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Teacher loses appeal over school her son will attend
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
A teacher has lost her appeal to have her son attend the school where she works. An arbitrator recently ruled in favor of the Pinellas County School District, which in June had revoked a special attendance permit for Laura Lindsey's son to attend Walsingham Elementary School. Jade Moore, executive director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, is disappointed. One of the union's arguments had been that teachers have a contract that allows them to take their children to the schools where they teach. Since 1982, it argued, every teacher's special attendance permit had been granted. Mrs. Lindsey could not be reached for comment. In June, she was one of 26 district employees who lost special attendance permits to either attend or leave Lakewood and Campbell Park elementary schools, both of which were out of compliance with court-ordered racial ratios. Mrs. Lindsey was told she would have to send her son, Noah, to Lakewood Elementary, his zoned school, which needed white students. Because of transportation and child care difficulties, she was allowed to send her son to Campbell Park, instead, which also needed more white students. A few weeks into the school year, though, eight special attendance permits allowing teachers to take their children into or out of Campbell Park were reinstated. Mrs. Lindsey's was not one of them. She subsequently took her case to the union. Campbell Park, she and the union argued, had come into compliance with racial ratios and that meant her son should be allowed to return to Walsingham. The School District had a different view. "To allow her to go to Walsingham Elementary School with the reinstated Campbell Park SAPs (special attendance permits) would be giving her preferential treatment over the 18 professional SAPs in and out of Lakewood Elementary School that remained canceled because Lakewood was over the maximum allowed ratio," the district said. "So as long as Lakewood remained over the maximum ratio, then the only place her son could move is back to Lakewood as her zoned school." The arbitrator's ruling, issued Nov. 18, was good news for the School District. "We're pleased with it on the one hand that we didn't have to choose between complying with the arbitrator's award or the court order," School Board attorney John Bowen said. "And on the other hand, we regret that we couldn't accommodate her and have her son attend school where she works. . . . If we make an exception for one, we would have to do so for others." The union accused the School District of letting its agreement with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund supersede its collective bargaining agreement. "I think the School Board attorney took the path of least resistance when it came time to stand up for School District employees against the Defense Fund," Moore said this week. "The historical tradition is that the permits are granted. . . . It was Bowen and his fear of Rick Escarraz (NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorney) that caused them to be rescinded."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
