MENIFEE: Trustees again tackle transfer issue

Workshop results may mean fewer students out of the district

By CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer | Thursday, July 10, 2008 8:13 PM PDT ∞

MENIFEE ---- Menifee school board members Thursday tightened the district's policy governing requests from parents to transfer their children out of the district.

The most significant change was related to requests generated due to the desire of parents or guardians to have their children attend school near the parents' workplace. That is one of three reasons that trustees have recently been granting transfer requests.

And, although the workshop was requested by Trustee Rita Peters, who wanted more leeway in the policy to help struggling families, the board ended up tightening its standards.

Reversing a decision made in May, trustees unanimously decided parents cannot get an automatic approval for their children to leave the district if they work within the geographical boundaries of another school district. Rather, the parent must work for another school district in order for their child to be allowed to transfer out of the Menifee district.

Trustees will formally consider the policy changes at an upcoming meeting.

The other two reasons for which transfers recently have been granted are for when it is "impossible to arrange for childcare within the district of residence," and when the student moves into the district after the school year has started and wants to spend their last year of elementary or middle school with his or her former classmates.

Transfer requests based on childcare difficulties have been tightened recently as well. In May, the district expanded the number of schools offering on-site private childcare, making it more likely that families will be able to arrange for their children to be supervised.

Before- and after-school childcare is now available at all of the districts' elementary schools except Chester Morrison, Assistant Superintendent Gil Compton said. And the district is providing transportation for students there to childcare providers at nearby Evans Ranch Elementary School, he added.

Childcare is not offered at the district's middle schools, however, district officials say.

Menifee trustees this year have grappled with how to best handle requests for students to transfer out of the district, an issue that has become heated as the economy has cooled and enrollment has stopped growing.

Losing students basically means losing some state funding, and that generated heated debate Thursday.

Peters and Trustee Phoeba Irey likened some transfer denials to putting money ahead of what is best for students, while Trustee Bob O'Donnell said he felt that keeping students amounts to protecting educational programs that serve all the children enrolled in the district.

Peters had wanted to allow transfers for childcare reasons if the parent or guardian was able to get free childcare from a family member.

"Obviously money, at this point in time, is an issue," she said. "And that is why we need to be more flexible in our policies. ... I cannot let (the money the district receives based on the number of students enrolled) run my heart or my mind. It just bothers me to think these children have become dollars. It's ridiculous."

And, while Irey was sympathetic, she and others said it would be difficult to prove who was extended family and who was not.

Irey said she sought election to the board in part because she watched a school board meeting four years ago in which a mother and child cried and pleaded to come into the Menifee school district, when enrollment was booming and the district did not have space in its schools. The family was building a home in Menifee but had not been able to find an apartment in the area so they were living in Perris, she said, and the board would not let the child into the district.

Later, Irey said she wished there was a better way to handle the current transfer requests, but that she did not know what that would be.

Peters conceded her push to allow transfer approvals due to free childcare within a family when it became clear she did not have support from a majority of her fellow board members.

Although many requests by parents to transfer their children out of the district for the current school year have been denied, the majority have been approved, district officials say.

As of April, 476 people had requested transfers for the current school year and 380 were approved, officials said. The district has accepted 112 students from other districts, 61 of whom were children of parents who work for the district.

Transfer requests are first decided by district employees and can be appealed to the school board and then to the county Board of Education. Requests can be made more than once.

Recent board meetings have been marked, typically, by the appearance of a handful of parents appealing transfer denials, pleading with sometimes heartfelt and sad stories about why they need their children in another school district.

Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or credfern@californian.com.