3 Petaluma schools are on transfer easement list

<p>Three Petaluma schools are among 1,000 statewide schools that could be affected by the Open Enrollment Act, a measure intended to give parents more freedom to transfer their children to other schools.</p><p>McDowell and McKinley elementary schools in the Petaluma City School District and Cinnabar Elementary School are on the California Board of Education's preliminary list, which consist mainly of low-achieving schools on standardized tests. Bernard Eldredge Elementary School in the Old Adobe Union School District also is on the list, but it closed in June due to budget problems.</p><p>McDowell, McKinley and Cinnabar already have flexible transfer policies, though, say school administrators.</p><p>“It actually won't make any difference for schools in the south county, because if parents want to move their kids to another school, they're able to,” said Robert Ecker, superintendent-principal of Cinnabar Elementary School. “Parents can apply to their school board first, and then to the Sonoma County Board of Education, which seems to rule in favor of parents' transfer requests.”</p><p>“We're very flexible in allowing students to transfer,” said Steve Bolman, deputy superintendent of business and administration for Petaluma City Schools. “We have open enrollment that allows students to transfer both within and outside of the district. Anyone who wants to transfer already has that ability.”</p><p>Last school year, McDowell had 320 students and McKinley, which has experienced declining enrollment, had 226 students. To help address the enrollment problem, beginning in the 2010-2011 school year, McDowell will consist of kindergarten through third-grade students from both school communities, while McKinley will be comprised of fourth- through sixth-grade students from communities.</p><p>Greta Viguie, PCS' superintendent, says that due to the reorganization, there will be less reason for students to transfer from them.</p><p>“At McKinley, all students will have access to smaller class sizes, and there will be no (two-grade) combination classes,” Viguie said. “And students at both schools will have access to the Healthy Start Center at McDowell.”</p><p>The list of 1,000 schools resulted from SBX5 4, a state law that includes the Open Enrollment Act, which was passed in January. </p><p>The preliminary list contains 21 Sonoma County schools, and no more than 19 are expected to be on the final list.</p><p>The California Board of Education voted unanimously to approve emergency regulations pertaining to the law so that they will go into effect in time for the 2010-2011 school year. </p><p>Schools on the list must notify parents by Sept. 15 that their children are eligible to be transferred, and students would be allowed to enroll in other districts by Nov. 1.</p><p>Parents who want to transfer their children to other school districts would need to apply by Jan. 1 for the following school year.</p><p>Generally, the schools on the list have low scores on the Academic Performance Index, a standardized test measure, but several of them have relatively good scores. </p><p>The new law stipulates that no district can have more than 10 percent of its schools on the list, so to reach 1,000, some schools with higher API scores had to be included.</p><p>Based on 2009 standardized testing, the API scores for the Petaluma schools were McDowell, 722; McKinley, 726; Cinnabar, 762; and Bernard Eldredge, 752. </p><p>The state's goal is for all schools to reach 800 on the API. Failure to achieve federal growth targets have resulted in sanctions for McDowell for the past six years and for McKinley during the last five years.</p><p>McDowell, McKinley and Cinnabar all have high percentages of English-language learners. Critics have complained that such schools are at an unfair disadvantage to other schools in meeting state and federal targets on standardized tests. </p><p>Many supporters of SBX5 4 claim that it will enable parents to more quickly transfer their children from low-performing schools, while critics contend that it will not provide any significant new help with it and will hurt the schools needing the most assistance, by depleting enrollment.</p><p>The No Child Left Behind Law stipulates that schools sanctioned for the first year for not meeting federal standardized testing goals must notify parents of their status and whenever possible, offer student transfers and free busing. But SBX5 4 allows students to leave low-performing schools even if they have not received federal sanctions.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>