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Mar 2, 2008 10:06 pm US/Central
Parents Brave Weather To Get Kids In Better School
ARLINGTON (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
Parents with children in the Arlington Independent School District have been camping out in the parking lot of district headquarters for weeks.
Families are in their recreational vehicles, tents and sleeping in their cars. They are sleeping away from the comforts of home in hopes of getting their children transferred to better schools.
When the weather was still nice in North Texas, it seemed like a great idea.
But Sunday afternoon rain began pouring down. Some parents, who were camping in tents, decided to give up their place in line.
Other parents have been camping out for almost two weeks. They say no matter what happens, they're not going home until tomorrow. Doors open at 5:30 Monday morning.
"We've got a special needs child, and so we got a couple of schools that we really want to get into," said Bruce Pruitt, who had been camping for over ten days.
Patrick and Stephanie Powell are number 33 in line, but they are first for the school of their choice, J. P. Little Elementary.
They say they're not worried about the weather.
"It's worth the risk, knowing Texas weather. It may not rain at all, then again it may," said Patrick.
The Kanehels have been in the parking lot since Friday.
"Makenna's had a blast," said Debbie Kanehel. "She's been playing with all the kids. Last night we had a cook out."
They're not worried about the weather either. Mom and daughter are going home and letting dad takeover. They say they're hoping to get Makenna into first grade at Hill Elementary.
John Gardner rented a recreational vehicle. He has been in line for eleven days, but it's paid off. He's number four in the sign up book.
Gardner said he has a plan for the bad weather, "They've got the security set up so we can go inside, especially if we get tornados sirens or something like that."
"There has to be some better option than putting 30 families in a parking lot for a week," said Pruitt.
"Hopefully we can take a look at this procedure for next year so that parents will have an equal opportunity to have choice for their children and not have to stay out here for days," said Arlington Independent School District Superintendent Hector Montenegro.
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