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"It's not because we don't want them," England said. "We just don't have a square inch of space to handle that many more kids."

Who gets attention?

Other criticism has focused on the students.

In an e-mail message to the school district, parent Leigh Magee said the new challenges will result in "children who will be overlooked at Leesville because they're not high-need and are 'at-grade-level.' "

England said they may try to forge an alliance with parents at Wakefield Elementary, which is also converting to a year-round calendar and could see its percentage of poor students rise from 18 percent to 33 percent.

Diane Michaud, a Leesville parent, noted the school doesn't get federal money to help teach reading to poor children as Brentwood and Joyner do.

Dulaney acknowledged that Leesville won't get money next year, but he said many schools that don't receive the federal funds still provide good services to poor students.

An anonymous e-mail message being circulated among Leesville parents claimed the moves were proposed so the students' "poor scores can be lost in the overperformers at [Leesville]."

The sender, who is only identified as "concerned parent," then urges parents to contact commissioners and the news media to protest the reassignments.

The anonymous e-mail message offended Leesville parent Rex Dwyer, who said it was an "attempt to arouse racial tension by pointing to 195 (presumed) minority students from Brentwood and Joyner as little more than problems."

He sent his own e-mail message to commissioners saying "concerned parent" didn't speak for him.

Parents respond

Some Washington Terrace families say they want to stay at Joyner largely because it's closer. Joyner is three miles away while Leesville is 12 -- a much longer bus ride.

Donna Sorrell, whose son attends Joyner, said many Washington Terrace parents don't have cars. "If my child is sick, I can't get to him at Leesville," she said.

Sanders said she also wants her children to stay at Joyner, but resents the insinuation that the children of Washington Terrace would bring down education at Leesville.

"They're prejudging us," Sanders said. "They don't know about our kids."

(News researcher David Raynor contributed to this report.)

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