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Parents get school-transfer letters

By Sam Atkins
Published in News on July 23, 2004 2:01 PM

Fewer than half of Wayne County's public schools have met new federal guidelines, which means parents at some of those schools have the right to transfer their children.

The 2004 "adequate yearly progress report" was released Monday by Wayne County public schools and indicates that 13 out of 30 county schools, or 43.3 percent, made adequate yearly progress.

The number of schools that made "progress" under the complicated federal program doubled from last year, according to Olivia Pierce, spokesman for the school system.

This is the second year students' math and reading scores have been measured by the program, which is part of the federal No Child Left Behind law, she said. The results are based on end-of-the-year testing that was done last school year.

The schools are broken down into student groups and the number of groups depends on the population of the school. Examples of groups include students on free or reduced lunch; students who have English as a second language; and children with learning disabilities and other challenges. Each race is also a group.

Students who attend Title I schools that did not make an adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years will have the option to transfer to another school, with the county funding their bus transportation. Title I schools are those that receive federal money because of a high percentage of students receiving free or reduced lunch.

Those students' parents have been notified by a letter and will have the option to allow their child to attend a different school. Before transferring, though, parents should first find out if their child is in a student group that did not meet the adequate yearly progress, Ms. Pierce said.

The schools that do not meet the progress must adopt a two-year improvement plan and use Title I funds for staff development.

Students have the option to either transfer to a school that is not labeled as a Title I improvement school or stay where they are. They are given two schools to choose from, but are not guaranteed their first choice because schools cannot be overloaded, Ms. Pierce said.

Ms. Pierce said she does not anticipate too many children will transfer, although the system has received calls from parents saying they want to transfer their child and asking questions about the process and if their child is in the student group that did not meet the progress.

Forty students make up a group and if one student in the group does not make the adequate progress, the whole group is identified as not making the progress, she added.

Ms. Pierce said they would have liked to have more students make the federal benchmark, but there were more this year than last year that did.

Edgewood Community Developmental School has students that are all special population students. Its progress is not available yet.

Here is the list of schools that did not make "adequate yearly progress":

Belfast Academy

Brogden Middle

Brodgen Primary

Carver Elementary

Charles B. Aycock High

Dillard Middle

Eastern Wayne Elementary

Eastern Wayne Middle

Goldsboro High