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21 students apply to transfer to Snowhill

Superintendent asked parents to ignore law allowing switch.

Students leave Snowhill Elementary School on Monday afternoon. The first round of students who applied to transfer into Snowhill Elementary won't overwhelm the school. Staff photo by Marshall Gorby

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By Megan Gildow-Anthony, Staff Writer 10:00 PM Monday, September 19, 2011

SPRINGFIELD — A plea to parents to ignore a “broken” federal law appears to have worked, said Springfield City School District Superintendent David Estrop.

Twenty-one students applied for transfer to Snowhill Elementary from other Springfield elementary schools deemed “failing” by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Estrop said.

“We’re very pleased,” he said. “Obviously the appeal, we think, the appeal we made to our parents has paid off and kept the number rather low.”

Last week, Estrop held a press conference and sent a letter to parents accompanying a federally mandated letter offering students from schools deemed “failing” under the decade-old law a chance to transfer to Snowhill Elementary.

Nine of Springfield’s 10 elementary schools have not met Adequate Yearly Progress, a measure of year-to-year progress by students based on sub-groups of students by race, economic status and students with disabilities or learning the English language.

Snowhill is the only Springfield elementary school to meet AYP this year so the district has to give the 3,900 elementary students attending “failing” schools the chance to attend Snowhill.

Estrop spoke out last week, telling parents that all the schools were making progress and students wouldn’t be better served by overcrowding Snowhill or attending a virtual school recommended by the Ohio Department of Education.

“Twenty-one (students) will not put a significant burden on Snowhill,” Estrop said Monday. “We likely will see an increase in some classes but it won’t be substantial.”

Meanwhile, Estrop says he will continue to advocate for a change in NCLB.

“This is not a Springfield problem and as the federal standards for the next two years move up to 100 percent of the students, including students with disabilities, being 100 percent proficient 100 percent of the time then there’s going to be many, many, many more schools and school districts in the same position we are,” said Estrop.

Kristi Shaw, who has one child in kindergarten at Snowhill, echoed Estrop’s sentiments about No Child Left Behind.

“It feels like the law is broken,” she said. “It seems like there could be a better way to fix it. It seems like it’s going to hurt everyone in the long run.”

Another parent, Tom Heaphey, said he would keep his first-grader at Snowhill but if the school became overcrowded, he would look at the other Springfield elementary schools.

“Maybe if it got really crowded, I’d transfer her to one of the other (Springfield) schools,” he said.

In addition to speaking to parents and local media, Estrop has written letters to politicians representing Springfield in Congress and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has been critical of No Child Left Behind in the past.

President Barack Obama announced Monday that he would speak Friday at the White House about the need for NCLB reform and relief for states from some elements of the law.

Contact this reporter at (937) 328-0373.

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