ANDERSON — The superintendent of Frankton-Lapel Community Schools said Monday that no buses from the system are being sent into the Anderson Community Schools district to pick up transfer students.
Bobby Fields said that comments from ACS Superintendent Mikella Lowe in Sunday’s The Herald Bulletin left the wrong impression. “Lapel is actually driving a bus into our district and picking kids up,” Lowe said in the story.
“We don’t do that,” Fields said.
Lowe said Fields contacted her on Monday. Aside from one Lapel student — a special needs senior who just weeks back moved about one block into the ACS system — buses have not gone inside Anderson’s boundaries to pick up and drop off students, Fields said.
While Fields said Frankton-Lapel has not gone out of its way to collect students who live in the ACS district, that is not to say that Frankton-Lapel buses aren’t transporting transfer students.
Part of the dividing line between ACS and Lapel is Layton Road. ACS transfer students who show up at bus stops there or elsewhere can ride the bus, Fields said.
“We haven’t changed our policy,” Fields said. “It’s been that way for years.”
But what has changed is the law regarding transfer students. Parents now can choose to send their children out of district at no cost, so long as they can provide transportation.
Scores of students have transferred from Anderson Community Schools to Frankton-Lapel. For each student transfer, about $6,000 in state education funding follows the child from their old school to their new one.
Last year, Frankton-Lapel received 187 transfer students, probably three-quarters of which were from ACS, Fields said. That equates to some $800,000 in state funding that migrated from ACS to Frankton-Lapel. Dozens more students are expected to transfer next year.
“It’s just happening for some reason,” Fields said. “We’re not going out and recruiting anyone to come in.”
Regarding students from ACS riding another system’s buses, Fields put it this way: “If they’re going to Frankton-Lapel, isn’t that common decency to let them ride the bus if they show up at the stop?”
Lowe said the intent of lawmakers was clear — they wanted to provide school choice. What’s less clear, she said, is how the children get to their parents’ chosen school.
“Choice is not necessarily for everyone,” she said. “It’s for those who can manage to provide transportation — to the bus stop or to and from school.”
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford @heraldbulletin.com
Local Education
Frankton-Lapel chief disputes ACS claim on busing
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Academic Accolades: May 27
A compilation of academic news as published in the Sunday edition of The Herald Bulletin.
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Indiana Christian Academy students look ahead to summer
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AHS rewarding well-behaved students
Anderson High School is holding its Student Appreciation Program (SAP) Friday for students who meet or surpass several requirements.
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AHS will hold student appreciation day
Anderson High School is holding its Student Appreciation Program Friday for students who meet or surpass several requirements.
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Anderson High School choir to sing with Foreigner
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Haffner becomes 44th winner of Red Haven Award
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When PH’s Ellie McCardwell won the award in 2010, the long-standing trophy was retired, and because the Arabians had the last winner, the school was able to permanently house that hardware.
On Tuesday, when the Anderson Noon Exchange Club presented the 2012 winner, it went to Pendleton Heights’ Abbie Haffner. So for the next 12 months, PH will be home to both the new traveling trophy, first presented a year ago to Lapel’s Leigh Steele, and the old one. -
Anderson Learning Academy withdraws charter application
When Anderson Learning Academy’s board first started seeking charter status, it was to help make changes in education as graduation rates and ISTEP scores were low in the public school system.
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Haffner, McFerran get Dickmann Awards
Alexandria-Monroe High School senior Michael McFerran and Pendleton Heights senior Abbie Haffner received the annual Dickmann Youth Community Service Awards on Tuesday during the Anderson Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon at Anderson Country Club.
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Historic Preservation Commission turns down school board
Arguments were made over historical significance, sentimental value, structural stability, safety and finances during a Historic Preservation Commission meeting Monday evening discussing whether to grant South Madison Community Schools board’s proposal to demolish the former middle school at 301 S. East St.
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Academic Accolades: May 27
