kepdawg
08-16-2006, 01:27 PM
No more repeat ninth-graders at Lovejoy
Superintendent stops letting sophomores attend as freshmen
07:19 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News
LUCAS – The Lovejoy school district will immediately stop allowing sophomores to voluntarily repeat the ninth grade at Lovejoy High School, Superintendent Ted Moore said Tuesday night.
Mr. Moore told the school board that many students and parents in the district became upset after nearly a dozen sophomores pulled out of Allen High School and private schools to enroll as ninth-graders in the new Lovejoy High School.
The district allowed the students to repeat ninth grade after their parents requested it, but Mr. Moore said he had second thoughts about whether it was good for the student body.
"I would not feel comfortable approving any other students to do this in light of what I've observed in the last seven days," Mr. Moore said.
School board members said Tuesday night that they supported the moratorium while school personnel review district policy. Students who were already held back will not be forced to go back to 10th grade.
Opened this year
The unusual policy on voluntarily repeating the ninth grade allowed students to attend Lovejoy High, which opened to freshmen this year. The district's older students remain at Allen High, a much bigger school that Lovejoy high schoolers have attended for more than two decades.
The district covers Lucas and Fairview, as well as sections of Allen and Wylie.
The district approved the requests after parents told them it was best for their children's academic and social development. It could require them to spend five years in high school, but state law allows individual districts to determine whether parents can hold their children back.
Mr. Moore said two families approached him in June about having their youngsters repeat the ninth grade. After those requests were approved, the district didn't receive any other requests until an influx of families approached officials the week before school started.
"We had done nothing to promote that there were two students who were going to come back to Lovejoy as ninth-graders, but we also did nothing to hide it," Mr. Moore said. "There were people who knew, I don't doubt it."
Rules on courses, sports
Mr. Moore said he and Lovejoy High principal Mike Goddard met with each family to make sure they understood the rules on grades, graduation and sports eligibility.
The students who already made the move will repeat some of the core courses they took last year, but they will not receive credit for them. Their grades from last year will be used to calculate their grade point averages and class ranks.
The students will be able to play sports for the next three years, but state rules dictate that they will not be able to play during their senior year. Some of them have enrolled in sports this fall, but Mr. Moore said no one offered sports as a reason to stay behind.
Though the students will be eligible for early graduation, it will be difficult for those students to take the required courses in time.
Mr. Moore said he and his staff are worried that students will think it was a bad decision once they've spent three more years in high school.
"It may sound good on the front end, but when it gets down to the reality of doing it, it may not be such a good deal," Mr. Moore said.
Joan Tober, a mother of three, told the board that she hopes the issue will not put a damper on Lovejoy's relationship with Allen ISD.
"I just hope this whole issue with less than a dozen kids being held back for whatever reason is not going to taint the relationship," said Ms. Tober, whose children were not affected by the policy.
Individual needs
Board member Lynette MacDonald said she supports the moratorium, but she wants to make sure the district considers the needs of individual children.
"I want to make sure we don't let some kids slip through because it was easy or convenient to just say no," Ms. MacDonald said. "I want us to be very careful about that."
Mr. Moore said personnel would review the district's retention policy over the next 30 to 45 days before making a recommendation to the board. In the meantime, no new repeat ninth-graders will be allowed to enroll at Lovejoy High.
"As a superintendent, I've got a responsibility to make decisions for the good of the whole," Mr. Moore said. "I'm concerned the drama over repeating ninth-graders has become a distraction for these kids that is unacceptable."
E-mail kayres@dallasnews.com
Superintendent stops letting sophomores attend as freshmen
07:19 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 16, 2006
By KAREN AYRES / The Dallas Morning News
LUCAS – The Lovejoy school district will immediately stop allowing sophomores to voluntarily repeat the ninth grade at Lovejoy High School, Superintendent Ted Moore said Tuesday night.
Mr. Moore told the school board that many students and parents in the district became upset after nearly a dozen sophomores pulled out of Allen High School and private schools to enroll as ninth-graders in the new Lovejoy High School.
The district allowed the students to repeat ninth grade after their parents requested it, but Mr. Moore said he had second thoughts about whether it was good for the student body.
"I would not feel comfortable approving any other students to do this in light of what I've observed in the last seven days," Mr. Moore said.
School board members said Tuesday night that they supported the moratorium while school personnel review district policy. Students who were already held back will not be forced to go back to 10th grade.
Opened this year
The unusual policy on voluntarily repeating the ninth grade allowed students to attend Lovejoy High, which opened to freshmen this year. The district's older students remain at Allen High, a much bigger school that Lovejoy high schoolers have attended for more than two decades.
The district covers Lucas and Fairview, as well as sections of Allen and Wylie.
The district approved the requests after parents told them it was best for their children's academic and social development. It could require them to spend five years in high school, but state law allows individual districts to determine whether parents can hold their children back.
Mr. Moore said two families approached him in June about having their youngsters repeat the ninth grade. After those requests were approved, the district didn't receive any other requests until an influx of families approached officials the week before school started.
"We had done nothing to promote that there were two students who were going to come back to Lovejoy as ninth-graders, but we also did nothing to hide it," Mr. Moore said. "There were people who knew, I don't doubt it."
Rules on courses, sports
Mr. Moore said he and Lovejoy High principal Mike Goddard met with each family to make sure they understood the rules on grades, graduation and sports eligibility.
The students who already made the move will repeat some of the core courses they took last year, but they will not receive credit for them. Their grades from last year will be used to calculate their grade point averages and class ranks.
The students will be able to play sports for the next three years, but state rules dictate that they will not be able to play during their senior year. Some of them have enrolled in sports this fall, but Mr. Moore said no one offered sports as a reason to stay behind.
Though the students will be eligible for early graduation, it will be difficult for those students to take the required courses in time.
Mr. Moore said he and his staff are worried that students will think it was a bad decision once they've spent three more years in high school.
"It may sound good on the front end, but when it gets down to the reality of doing it, it may not be such a good deal," Mr. Moore said.
Joan Tober, a mother of three, told the board that she hopes the issue will not put a damper on Lovejoy's relationship with Allen ISD.
"I just hope this whole issue with less than a dozen kids being held back for whatever reason is not going to taint the relationship," said Ms. Tober, whose children were not affected by the policy.
Individual needs
Board member Lynette MacDonald said she supports the moratorium, but she wants to make sure the district considers the needs of individual children.
"I want to make sure we don't let some kids slip through because it was easy or convenient to just say no," Ms. MacDonald said. "I want us to be very careful about that."
Mr. Moore said personnel would review the district's retention policy over the next 30 to 45 days before making a recommendation to the board. In the meantime, no new repeat ninth-graders will be allowed to enroll at Lovejoy High.
"As a superintendent, I've got a responsibility to make decisions for the good of the whole," Mr. Moore said. "I'm concerned the drama over repeating ninth-graders has become a distraction for these kids that is unacceptable."
E-mail kayres@dallasnews.com