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Hernando Today

Board to address favoritism at NCT

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By TONY HOLT | Hernando Today

Published: September 2, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - The lottery system was created for the magnet program because it was the fair way.
The school district made it so only children living within the county could attend magnet schools because it seemed fair.
The school board recently opened the door to hundreds of students on the waiting list after readmitting 20 others who didn't fulfill the boundary requirements. They did so because they thought it was fair.
Questions have arisen recently about whether to allow the children of district employees automatic admission into the county's magnet schools, even if they live outside the district.
To do so, some think, would be unfair.
School board member John Sweeney doesn't see it that way.
"We will have to look at that, whether there should be student-teacher preference," he said. "I'm leaning toward yes."
The Hernando County School District recently published its current magnet school procedures. Eight lines down from the top, it explains the definition of a "staff's child."
"A staff's child refers to the child of an employee of the magnet school," the policy states.
It is underlined for emphasis.
The policy also states that a staff member's children "will be given a preference for openings and placed before the lottery is run."
A magnet school differs from a regular public school because it offers specialized programs.
Mary V. Ledoux is the principal at Brooksville Elementary School. From July 1, 2004, to Jan. 3, 2005, she was the assistant principal at Nature Coast Technical, the county's magnet high school.
Her son is a sophomore and football player at Nature Coast.
She left Nature Coast for her current job at Brooksville Elementary more than three years prior to her son's freshman year.
Ledoux and her family live in Lecanto in Citrus County. Her son was in violation of the magnet school policy and he was forced to transfer after the school board voted in June that roughly 12 underclassmen must leave Nature Coast because they lived outside of Hernando County and were ineligible.
Ledoux did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.
The overwhelming majority of the parents of those out-of-county students said they didn't know about the boundary requirements.
One school board member, Sandra Nicholson, said ignorance was no excuse because it is written in the policy. Dianne Bonfield agreed with her.
The other three blamed the school and the district for letting the students fall through the cracks. They thought the students who already were enrolled at Nature Coast should remain because punishing them would be unfair.
One of those school board members, James Yant, said he is not in favor of admitting children of district employees to the magnet schools if those employees lived outside of Hernando County.
"If the policy says it's only for in-county students, then that's what we should stand by," he said.
Fellow board member Pat Fagan agreed. He doesn't think exceptions should be made for district employees, except in the case of a teacher or administrator at a magnet school. He confirmed he was aware of the Ledoux matter.
"I always feel if there is a teacher or administrator at a school, then their children should be allowed to attend and that does include a magnet school," Fagan said.
"Where the teacher works is where the child should go," he added.
Sweeney thinks it is important for the district to recruit and hold on to qualified teachers. Letting them enroll their children in a magnet school is a good way to do that, he said.
"If we don't have that, some teachers might leave," he said. "We would lose both the teachers and the students. What does that serve?"

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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