Many Oklahoma City children sticking with low-performing schools

Tuesday, September 3rd 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Thousands of Oklahoma City children are choosing to stick with low-performing schools despite a federal law that would let them transfer elsewhere, district officials said.

Six district schools are on Oklahoma's improvement list and administrator Brian Staples said he expects no more than two to five children at each of those schools will seek transfers.

``Nationwide, that's really been the trend,'' he said. ``Not very many parents are choosing to send their children to different schools.''

Staples said some parents do not want to bus their children and others feel more comfortable staying in their own neighborhoods.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires the district to allow children at those schools to transfer to another school not on the improvement list and to provide a free bus ride. There were options even before the law, however, since the district's open transfer policy allowed any student to transfer to another school if he or she provided transportation.

Parents have until Wednesday to apply for a transfer.

At Westwood Elementary, one of the schools on the test improvement list, Principal Michelle Anderson said the ranking did not discourage parents and that the school's enrollment had 50 more students this year than expected. Anderson said no parents have showed any interest in transferring their children.

``We've got kids coming out of our ears, and some of our transfers are from schools around here,'' she said.

Peggy Brinson, principal of Western Village Charter Academy, said she has also been meeting with parents after her school was put on the list. Brinson said it is not fair to rate schools on just one test.

``You look at just one measurement of their progress, but there are a lot of other ways to see if children are learning,'' she said.

Staples said students may be better off staying at a low-performing school since that school will receive federal money for extra assistance that could include tutoring or summer school.

``If it was my kid and I had a choice, I think I would stay and take advantage of more services,'' he said.