Mother fears slim chances with school choice

PINELLAS PARK -- For years, Denise Malone has felt that she has been sending her children to school in two different worlds.

Her 13-year-old son, David, has enjoyed a straightforward path from elementary school to middle school, while her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah, has taken a circuitous route through four elementary schools.

Their experiences illustrate the difference between raising a general-education student and a special-needs student, Malone said.

And as much as she would like to believe that the district's new controlled choice plan will keep David on course and make things easier for Sarah, she fears that the educational futures of both will become more difficult.

"It's always been predetermined for David until this choice thing," she said. "But from the get-go, it was tough on Sarah. I've had to fight for her every step of the way."

The third-grader, who was diagnosed with a communications disorder when she was an infant, entered Pinellas Park Elementary School as a prekindergartner. Since then, she has attended Fairmount Park and Blanton elementary schools in Malone's quest to get her the best learning accommodations.

Malone felt comfortable that her daughter was in the right program when she began second grade at Tyrone Elementary School, so she decided to keep her there for third grade. But then she heard the district was dropping some special-education programs and redistributing others under the choice plan.

Fearful that she would have to move Sarah again and frustrated because she wasn't getting concrete relocation information from the district, Malone joined a parent advisory committee on exceptional student education in the spring. The parents lobbied the district until it agreed to adjust special-needs programs gradually instead of moving or ending some programs abruptly.

Malone breathed a sigh of relief when she learned that Sarah will be able to stay at Tyrone next year. But now she worries that her daughter's varying exceptionalities program won't be available when she enters fifth grade.

So far, her son's path has been smoother. He attended Bay Vista Fundamental School and was automatically eligible to attend Southside Fundamental School. But now, Malone said, his future is uncertain.

Under the present attendance plan, David would go to Pinellas Park High School next year. He still has that option, but with choice, he can apply to all high schools because they are included in one countywide attendance area. It might look as though he has more choices, Malone said, but with no guarantees he will be accepted at any other school, his situation is basically the same. "It's still pretty much a lottery," she said. "Just because we fill out the schools of his choice, it doesn't mean we're going to get in."

She worries that in an effort to attract students, high schools are "compartmentalizing," offering specialized career pathways that might not be providing the general education kids need to succeed in college.

Because David is considering a career in business or finance, Malone will list the business, economics and technology magnet at Gibbs High School as his first choice. She will list the criminal justice academy at Pinellas Park High School as his second choice, because he also is interested in law. But she admits that his third through fifth choices will be little more than "fill-ins."

"I feel like we have to look some more, but what's the point?" she asked. "This whole choice thing is not a choice, but a chance."

-- Do you have a story about negotiating the new school choice plan? Please let Donna Winchester know at 893-8826; fax 893-8675 or e-mail winchester@sptimes.com

Editor's note: As an extension of our recent special section called School Search and as an aid to understanding "controlled choice," we will continue to profile families who are in the hunt for the right school during the next few months.

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