Policy on teachers taking their kids to school (Huntsville, Decatur: middle school, living in)

[FatTails]

Does anyone have insight into district policies (Madison City, Madison County, and HSV City) of whether teachers can bring their kids to the school they teach at or into a feeder school? My wife (a teacher) has asked around and has been told a few different stories, even by HR. For Madison City she was told they allow teachers (even if not residents of the city) to bring their children to a feeder school. She didn't find anything out about the county, and was told HSV used to allow it but now it's on a space available basis and it's a low priority (desegregation order comes first).

Can any school aficionados shed some light on this policy with any of these districts? Thanks.

[Southlander]

Got a friend who lives in Decatur and who has taught for 30 years in Huntsville City Schools. She teaches elementary school. both her son and daughter attended elementary school where she was teaching. They were never in her classroom, but were at her school. When they hit middle school age, they went to Decatur schools.

[NoleFanHSV]

I was reading on Reddit not that long ago that some teachers left Huntsville city schools because their kids no longer could go to the school they were teaching. Don't know how true this is.

[Preston3124]

From their online policy manual-


Non-resident Students – Madison City Schools do not admit students who reside outside of school system attendance zones, except as follows:
1. The student is entitled to admission pursuant to an agreement between the Board and the Town of Triana regarding the admission of students residing in Triana.
2. The student is the child of a school system employee and the Superintendent or his designee authorizes the student’s enrollment pursuant to an established application process.

[LCTMadison]

Madison city will allow teacher's children to attend Madison city schools even if they are not currently living in Madison city. I have several teacher friends who currently do not live in the city and have their kids in the school system. Madison city will also allow children of teachers to let their child attend the school they teach at even if they are zoned for a different Madison city school. Our friends live in Columbia Elementary but she teaches at Rainbow and her child attends there. He will attend the middle and high school he is zoned for. I've never asked how they determine what other schools the children living outside the system attend but I would assume it is based on feeder schools and/or current student populations at the schools.

Huntsville used to have the same or similar policy but that very well could have changed in the past couple of years with the desegregation order/rezoning. It would seem the school board could give you a straight answer on that.

Not sure how Madison County handles this but their school board is much more lax than either of the city systems so I would guess their policies are in line with the other systems.

[hey teach]

I have a friend who works as a teacher for Huntsville City Schools and so does her husband. Her children were allowed to go to the feeder elementary for her husbands school and then to his middle and high school. When the DOJ got involved with the desegregation order business that changed. Everything was based on your race and the need for numbers in that race. One child (who was a star athlete) would be eligible to stay, the others who were in lower grades could not as the school the had been attending had no spaces for students out of zone. She moved all of her kids out of HCS into Madison City.

[FatTails]

Thanks for the info. We'd been hoping when our oldest starts school next year she can attend my wife's school, but now we're rethinking that. We had assumed that some of the schools further out (Hampton Cove, Weatherly, Mt Gap, etc.) would be safe, but the policies that the district has implemented are absurd. The discipline is out of control and teacher morale is in the toilet. Teachers at the "good" schools seem to be complaining just as much as the teachers at the "bad" schools.

A few weeks ago a student threatened to kill my wife and the administration didn't do anything except give him detention. She ended up locking the kid out of her room and calling security because she refused to have him in her class. The administration caved after that and moved him to a different class. Not sure I want my kids attending a school like that.