KANSAS CITY, MO (KCTV) -
You've heard the back-and-forth battle about the student transfer troubles with the Kansas City, MO, School District, but what's really at stake are the thousands of students caught up in the chaos.
One mother talks about the impact it's having on her child.
Lisa Moore has a daughter in the Kansas City School District and she said her daughter has thrived there. She's a junior at Lincoln Prep and has a 339 GPA, but her concern is for the other children she mentors who may be slipping through the cracks.
It's Friday night and Moore is in a local recreation center working with kids on a drill team, kids who are caught in the middle of a heated debate over substandard education and two school districts not wanting them on their campuses.
"I really don't fault the kids - it's not their fault that the district can't maintain the standards they're supposed to have," Moore said.
A judge agreed and this week issued a ruling allowing parents with kids in the Kansas City, MO, School District to proceed with transfers to Blue Springs and Raytown school districts. Parents in those and other jurisdictions were suing to block the transfers.
Moore understands the frustrations.
"I think every parent in the district wants the best education they can have or get for their child and it should be their choice to pull their kid out and take them somewhere else," she said.
But she cautions parents of their responsibility lest the same problems in the Kansas City Public Schools repeat themselves.
"If the parents are not behind the child, there is a greater likelihood they may not succeed, even if they transfer outside of the district," Moore said.
Friday, the Blue Springs School District said they are appealing the judges' ruling and will not accept children from KCPS, putting things back at square one.
The judge also ruled students cannot transfer to Lee's Summit, North Kansas City or Independence because it would cost the districts too much money.
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