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Transition from magnet to zoned school was smoothBy ANDREW MEACHAM © St. Petersburg Times, published October 29, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- Magnet schools have enjoyed a reputation of offering accelerated learning and cutting-edge technology. A little more than a year ago, the Trotter family had two children enrolled in the Center for the Advancement of the Sciences and Technology at Bay Point Elementary School. That kindergarten-through-fifth-grade program emphasizes diverse math and science programs, daily Spanish instruction, a television studio and a dual platform for learning about IBM and Macintosh computers. When Lawana Trotter and her husband, Leronn, who transports nursing home patients, decided to move, their children switched to Rio Vista Elementary, the school for which they are now zoned. And while Rio Vista is not a magnet, neither Ja-Vonta, now 10 and in the fifth grade, nor his 7-year-old sister, Jarmeisha, have suffered, according to their mother. "I really haven't noticed a difference," said Lawana Trotter, 28, a senior pharmacy technician at Walgreens. Neither has Ja-Vonta, an honor roll student at Rio Vista. Trotter said the new school has been able to nourish a growing interest in computers and keep him challenged in other subjects as well. Even Jarmeisha has already entered the computer age in the second grade. The basics of a good education haven't changed much since Trotter, a St. Petersburg native, attended Lynch Elementary, 16th Street Middle (now John Hopkins) and Northeast High schools, she said. But the pressures and distractions of being young in increasingly crowded schools have made it all the more important to keep the focus on learning. "I believe you have to push them hard," Trotter said. "If you don't push them, they won't achieve." Rio Vista's aggressive communications system with parents also earned high marks. Students ferry an "agenda book" between teachers and parents, who periodically sign off on homework assignments and other matters as they arise. "They keep you right on top of it," Trotter said. Painless as the transition from magnet to non-magnet turned out to be, the Trotters face another decision as Ja-Vonta enters middle school in the fall. The lack of a drop-off was more a testament to what Rio Vista was doing correctly than anything Bay Point was doing wrong, Trotter said. She has not decided whether to seek out a magnet middle school for Ja-Vonta in 2001. "It's not out of the question," she said.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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