The Patrick County School Board on Thursday heard from a parent who received a denial letter in response to a request to allow his child to attend an out-of-district school.

The parent, called Parent A to protect the child’s privacy, said the family lives in one district, but the child has attended the same out-of-district school for several years.

This year, however, the child’s application was denied.

The child is an honor roll student and has no behavioral issues, and neither was a factor in the decision to deny the application, Parent A told the board.

Parent A said he was told “I want my school to have the best test scores” and the child “just doesn’t fit the criteria.”

According to Parent A, his child failed to pass an SOL test by six points. He said those few points prompted the denial. “The response I got hit a nerve. It made me feel my child was belittled.”

Academic performance is among the criteria used to make a decision on applications for a child to attend an out-of-district school. (See related story.)

“I think we need to regroup on the baseline,” Parent A said. While his child’s situation is resolved, “I feel like I’m fighting for the rights of a lot of parents. I’m at a loss to understand” how an application is denied in the case of a student named to the honor roll, isn’t a discipline problem and doesn’t have excessive absences.

Parent A said the situation defies logic. Additionally, his child was hurt by the denial, even if it was in the quest to make the school the best. “To me, we’ve got away from every child being an individual. They’re not going to learn the same” or react to being taught the same.

He feels his child was “belittled, dwarfed, and discriminated against. It makes myself and others wonder how many are affected by this,” Parent A said.

He said it seems performance on SOLs minimize achievements in other areas, because it used to be a mark of pride when students were included on the honor roll.

This situation “makes the honor roll seem like it really doesn’t matter anymore,” Parent A said, and added denials may cause parents to look at pother options, including home-schooling.

Annie Hylton, of the Peters Creek District, said perhaps a different approach is needed when explaining a denial to parents.

Kandy Burnett, of the Dan River District, said that while she always tried to see the bright side of an issue, “this did concern me.” She questioned whether there is “a second thought process to the decision after the decision is made.”

Sroufe said the policy does not provide for a review of the decision. He also noted decisions are not made haphazardly.

“I understand we have lines in the sand,” Burnett said. “But what about when that tide comes in and changes the sand and it looks completely different.”

Parent B did not attend the meeting, but had spoken to school officials about the application for two of her children to attend an out-of-district school.

The answer was split: one child was approved; the other child denied.

Parent B lives outside the county, she said, and explained child care is an issue for her. A grandparent who lives in Stuart provides before and after school child care for both children, who had attended Stuart Elementary School in past years.

One child had behavioral issues when attending the first year, but Parent B said her child’s behavior was not an issue last year. Nor were grades – the child always made the honor roll and received an award for that accomplishment at the end of the school year.

“Even when I went to meetings twice a year, the teacher said she had no problems” with the child, Parent B said.

Parent B said she was told by school officials her child’s test scores prompted the denial.

“I talked to the superintendent” on Wednesday, she said. “He told me there was really nothing I could do.”

Parent B said she asked Sroufe if perhaps the child denied to attend SES would be accepted at another school in Patrick County – for example, Patrick Springs Elementary. She said she was told “it would all depend on what the principal said.”

Parent B hopes to move into the county and the school district. Then, it will not be an issue, she said. Until then, she does not know what to do. “It really hurts. (My child) has established friends there and now can’t see them anymore.”

(See related story)