Transportation A coalition of community organizations has taken steps to reduce school mobility among children in Baltimore County, Md., by providing bus service so that students who move can remain in the same school. The area has neighborhoods containing hundreds of apartments in low-rise buildings where families constantly move in and out. A move from one apartment to another 10 minutes away could send children to a different school, says Julie J. Gaynor, a Baltimore County teacher and chairwoman of the Stay Put committee. The Stay Put program was founded in 1992 to cut school mobility. The group runs several programs such as shuttle buses supplied by the district to transport children who move back to their old school.
Families often move because landlords offer free rent for one month.
Stay Put encourages landlords to put the freebie at the end of the lease, increasing the likelihood that kids will finish a school year in one place. Gaynor says a new focus is on opening a conflict mediation center so families can resolve differences rather than move away. Funding for the community center s staff comes from various sources, including school district grants, Gaynor says. They say they shouldn t be held accountable for the performance of students who entered their schools months, weeks or even days before the high-stakes tests are given. The California Department of Education figures mobility into its accountability system.