Switching Schools Common For Some Students

At times, the faces in Karen Sand-Wichman’s second-grade class seem to change as often as a stoplight.

Just six of her 21 students started the year in her class. Some of the new students have gone to three or four schools this year.

Her class is not an anomaly. About half of the students at Bemiss Elementary in Hillyard move during the year.

The percentages are even higher for younger children: 67 of the 90 Bemiss second-graders have switched schools since September.

At Holmes Elementary, about 55 percent of students move during the school year. Some move several times in the same year. One student at Holmes has attended four different schools since September.

The turnover, which administrators attribute to poverty, disrupts learning, confuses and disturbs students, and plays hell on teachers’ moral, staff say.

“We are perfectly frank with parents, letting them know that this is just about the most disruptive thing we have,” said Dale McDonald, principal at Bemiss Elementary.

Frequent classroom changes cripple teacher-student and student-student relationships, which educators say are vital.

“There is just no continuity in those kids’ lives,” said Holmes Principal Brad Lundstrom.

It sometimes takes weeks to get students’ files from other schools, especially if the students move from out of the state. Special education assessments and educational problems can remain buried in slow paperwork shuffles.

Helping troubled students catch up is a worthy teaching challenge, the sort of thing that draws some teachers to the profession. But often at Bemiss, just as a student is getting excited about learning, he or she moves again.

“I had a student in January that came in behind and couldn’t keep up,” said fifth-grade teacher Teresa Hemphill, who commented that more than half the students in her class have moved since September.

“We were giving her lots of help … her confidence was growing. And now she is gone. Now she has to start this process all over again at a different school.”

Many of the students end up at Holmes Elementary, a West Central school which, like Bemiss, is also surrounded by cheap single-family housing and low-cost apartments.

Some turnover at Bemiss is caused by full classrooms in nearby schools. Second-graders from nearby Whitman and Regal elementaries are bused to Bemiss. When desks open at those schools, the students are switched.

“We’ve been trying to get that stopped for years. It just makes the problem worse,” said McDonald.

McDonald, who has been at Bemiss for 12 years, said most families move to save money. Many students withdraw in the fall and spring, when their families move in with friends or relatives.

Holmes has the highest percentage of impoverished students - about 85 percent - in the school district; Bemiss is second, with 83 percent.

The school principals keep in contact, tracking students as their families make cross-town moves. The constant communication lubricates the paperwork shuffle, making assessments and educational histories easier to exchange.

“I talk to Brad once a day,” McDonald said, referring to Holmes Principal Brad Lundstrom.

Out-of-town students are asked to give background, and their previous school is called.

“Knowing where they come from can make a difference between a week of a kid being lost or a month,” said McDonald.

Federal money for low-income schools allows Bemiss and Holmes, among others, to have special reading and writing programs. The money pays for extra staff, who give students one-on-one instruction.

But moving also hurts self-esteem, teachers say. Shaken by the loss of friends, relatives and familiar surroundings, new students often withdraw. “They aren’t going to learn unless their basic needs are met,” said SandWichman.

“I had a little boy say, ‘I want to stay here’ today. That’s the best thing you can hear.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo