Parents of school children camped out overnight in front of school buildings across Ciudad Juarez in an effort to register their children for pre-school, elementary and secondary schools in the first week of February. Numerous complaints were raised about the "sectoring" of school districts, which caused some schools to be jammed with parents attempting to register their children and some schools to be relatively empty. The sectorization program was criticized for a lack of proper planning and was blamed for creating mass confusion among parents. Critics, including principals, teachers and parents, charged that the program was implemented arbitrarily without enough knowledge of school populations within zone boundaries and that parents were not given enough information regarding the sector program.
During the registration period, there were reports of schools opening for registration at 9:00 am and by 10:00 am closing registration because they were full. Other parents were heading to different sectors to register their children because there was no more room in the schools in their area. Other reports allege that some principals were choosing which children would be allowed to register, denying the registration of some children that lived in the school's sector and even asking for payments for registration. The National Education Workers' Union, (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Educación, SNTE) demanded the elimination of the sectorization of schools, calling it a unilateral decision that has caused "serious problems" for parents. The local representative of the SNTE, Raul Gutierrez, told El Norte that the program was implemented without any demographic studies or understanding of school capacities.
Officials with the State Education system counter that the sectorization system is the best method to maximize the resources available and is an effort to take full advantage of state and federal infrastructure. Officials have charged that the problem lies not with the sector program but with the fact that parents prefer for their children to attend schools in the morning sessions, which fill up first.
Sources: Diario de Juarez, El Norte