THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 23, 1995 TAG: 9510230031
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
The city's ``community schools'' plan has made parents pickier shoppers when it comes to selecting elementary schools for their kids.
So far this year, the number of parents who received elementary school ``zone waivers'' - which allow students to attend schools to which they weren't assigned - is up 42 percent from last year.
Giving parents more power to choose from among the city's public elementary schools seems to have struck the right chord.
The administration hopes increased competition for elementary students will give schools an incentive to work harder. Such marketplace forces are a better prod to improvement than standardized testing, reform advocates say.
``It may take three, four or five years, but which schools aren't considered good will soon become clear as parents begin to consistently pass by them,'' Superintendent Richard D. Trumble said.
Zone waivers, long a staple in the district, are one of two ways parents of elementary students can get around pre-set attendance zones. The latest method - first announced in fall 1994 - is known as ``open enrollment.''
The district, with 9,055 elementary school students, has granted nearly 720 waiver requests this school year.
Administrators deny that the increase in elementary school waiver requests indicates dissatisfaction with the community schools plan. Rather, they say, it shows that parents are seizing the opportunity to play more of a role in their children's schooling.
But the increase also highlights something of a contradiction in the community schools plan. This school year, the plan ended decades of elementary school busing for desegregation. Parents were urged to become more involved in schools closer to home. At the same time, the district's open enrollment policy gives elementary students and their parents annual chances to escape their assigned community school.
Under open enrollment, elementary students are assigned to their schools of choice as long as space is available. In the fall of 1994 - after assignments were first made for the current school year - some parents said they didn't understand open enrollment, didn't receive information about it or somehow missed the deadline to participate.
Many then turned to standard zone waivers.
Like open enrollment, the waivers allow parents to pick the schools they prefer. In the past, two conditions typically had to be met before waivers were granted: The desired school had to have space, and a student's ethnicity couldn't tilt the school's racial balance. At the elementary level, a student's race is no longer considered.
Several parents said picking the desired elementary school each year - either through open enrollment or zone waivers - amounts to an annual headache. But most described expanded school choice for elementary-age kids as one of the community schools plan's strongest selling points.
When parents have a say in where a student attends school, they feel a greater sense of ownership in their school and its academic mission, supporters say.
``I think it makes parents feel they are more connected to a school, a part of what happens in it, when they decide they want to send their child to a particular community school,'' said Lucy Thompson, PTA Council president.
That attitude often rubs off on children. The more they want to be in a school, the more willing they are to work hard to stay there.
The district doesn't track the reasons for zone waiver requests. But parents said requests often were for convenience - such as a school's proximity to a baby sitter - rather than for academic reasons.
Districtwide, the five most-requested elementary schools were Westhaven, Highland Biltmore, James Hurst, Douglass Park and Lakeview - all of which either have special programs or reputations for nurturing all students.
Open enrollment for elementary students was tried for the first time in the fall of 1994. About 1,600 elementary students opted to attend schools beyond their own communities. In most cases, they chose their old school, which, under the new plan, was now ``out-of-zone.''
From now on, open enrollment will be held each spring for the next school year. The district provides transportation under open enrollment, but it's not offered to students with zone waivers.
For Jerry Polito, choosing a school for his son, Vincent, was easy. The Highland Biltmore second-grader wanted to remain at that school, which he has attended since kindergarten.
``He told me he wanted to stay. He said he loved the teachers, and he said the school made him feel good,'' said Polito, the school's PTA leader.
Vincent's choice wasn't hard to support, he said, ``because Highland Biltmore really gives the kids a lot of love and attention and sets high standards for everyone. That's what every parent should be looking for.''
Already, market forces are at work. Some elementary schools can't meet the demand.
Lakeview Elementary was one of several schools that turned down requests for admittance when classes reached their limits.
``I welcome competition,'' Principal Isaac Askew said. ``We have a top-notch faculty and staff. I'm not worried about that.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Superintendent Richard D. Trumble
by CNB