Educators

January 4, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Photo by: William D. Lewis

Photo

The Collier family is considering pulling their daughters from Warren City schools and sending them to a private school as part of Ed Choice plan. They are Richard and Barbra Collier and daughters Abigal, 7, and Kimberly, 13.

Family debates pluses, minuses of EdChoice

By MELINDA GRAY and AMY BROWN

Special to The Vindicator

Eighth-grader Kim Collier ranks at the top of her class at Willard Elementary School in Warren.

Yet she is trying to persuade her parents to let her leave the Warren City Schools to attend a charter school or private school.

Kim’s parents are now struggling with the decision: Keep the straight-A student in the school that is ranked one of the worst in the state or move her to where there will be more high-achieving students.

Standing outside of the school on a recent morning, Richard Collier said he and his wife, Barbra, are deeply conflicted about which path to take for Kim and her younger sister, Abby, who is in the second grade at Willard.

“If Kim can make a difference here, I would be more for her staying. But if it’s going to have a detrimental effect on her, then should we move her?” Richard asked.

This year, the Colliers and all Willard families will have access to EdChoice, a state program that allows parents to remove their children from Willard and send them to private schools because Willard students performed so poorly on standardized tests for the last two years.

EdChoice also is available to parents of children at two other Warren City kindergarten-through-eighth-grade schools — McGuffey and Jefferson.

EdChoice, created by the state Legislature and run through the Ohio Department of Education, allows parents whose children attend schools that have been on academic watch or academic emergency for two of the last three years to send their children to private schools with the state paying the tuition.

The program will award scholarships to eligible students from the eligible schools in Warren. The funds for these vouchers will come from tax dollars that would have gone to the Warren schools. The current scholarship amount is $4,250 for kindergarten through eighth-grade students and $5,000 for ninth- through 12-graders.

Collier is aware of the most recent achievement scores at Willard and is not happy. For a school to meet state requirements, at least 75 percent of its students must show proficiency in math, writing, and reading.

At Willard, not one grade of students met that standard.

“I’m not saying that the students aren’t capable, and I’m not saying that the teachers aren’t capable. But again, everything starts at the home,” he said. “If the homes aren’t functioning properly … then the kids certainly aren’t.”

Collier said he is not sure that using EdChoice will give his kids an advantage, but Kim and Barbra are convinced it will.

Sitting in their living room, the parents and the two girls chatted about why they think now is the time to leave Willard.

“It has been a long time coming, and we want to move them both,” Barbra said. “If we don’t move them now, then, once Kim enters [Warren G.] Harding, it will be too late.”

Harding High School does not have the EdChoice option because the school has shown improvement in its scores.

Kim does not want to attend Harding.

“I don’t think it is a place where I could grow educationally. The things I hear that go on there, I just don’t want to be a part of that. I need to be able to expand in my learning,” she said.

Kim said she already is having trouble concentrating at Willard because of outbursts from students. She worries that Harding would be worse.

“Every other word is a cuss word, I feel like ‘why’? It makes me uncomfortable,” she added.

Collier agrees that the atmosphere at Willard is distracting.

“My oldest daughter especially is concerned about the language that the kids use, which is from the culture, from the parents,” he said.

The Colliers believe a big part of their success with their children stems from their religious beliefs. Kim said she wants to go to college to be a pastor.

The Colliers attend the Assembly of God Church in Warren. They said they have instilled in their children lessons from the Bible that they feel will get them through day-to-day life, such as: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” witness to people about God and that God has a calling for each of them.

Collier said he believes more faith would help parents better raise their children.

“The parents have to be involved both as examples and helping their kids. I think it helps to have a church home, something to believe in,” Collier said. “The way things are in this economy, people have lost hope. It helps to have a base to stand on.”

And even with that base, Collier said life doesn’t always go smoothly.

For instance, Abby is having a little difficulty at Willard. She doesn’t like to read as much as her sister does, but the Colliers are trying to push her.

They recently took the next step in the process toward making their decision by visiting the Victory Christian School in Niles, where the students number 85.

After the visit, Collier was inclined to think that Victory Christian could be a good fit for Abby.

“I think she will do much better with the more individual focus that the teachers are able to give there,” he said.

Kim said she had no doubt after the visit.

“I think I will just be more comfortable around people who think like me and care about their schooling,” she said.