The addition of several magnet schools in the Hollister School
District increased the number of intradistrict transfer requests to
some schools, but district officials are not concerned about the
trend.
Hollister – The addition of several magnet schools in the Hollister School District increased the number of intradistrict transfer requests to some schools, but district officials are not concerned about the trend.
Superintendent Ron Crates said while transfers from school to school within the district are something administrators always keeps an eye on, the larger worry is the loss of students to schools outside the district.
With the addition of two new magnet schools and the development of a kindergarten through eighth-grade school at Gabilan Hills, the district got many requests from parents wanting to transfer their children from their neighborhood home.
Although the addition of the magnet schools makes tracking intradistrict transfers more complicated, Crates said, it could decrease interdistrict transfers in the long run.
“I believe in schools of choice,” Crates said. “The intradistrict transfers are not as much my concern. It’s the interdistrict transfers that I’m worried about.”
The district also had to look at transfer requests to Rancho San Justo. Because Rancho is much larger than Maze, officials have limited the number of students allowed to transfer into Rancho.
Typically, there are several requests to transfer to each school – with some of the schools traditionally showing up as more popular requests.
Crates said that with the offering of the magnet schools, the district was hoping to balance out some of those requests.
“There’s always a lot of requests to transfer to the Ladd Lanes, the Cerra Vistas – but I’m hoping to negate that some,” Crates said. “A lot of people like to stay with their neighborhood schools.”
While certain schools get more transfer requests, Crates said the reasons behind the transfers are not typically attributed to the schools’ testing and academic performance index scores.
“In my career, I have not found many requests stimulated by (testing) scores. It’s other facets – sometimes it’s just word of mouth,” Crates said.
Although test scores are not typically given as a reason, the district is obligated to allow students to transfer from a Program Improvement school to a non-Program Improvement school if there is space available. Calaveras, Gabilan Hills and R.O. Hardin are all designated as Program Improvement schools by the state of California because of test scores.
Besides allowing transfers into Program Improvement schools, the district typically allows intradistrict transfers, pending a few requirements.
“We have a policy that states how the ‘intras’ work and what the circumstances would be. There’s always deadlines. We try to meet those deadlines and we try to do a lottery,” said Jesus Romero, administrative assistant to the superintendent.
Romero said within the schools, the district makes sure there is adequate space and enough teachers.
Alice Joy covers education and health for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 336 or at [email protected].
