mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684
DURHAM -- A set of policy changes that would enable magnet school employees to have their children transfer into their workplaces cleared committee Tuesday.
Durham's magnet school and transfer policies could be officially revised as soon as the school board holds its March 25 meeting. The biggest beneficiaries would be 48 district employees' children, 15 of whom would gain entry to Durham School of the Arts.
Employees who ask for transfers will have spaces allotted to them prior to the first lottery, in February, and have the transfers granted before the second lottery, in late May, if the revised policy passes. Parents will be responsible for providing transportation for their children.
The changes, if enacted, would take effect this year.
Granting transfers to magnet-school workers has been in discussion for months, but the school board still had some questions on the proposed changes at Tuesday's committee meeting.
Board member Heidi Carter asked if the district really should grant transfers to children of itinerant magnet-school employees, who work at multiple schools. Other districts with whom Durham checked do allow such transfers, and no other objection was raised.
The board discussed contract workers, who would not be granted transfer rights; they took no action to change that. The policy as proposed is consistent with other districts'.
There was a minor squabble over the wording of the transfer policy and whether it should indicate that students or their parents apply for transfers. The policy as written technically puts the onus on students, but board member Stephen Martin felt it should be the other way.
Martin cast the lone nay vote against either policy. He explained after the meeting that his only qualm was with the wording, not the substance, of the proposed changes.
"I'm trying to imagine the scenario where this could come up as a problem," board member Leigh Bordley said of the wording during the meeting. "It's not coming to me."
Later on in the gathering, Bordley said that she would be willing to pass the policy changes this month without a second reading. She normally opposes doing so but feels the policies have been discussed and publicized enough that no waiting period is necessary.
Another change to the magnet-school policy included in the proposed revisions would allow new students who had attended International Baccalaureate programs to be assigned to IB programs here.
