Parents say school choices limited

After the district names five alternatives for students from Shaw, parents complain.

TAMPA - Parents at four elementary schools are getting more choice in picking schools this year than anyone else in Hillsborough County.

But several parents who attended a meeting aimed at explaining their new choices Monday night said they felt they had been given little choice at all.

This year, four Hillsborough schools - Lockhart, Oak Park, Robles and Shaw - improved their school grades from the F's the state gave them last year. Lockhart jumped to a C and the other three improved to D's.

But new federal standards say the schools are still failing to make "adequate yearly progress," meaning they did not improve enough in the last two years.

That ranking means all 2,500 students at those schools can transfer to better-performing schools this year, those graded a C or above.

But at the first meeting the school district held to lay out the choices, parents at Shaw Elementary were given a list of five schools they could choose: Claywell, Essrig, Heritage, Lutz and Maniscalco. The district will provide transportation to those schools, which are between 7 and 13 miles from Shaw.

Schools that are closer, such as Pizzo and Tampa Palms, were not listed as schools their children could attend.

The parents were told to choose three of the five and wait for a decision.

"It's like they're choosing the schools for you," said Ernestine Upshaw, whose 9-year-old daughter attends Shaw Elementary School. "These schools are 8, 7, 13 miles away. That's too far away from home."

Upshaw said she would like to enroll her daughter in a school closer to her Temple Terrace job, but the approved schools were nowhere near there.

"I can't choose a school I'd like," she said.

Patricia Cook wants to move her first-grader to Pizzo. But even though she's willing to drive him there herself, she was told no. She must wait and fill out a special assignment application in September.

"They're just too far," she said of the options she was given.

District officials said they're giving parents as much choice as possible, given how late they received notice that children at the former F schools could transfer to other public schools.

Walt Bartlett, who oversees Hillsborough's federal programs, said the federal law only says districts must provide "meaningful" choice, which he defined as at least two schools.

"If given more time . . . I think perhaps we could have accommodated them more," he said. "We're trying to figure it out as we go along."

The approved list of schools offered to parents is essentially a pared-down list of schools available under the district's controlled choice plan next year. Then, parents will have more freedom in choosing schools within certain geographic regions.

The spin officials gave at the Monday meeting was "early controlled choice."

Parents who want their children to attend schools other than the approved ones were told Monday to fill out a regular special assignment application. Special assignments are allowed if space is available in other schools and for a proven need, such as closer proximity to day care.

Bartlett maintained that the parents were given a fair number of choices.

"They got four A schools and one that is bound to be an A," he said. "They certainly have more choices than any other schools in this district."

- Melanie Ave can be reached at 226-3400 or melanie@sptimes.com

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