Kaitlyn Goodson spent most of the school year learning at Northside High School, but recently her family moved to Byron, causing Houston County Schools to make her withdraw. When her mom Tammy Goodson-O’Connor tried to enroll her at Peach County High, she ran into a problem.
“We’re dealing with three weeks of school left for my daughter,” Goodson-O’Connor said. “She’s passed all her classes and now she’s going to be held back to the 10th grade one more year because of the difference in school systems.”
The difference is Northside follows a 7-period day schedule, with classes that last all year long, while Peach County teaches 4 classes to students each semester.
“If they were on the same system, she would just go there, continue her testing, and be done,” Goodson-O’Connor said.
According to Peach County Schools policy: “Every effort is made to enroll a transfer student in the courses he/she was taking at the previous school. If it is not possible to do so, he/she will not receive any credit earned in that course and will be enrolled in a related course.”
Goodson-O'Connor says she never thought this would be a problem.
“In the same state of Georgia, moving 8 minutes away, how it could be so different that it completely messes up your child’s education is baffling to me,” Goodson-O’Connor said.
Peach superintendent Daryl Fineran says they're working with the family, but there's only so much they can do.
Goodson-O'Connor says they’re looking at other options, including Kaitlyn getting her GED. We also reached out to Houston County Schools for comment on this story.
Houston County Schools spokeswoman Beth McLaughlin says. in part, “Students who live in Houston County are served by our schools, but not if they move to another district.”