A counselor at a virtual school in Texas says there are five main reasons parents opt their children out of traditional schools, reinforcing arguments made by school choice advocates.
Jina Fuller, who works at Texas Virtual Academy at Hallsville, wrote in the Tyler Morning Telegraph that anxiety is the biggest reason “by a wide margin.”
“Not the kind that goes away with a good morning routine, but the kind that builds in a child’s stomach every Sunday night until they cannot fall asleep,” she wrote Friday, adding that some elementary students were missing 30 or more days per year.
But once students enter a safe environment, they make friends and begin to thrive.
“Parents tell me, sometimes through tears, that they have their child back,” Fuller wrote.
Bullying is another major factor, Fuller said, noting the problem is not limited to one type of school. Some parents switch schools after exhausting other options to stop the abuse.
