Change in Schools - Essay Example

CHANGE IN SCHOOLS Change in Schools There can be changes in the management of a school because of the rating of a school on the basis of the Academic Performance Index, API, or the rates of crime. Parents or guardians may also seek to change schools for their children on the basis of crime rate and Academic Performance Index, API; either removing them from a school performing poorly or from a school that has a worse or high crime rate to a school with a better performance index and a lower rate of crime.

There are court cases that have been ruled in California family courts with respect to the two issues. However, the judgments made on these rulings have raised various questions with regard to whether the courts had the interests of the children at heart. According to California State Laws, courts, in their endeavors of making various decisions concerning children including custody and placement, permanency and safety planning, education, and parental rights determination are faced with the burden of ensuring that their decisions are in the best interests of children (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2010).

One notable court case, the Eliezer Williams, et al., vs. the State of California, et al. case, was filed in San Francisco in 2000 as a class action against the State of California and its education agencies such as CDE, the California Department of Education by more than 110 students. The suit was based on the fact that the education agencies in California failed in providing students with equal access to safe and decent school facilities, instructional material, and qualified teachers. In 2004, this case was decided, and it was settled that additional funding was to be allocated by the state to be used for improving the quality of instructional materials, facilitating access to decent and safe facilities, and hiring qualified teachers, in the light of ensuring that the academic performance indices of schools in tire one and two significantly improves (California Department of Education, 2012).

In this particular case, it is clear that the settlement reached by the court was in the best interest of the children-students-who will benefit from equal access to safe and decent school facilities, instructional material, and qualified teachers. In another separate court case ruling with regards to change in schooling with regards to the lower crime rate, the Robles-Wong v. California case in 2010, settled that parents are allowed to remove their children from one school to another on the basis of crime rate (Kemerer, Sansom, & Sansom, 2009).

The ruling of this case in itself is a landmark ruling in the sense that, the best interest of children is put into consideration. It is worth noting that, children's interest-based rulings have also been made in the event that, in family cases, there are questions of change in schooling for children with regard to divorce or separation issues.