DECATUR — The Decatur School Board voted to deny three student transfer requests, but for the first time since July voted to accept the requests of two students.

The votes happened during the Dec. 19 meeting.

There are three ways to transfer out of a public school district; file a petition under the Arkansas School Choice Law by July 1, request a schoolboard-to-school-board transfer or physically move out of the school district.

Since July, a stipulation in the school choice law dealing with desegregation has made it impossible for white students to leave the Decatur School District and the school board has denied all transfer requests, leaving parents no choice except to physically move out of the district if they wish for their children to attend another school. The school receives about $6,000 a year from the state for each student it enrolls.

On Dec. 19, board members Ike Owens, Aaron Owens and Kevin Smith reviewed thefive students’ cases individually. Board members Darleen Holly and Justin Thompson were not present. None of the families were present to argue their cases.

Three of the transfer petition forms were filed in August, but the Decatur School Board policy is to review transfer requests only twice a year, in July and December, because it is not in the best interest of students to switch schools in the middle of the semester, superintendent Larry Ben told the board members.

Three students, from separate families, were denied transfers to Gravette and Gentry on Ben's recommendation. The school released the names and applications but the Westside Eagle Observer does not use the names in transfer situations.

The first student has been home schooled for the past two years, according to the application papers, and has a Gravette mailing address. The parent cited that she hasn't been in Decatur schools for two years as the reason for the transfer requestto Gravette. The student is not Caucasian and will be eligible to transfer next year under the School Choice Act.

The second student has been attending Decatur schools and the parents cited “educational” as the reason for the request to transfer to Gentry. The student is not Caucasian and will be eligible to transfer next year under the School Choice Act.

The third student has also been attending Decatur schools and the parents cited “better and more opportunity for college” as the reason for the request to Gentry. The student is not Caucasian and will be eligible to transfer next year under the School Choice Act.

Ben recommended thatthe board accept transfer requests to Gentry from two students in the same family. The parents gave “They have been going to Gentry since moving here in 2004” as the reason for the transfer. The family’s mailing address is in Gentry but they actually live in the Decatur School District.

“Since they have been going to Gentry for seven years, I recommend you accept the transfer requests,” Ben said. “I don't think it's in the students best interest to move them now.”

Smith questioned why the board was accepting the two transfer requests after denying 16 to 18 transfers since July. Smith expressed concern that other students and their families would find the inconsistency unfair.

Ben replied that it is board policy to consider each transfer request on a case-by-case basis and make a decision basedon the best interest of the student.

When Smith questioned him further about the situation, Ben replied that “some of the names” came to him from various means, explaining that bus drivers, friends, classmates, neighbors or church members report students they believe are living in the Decatur district but attending a different school.

School board president Ike Owens clarified that the students’ families had not come to the school district but the other way around.

“I called them,” Ben said.

Smith asked what the procedure is when a student is suspected of attending the wrong district. Ben explained that it is his responsibility to bring it to the attention of the other superintendent and that superintendent is responsible for investigating the claim andinforming the family.

Aaron Owens pointed out that the family may not have been aware they were sending their children to the wrong school because their address is in Gentry and they live right on the district line.

Smith questioned why the school had recalled seven students who had been illegally attending the Gravette School District last August but was not acting in this case.

Ike Owens said the board had decided at a training meeting last summer not to pursue cases of students who have been attending the wrong district for more than two years.

“When I saw that they had been in Gentry for seven years it just kinda made sense in my mind (to allow the transfer,)” Ben said.

After the discussion, all three board members voted in favor of allowing the two students to officially transfer to Gentry.

STATE LAW REGULATES TRANSFERS

Transferring out of the Decatur School District has become difficult for students who wish to attend other districts.

The Arkansas School Choice Act of 1989 allows studentsto apply for a transfer to another district of choice if an application is filed by July 1 of that year, but a stipulation of the law does not allow students to transfer to a nonresident district in which the enrollment percent ages of the student’s race exceeds the percentage in the student’s resident district. An exemption is made when both districts are in the same county and have a ratio of white to minority studentswhich falls in the acceptable range as determined by the state for the county.

The acceptable range for Caucasian students in Benton County is 58.99 to 75.84 percent, according to the Arkansas Department of Education. According to Oct. 1, 2010, enrollment numbers in Decatur fell below that range, with only 57.17 percent white students.

Thirteen students applied for school choice in July and superintendent Larry Ben estimated at the time that more than half of the requests were denied because of race. Seven students applied for board-to-board transfers not based onrace, but at the July 18 meeting Decatur School Board members voted to deny all the transfers.

On July 27, the Westside Eagle Observer reported that five students who had transferred to Gravette schools in 2010 were being recalled to Decatur because Gravette had more than 80 percent Caucasian students, well outside the acceptable range, when the transfers were made. Ben said at the time the reason more students were not recalled was because the Decatur School District did not have records of school choice transfers before 2010.

News, Pages 1 on 12/28/2011