Skipping schools: 15,300 kids transferred last year

Japera Moran, 13, is afraid she will be the "new girl" in school the rest of her life.

After switching schools seven times, she's nervous to start all over again. But after one year at Penrose Elementary in Southwest Philly, she needs a change.

Japera said she was brutally beaten after school by about 15 of her peers the day before summer break started. Girls she thought were her friends pushed her to the ground, ripped her hair out and scratched at her eye all while punching and kicking her in the middle of the street.

"I'm not doing anything to anybody," Japera said. "I'm a quiet person. If there's a problem, I'm the solver."

Because of the fight and other conflicts at the school - including one where her 7-year-old brother was allegedly stabbed with a fork and pencil by kindergarten classmates - Japera and her brother will transfer from Penrose this summer.

In doing so, their mother, Coretta Fields, will join the annual midsummer rush of parents desperately seeking a change for their children.

Before last school year, 12,416 students transferred to different schools within the district, said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard, who said 30 percent of the district's students switch schools each year.

There were also 2,910 students who transferred from district schools to charter schools. "This kind of movement is common in urban schools and pretty average," Gallard said.

For most parents, the transfer process starts in July.

A few weeks after school lets out, parents start calling prospective schools to get on waiting lists or ask the district to transfer files. The process can take weeks or months, depending on a family's persistence.

Japera's mother, who moved to Philadelphia from Clarksville, Va., with her two daughters and son last July to live with her then-fiance-now-husband, is also considering homeschooling her children.

"I've never been in situations like this," she said. "I don't want them to lose any social interaction, but I don't trust any of the schools here."

Transferring one or two times doesn't typically have a long-term effect on a child, according to psychotherapist David Steinberg. But transferring as often as Japera has can become problematic.

"Being transferred six or seven times, never having a chance to adjust, can have really negative effects on the child's psyche," said Steinberg, who has a private practice in Mount Airy. "It can create self-esteem issues, depression and anxiety."

For Japera, settling into one school might not happen until high school. She has begged her mother to homeschool her for eighth grade so she doesn't have another year at a new school followed by a transition to high school.

"It feels like every time I go to a school there's always going to be a problem," Japera said. "I just don't want to go back [to Penrose]."