Few Columbia County pupils took advantage of a new state law allowing them to transfer to another school in the same system.
Just 29 pupils received a "permissive transfer," though more than 250 spots were available among the five schools.
Eight pupils chose to attend Harlem High School; 12 will attend Greenbrier Middle School; three will be transferred to Euchee Creek Elementary; four will go to North Columbia Elementary; and two will attend Westmont Elementary.
Signed into law in May, Georgia House Bill 251 allows parents to ask that their children be transferred to any school within the same system with the available capacity.
Initially, more slots were available at the schools capable of accepting the transfers, but those numbers dwindled as students zoned for those schools registered.
"When we did this, we were going on (enrollment) projections," Assistant Superintendent Robert Jarrell said. "The student population was just changing. It's always a moving target."
In all, seven pupils were denied a transfer because of a lack of available space at their grade level. Parents of those receiving or denied transfers were informed Wednesday. Tuesday was the deadline to apply.
The pupils granted permissive transfers may change their minds and remain at their zoned school, but those slots won't remain open for those who also had applied.
"It's always going to be a one-time opportunity," Mr. Jarrell said. "We're not going to allow that during the school year."
Today is the deadline for Harlem High students wishing to take advantage of school choice.
Harlem High failed to make adequate yearly progress for a second consecutive year because of low graduation rates, which measures the number of pupils completing high school within four years.
As defined by the federal No Child Left Behind law, Harlem High had to be placed on the "needs improvement" list, which means officials must allow students to transfer to a higher-performing school.
As of Thursday, Mr. Jarrell said, 11 students had chosen to leave Harlem to attend Grovetown High School.
Reach Donnie Fetter at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115, or donnie.fetter@augustachronicle.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010. All Rights Reserved.
Robbie is an honest man who cares about our kids.
I hope the kids teachers have some input into this process. Whether we realize it or not kids are smart and know how to use the system to their advantage. Hopefully none of these transfers were class clowns who realize they had just about reached the linits of their teachers ability to cope with. Again, I hope the teachers have a say about conduct if nothing else. BTW I noticed back in March that the kids in the needs improvement school in Grovetown had a special bus to take them home. At no time did I see more than 4 kids get on a bus designed for 30 - 40 passengers. What gives? Isn't it cheaper to drive a 9 passenger van than to drive a full blown bus?
WOW columbia county is on the ball. It will take two weeks into the school year before Richmond County even looks at these transfer requests. How horrible is that to have kids start at one school and then if approved will have to move schools and start over. Why didn't RCBOE take the time to look into these requests before the school year actually started so the kids wanting transfers would not have to go through this. Just seems like very poor planning on RCBOE's part. Is it really fair to the kids to have to wait so long and then change up two or even three weeks into the year.