North Texas
(2008-08-26)
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The buses lined up to take Spruce sophomores and juniors to Lincoln and Madison High Schools. Others went to Conrad and even Hillcrest. It's part of the District reorganization of Spruce after it made the state's low-performing list for the fourth year in a row. Spruce teachers herded those freshman and senior students staying on the Pleasant Grove campus into the building. Linda Bryson's son is a freshman at Spruce. She knows Spruce needs to improve academically, but she feels sorry for the sophomores and juniors on the buses to other schools.
Bryson: They'll be out of place. I wouldn't want them to be going anywhere else. I think that is wrong. This is a good community, and these kids they need help, they do.
District officials say they will get the help they need at the other schools while Spruce is reorganized under a new principal, with new programs. At Lincoln High School in South Dallas, sophomore Dekeisha Davis hopes for the best for the Spruce students arriving on her campus.
Davis: It'll be different. But, I mean, everybody's got to get used to changes.
The mother of a Spruce Junior who lives in apartments across the street from the school tells KERA her daughter is not going to Lincoln, Madison or any other school. She's dropping out.
Jon Dahlander, with the School District, says that is a big concern and the District has plans.
Dahlander: We're going to be going and knocking on doors of those students who have not shown up for school to try to find out where they are.
Dahlander says even with the uneasiness about the Spruce relocation, things went smoothly at all campuses involved as a new school year got underway. © Copyright 2009, KERA
