District 97 Allows Beye Students to Transfer

Parents of students in will have the option to move their children into other schools.

Parents were notified in an Aug. 8 letter of the option to move their kids out of Beye Elementary, where a "subgroup" of students for the second year in a row did not meet its reading and math targets laid out in the controversial No Child Left Behind law.

That means Beye has been placed on what's known as "federal improvement status," which, among other mandated improvements, requires so-called underperforming schools to offer families a chance to switch to Whittier Elementary School or Hatch Elementary School, facilities that closely match Beye's enrollment figures. (Plus, they're the closest to Beye.)

Families have 30 days from receiving the letter to notify the district of their choice to switch. So far, no families have taken D97 up on the offer.

In fact, Jasculca said, the only feedback the district has received is from parents who've taken umbrage with district's decision to identify the subgroup, African-American students.

But Jasculca said that's a requirement for schools placed on federal improvement status, and one that district officials aren't exactly happy to carry out.

"No Child Left Behind has redeeming qualities, it truly does. It helps us identify students who are struggling in important subject areas like math and reading," he said. "But it's a law fraught with a number of flaws, and one of the more significant flaws us that it shines a very public spotlight on these subgroups."