Hillside Controvresy

Lead-in:

Some Hillside parents are considering legal action against Durham County Schools after several key faculty members were fired.
They met tonight to discuss their concerns and to plan their next move.
Michael Handy reports.

Package:

Nats of meeting

These parents are voicing their anger about the recent dismissal of the entire administrative and support staff at Hillside High.
Among those dismissed...school guidance counselors, secretaries, and even janitors.
They were dismissed in an effort to improve the school's test scores.
Reverend Coleman Moore has two kids at Hillside...He wants to know what counselors and janitors have to do with those scores.

"The guidance counselors don't teach these classes. The administrative support staff doesn't teach these classes. The janitors don't teach these classes. Those are the people she just got rid of, so she hasn't got rid of anybody who would directly impact these marks."

In a report released today, Hillside High scored the lowest in Durham County on eight out of 10 tests.
In fact, Neal Middle School scored better than Hillside on the state Algebra test..."
But Moore says the county's transfer policies are to blame.

"They want you to believe that Hillside High School is doing so poorly because of the relationship to other schools, but it's by their policies of transferring that allow the absolute best students in the Hillside district to transfer out of hillside into the other schools to inflate the scores at those schools."

Elaine Laws has a son who just graduated from Hillside and another on his way there next year.
She says the public's perception of the school scares many students away.

"When Andre first went to Hillside, he was afraid of the negative image that the public had portrayed. Once he got inside Hillside, he said, 'I am so happy that I am here.'"

Stand-up: Now this meeting appears to have come too late. The new principal is already in place, and she has the backing of the school superintendent. But parents are promising not to stop, yet. They say they're even ready to file a lawsuit. In Durham, Michael Handy, A-B-C 11 Eyewitness News.