transfering

It is allowed

 

Waiting Period

There is none as far as I know for WSFC Schools or others public schools in the state.

 

I'll weigh in with my experience with this since I had a son transfer. Both my kids attended a small private school in Halifax County. It was a good school with a really good athletic program for 8man football , basketball, baseball, and golf for boys. Academics were good for a small private school, but limited for various reasons. The son had begun playing baseball in Rocky Mount with our own, "Stretchlon" when he was in the 7th grade. It was baseball on a very different level than what was found in our area, and he loved it. His teammates began to prod him about going to school in RM, and he began to prod his parents. After about 18 months of this , his mother, and I decided to look in to it. The first thing that struck us was what a great academic school Rocky Mount Senior High was. They had the only IB program in the county, and turned out very well prepared kids for college. We did no research on the baseball coach, but that has turned out to be one of the best parts of the move. We asked permission of the school board to accept him as a transfer, and asked for a release from Halifax County. Both were granted, and we commuted him the 30 miles for his 9th grade year. Since I am self employed, we decided that a move to RM would better suit our kids. Our daughter transferred to a private school in RM . It was difficult to take our kids from the small struggling private school, but in the long run it has worked well for our kids. We have all maintained our relationships, and gained many new friends. As to whether transferring is viewed as the right thing to do, it is totally up to the individual, and their reasons for doing it. In our case, we decided that if the academics were at least the same, then the move would be beneficial. I can tell you this, where the athletics are concerned, he was afforded the opportunity to play on a much more competitive stage, and be seen much more often. Showcase ball can negate some of the disadvantages of playing at a small private school, but not all. I'm not sure you can duplicate a freshman getting to start against a defending state 4A champion, and getting to throw 4 innings against the team who would win the 4A state championship. I mentioned above that we did no research on the baseball coach. This has probably been the most influential part of my son switching schools. I'm not sure he could have gone anywhere in NC and found a better coach than Pat Smith. I could write a whole other post about his coach(and i might do that). Sorry for the long post, but that's our transfer deal!

 

Painful Thread

Wading through this thread has been painful for me. So many good points (in every direction) that I'm exhausted and thoroughly confused. I tend to agree with Braves that it's not my place (nor am I smart enough) to get involved in what is right and what is wrong for other people.

I can say without reservation that all the Mecklenburg schools are NOT the same. That's for sure. Not academically or from a baseball perspective. Interestingly the ones that have higher academic scores are the same ones that have better baseball programs!

Some will say....."you have to go to the school where you live." Well in my case (after 15 years in my house) they CHANGED the school from the one I had in mind when I bought my house to one that I do not want my son to go to for academics OR baseball! Now what?

The two schools I would want him to go to are "closed" from selecting. The only ones "open" for choosing are the ones that are falling behind academically. Moving a family back into a good school district is expensive, time consuming and exhausting. The big 4 private schools in our area are $13k-$17k per year! All 4 of the coaches at those schools know my son and each has told me they'd love to have him come to their school but I'll tell you point blank that the rumors about scholarships and recruiting are just not true.

Thankfully he won't start HS until fall of 09 so I've got a little while longer to come up with a plan. Whatever I come up with you can bet it won't be easy and it will be criticized by some, while others will think we "gamed" the system.

That is exactly why Braves' approach of minding his own business is the best thing other parents can do.

Waiting and hoping they'll put our neighborhood back into the school district it's supposed to be in or trying to persuade the elected people that could help solve my problem are two strategies that are not working. And now higher taxes to pay for the $516M school bond! UGH!

 

To Transfer or not?????

Having gone thru an unwanted and uncomfortable transfer myself before the start of my son's junior year I can tell you that it is not as bad as you might think going into the unknown (you can actually grow from it) and also that any transfer should only be decided by the family involved and all others should just mind their own business since it can be complex for the family AND until you walk down that path don't try to give directions because you are really clueless. Good luck to anyone that has to go thru a transfer.

 

Interesting posts and opinions on transferring, from start to finish. I guess everyone needed a rest after this discussion. As in any sport, there is always sore subjects, I guess this is a top one.
In conclusion....
1) It should be a family decision.
2) Just follow the rules and nobody gets hurt.

 

Very well put.

 

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Good article here on transferrig high schoolers. It's football based, but does reference some baseball players, and probably applies across all sports. Some of it is a little disturbing.

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071111/NRSTAFF/71110014

 

Tranfers

I hate to see the press write about such things because they always get facts incorrect. Also, I think it is in bad judgement to let your child be quoted about something that was was a private decision....