Much of the reporting (ours included) on the inter-district transfer issue has focused on parents who were frantic about the possibility of no longer being able to send their kids to schools outside LAUSD -- often campuses with specific programs not offered at neighborhood schools.
But there are plenty of other ways to look at this. At Tuesday's meeting, board member Marguerite LaMotte pointed out that many parents aren't even aware that they can send their children to other school districts. She wanted to make sure there was "equity" in the way that the district communicated the availability of transfer permits.
Other board members have voiced frustration with parents who want to leave a district that officials have been struggling to better. Those whose children leave are often some of the most engaged parents -- just the kind whom district officials want to see participating in local school communities.
Another take comes to me from Brian David Goldberg, CEO of Casa de la Familia, which provides support services for victims of trauma in "underserved and underrepresented minority populations," especially Latinos.
Following is an e-mail sent to the Breeze by Goldberg (intended as a letter to the editor, but he said it was OK to publish here):
What a sad day for public education in the United States, when the second largest district in the Country throws in the towel and admits it cannot provide a quality education for its students. Make no mistake the decision by the Superintendent for LAUSD to reverse himself regarding allowing 12,000+ students to flee their neighborhood schools to attend whiter, wealthier districts is just that, a complete capitulation. Just a few weeks ago Mr. Cortines was extolling the "choice" LAUSD offers its students through charter schools, magnet programs and intradistrict transfers. He also stated to the press that he was not going to accept the rational that parents did not want to send their students to schools with "those" people. I wonder what percentage of the 12,000 + are from low achieving schools in Los Angeles and how many are Latino or African American students? I have one question for you, what changed your mind? Was it the pleas and political pressures brought by the parents of the 12,000+ students who abandoned their neighborhood schools or the parents of the 700,000 students who remain?
If you check out the comments on today's story, you'll see plenty of other opinions too.
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