MOM FINDS WAY AROUND SCHOOL RESIDENCY; SON LIVES WITH GRANDMOTHER

When Carolyn Campbell withdrew her son Levon from Charles C. Clippard Elementary School and enrolled him in May Greene Elementary School, she thought she was helping him.

She didn't know she was breaking the law.

"I was just trying to get him back into May Greene where he feels better," said Campbell. "He doesn't want to be at Clippard."

Campbell lives in the Clippard school district, and state law requires that students residing within the district served by a public school attend that school. Officials said she violated the law when she withdrew her 8-year-old son from Clippard in mid-January and enrolled him at May Greene.

"This is a really clear-cut issue," said May Greene principal Dr. Barbara Kohlfield. "We have districts divided by streets, and depending on where you live that's where your kids go to school."

On Thursday morning Campbell made a move she said was necessary for Levon's future: She decided to change Levon's residency so that he could attend May Greene legally. Campbell's mother, Lena Campbell, was given legal custody of the boy.

Levon attended May Greene two weeks before Kohlfield informed his mother he could not attend the school because they didn't live in the May Greene district. "My address was on the enrollment form, but nobody noticed it for two weeks," said Campbell. "I was just trying to do what was best for my child."

Kohlfield said falsifying residence information on an enrollment form is a misdemeanor. Campbell said she used her correct address on the enrollment form.

Kohlfield refused to comment specifically on the matter, citing confidentiality concerns.

Campbell said her son had attended the first half of his first-grade year at May Greene before moving out of the district. She said the first-grade teacher at Clippard said he was behind the other students, but she passed him because she thought the mid-year transfer might have affected his grades. His grades were all right at the beginning of the second grade, but they started to decline around mid-October when his teacher said his reading was far behind the others, Campbell said.

"When I asked him what was wrong at school, he would say his teacher was going too fast and he didn't understand the work," Campbell said. "He also said he was scared all of the time because he was the only black in the class."

She said his grades briefly improved when his workload was reduced and she took him to Sylvan Learning Center to get extra help. Tests at Sylvan found he had problems with the sounds and workings of the alphabet, but after three months no one understood why his grades were not improving, and had gotten worse, she said.

"He would read to me every night, and (his day-care overseer) also worked with him every day, but his grades just kept getting worse," said Campbell. "Even his teacher said she didn't understand why Sylvan wasn't helping. She said something about testing him at the school, but I never heard anything else and I haven't seen any test results."

Campbell said in mid-January she decided to transfer her son back to May Greene because she thought he adjusted better there socially and the classes were slower paced.

"I decided that instead of sitting there watching my child flunk, I had to do something," Campbell said. "In the two weeks he was there, I saw his papers looked much better than the ones from Clippard. His first spelling test there was a 100. I asked him what was the difference, and he said he felt more comfortable."

Kohlfield said all of the school districts were equally capable of helping any child academically and socially. "We feel we have five quality elementary schools in our school district," she said. "We would want any of our patrons to go to any of them."

Campbell said she has asked the Board of Education about her options. She said she was told by assistant superintendent Richard Bollwerk that if Stan Seiler, principal at Clippard, agreed to a transfer her son could attend May Greene.

Bollwerk said he told Campbell to have a conference with the principal to discuss her son's needs. If a child has needs that can't be met at the school, the child can be transferred to a school within the district that has a program that meets those needs.

"We don't have a parental-choice option in our district," Bollwerk said. "If there's some educational need that the school can't provide at the school, the principal can recommend that the child be sent within the district to a school that fulfills that need."

Campbell said she didn't want to give custody of Levon to her mother, "but I'm not going to sit there and watch my child suffer when I know I can do something to help him. President Clinton made a statement in his State of the Union address that a parent should be able to put their child in any school they feel is best for him. That's all I'm trying to do."

Lena Campbell said she supported her daughter's decision. "He's happier over here," she said. "I'll do anything in the world for him, and I know he'll do better in classes over here and be happier."