodist Church, 828 W. Fairview Ave., 5:30 p.m. March 7 and 8

College Hill Presbyterian Church, 1547 Philadelphia Drive, 1 p.m. March 10

Bethel Baptist Church, 401 S. Paul Laurence Dunbar St., 5:30 p.m. March 12 and 13

Al-Mustaqeem Islamic Center, 2580 Shiloh Springs Road, 5:30 p.m. March 14, 15, 16