The N&R follows up Robert Bell’s solid story on GCS athletic transfers with this lead editorial:
As Bell reported, some parents go to extraordinary lengths for their children, anyway — moving to a different attendance district, sending a son or daughter to live with a relative, signing legal custody to another family, filing for separation. It sounds like madness, except to parents who think their kids will benefit.
Of course there are good reasons to deny transfers: when a student wants to go to a school that’s already at enrollment capacity; when she asks to attend a school only because it’s a little closer to home; when a reassignment application is motivated by racial or ethnic prejudices or personal disputes; or when there’s simply no academic justification.
The school board seems to be doing a fair job of sorting it all out. As Chairman Alan Duncan said, sometimes an applicant’s true intent is hidden. Mistakes will be made. But the benefit of the doubt must go to the student and his parents, who should be trusted — most of the time — to know what’s in their own best interest.
What impressed me about the article was the way Bell reported radically different reasons why two local football players, quarterback Zach Maynard and kicker Stefan Shepard, transferred to Grimsley. Maynard and Shepard come right out and say they transferred to play football, while their fathers insist that their sons transferred for academic reasons. My guess is the adults’ life lessons have taught them to keep sensitive issues close to the vest — especially when speaking to the media.
The question is whether or not this is a big problem and if something should be done about it. Indeed, N&R editor John Robinson later wondered if the GCS Board of Education was going to do anything about it. Guess not. The board rightly believes it can’t control questionnable parenting. We are talking about athletics here, and we know students can engage in less wholesome activities.
