(April 26, 2002) -- In the past four years at Clark, an “indeterminable number of students,” according to Assistant Principal Joan Shoff, “have been discovered to live outside District boundaries,” a fact that disqualifies them from attending our school. This is simply District policy, a policy that is justified and which takes into consideration educational expenses.

According to Vic Pallos, Coordinator for Public Information & Partnerships, this expense is $4,500 per full-time student. This money is generated by state taxes, paid by parents and sent directly to the school district of residence. Now, all this explains why a student who lives in, oh let’s say, Burbank, cannot attend a GUSD school. The tax money just isn’t in the right place.

That much said, let me fabricate a possible scenario: a student has attended Clark for three years and during finals week of junior year the administration discovers that the student has moved outside the District. The student pleas to the administration to to let him finish up his finals at a familiar school with teachers he has grown used to over the course of a year. But his pleas fall on deaf ears and the administration issues the final decree: banishment!

Perhaps this is a little dramatic. But all the same, students who move outside District boundaries must drop their classes and pick a brand new schedule at another high school, abandoning countless hours spent slaving over aqueous transitions in chemistry and complex formulas in calculus, subjects that do not even receive a final grade on a report card.

The abrupt transfer to another school is not only reflected on a student’s transcript but in his academic performance as well. After all, it takes time to adjust to the methods of a new teacher, and maybe physics at Verdugo Hills isn’t the same as it is with teachers here.
Personally, I would be much too aggravated to say, “Oh well, let’s just start from scratch.” Who could forget the infinite number of hours dedicated to afterschool sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities?

True, you can always run for student body president or try out for the volleyball team again, but to have to leave the school year uncompleted should make anyone feel just a bit slighted.

This dilemma, of course, is partially the responsibility of the student’s parents who, out of common courtesy for their son or daughter, should wait for the end of the year to jump districts.

But keep in mind that emergencies do arise. And the administration, seemingly heartless, is merely acting in accordance to District policy when they kick a student out of school. After all, no permits are accepted at Clark.

Principal Doug Dall reminds us, “Clark is a school of choice and not a school of residency.” But surely this policy can be rewritten to accommodate for permits for students who have moved during the school year.

I suggest that the District allow students who have moved to attend their old school of residence until the school year comes to a close. This change in policy would provide for a gradual transition between schools while keeping the students’ well-being and academic opportunities in mind.