A Lesson in Patience

The devoted father hunkered down for a long stay in front of Greenville Fundamental School--five nights in a yellow-and-blue tent until he can register his daughter for kindergarten. Paul Barnes had camped out five years ago as well, to grab a spot at the coveted school for his son. But that was for only one night.

“A lot more parents want to send their children to Greenville now,” Barnes said Tuesday, standing amid the scores of parental tents wedged together. “I took off work all this week, and it’s well worth it.”

The parents came dragging their tents at the crack of dawn Monday for the annual registration camp-out, the earliest line-up the Santa Ana public elementary school has faced in its 20-year history, Principal Melanie Champion said. Typically, early-bird parents don’t start waiting until a couple of days before the Saturday morning registration. But this year, 86 parents descended on the school parking lot at 6 a.m. Monday to grab one of the 50 open seats for kindergarten--though many soon dropped out.

It’s a tense and uncomfortable business, this coming ever earlier, waiting ever longer, but Santa Ana parents have grown increasingly accepting of the first-come, first-served system used for the district’s four fundamental schools.

The schools, which focus on high academic standards, parent voluntarism and strict discipline, have far too few openings to meet demand in a district where schools struggle with crowding and generally poor standardized test scores. Greenville is the first to hold registration for this fall.

Some hope the opening of two new fundamental schools--James Francis Thorpe Elementary to open in September and Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez Intermediate in 2000--will help alleviate some of the registration competition. Thorpe has not held registration yet.

But for now, 600 students in upper grades are on the waiting list to enroll at Greenville, which houses 930 pupils. It can take close to four years for a desk to vacate.

“The number [of parents camping out] seems to be growing each year,” Principal Champion said. “But only 10% of our kids drop out, move or leave the school for some other reason.”

Parents nationwide have been demanding more rigorous academic programs. But what makes Santa Ana’s fundamental schools successful are active parents who enforce the school’s rigid homework policy and dress code and participate in their children’s education, Champion said.

Consider some of the rules: A student is kicked out of Greenville if he or she fails to turn in 12 homework assignments. No shorts can be worn, except in September or when temperatures hit 90 degrees. Students may use the bathroom only during recess or lunch, “except in extraordinary cases,” the school’s code of conduct states.

Not to mention the rules for the yearly parent camp-out: no smoking, no alcohol and no loud noises. This is to prevent belligerent behavior, which has occurred in past years, Champion said.

One time, two parents broke out in a fistfight. Last year, a parent got drunk. And on occasion, people grow impatient and irritable with one another during the long wait. So during this time each year, security guards are hired to patrol the grounds overnight.

To keep things orderly, there also is a daily routine. Those who arrive sign their names and grab a number. Roll call comes periodically throughout the day to determine who has given up. By Tuesday afternoon, 27 of the 86 had disappeared--leaving 59 parents for 50 seats.

Mario Diaz, the first to arrive Monday morning, left by 9 p.m. the same day after discovering that Greenville was filled with tough rules.

“They are very, very, very strict, and I don’t think it’s the best thing for my son now,” Diaz said. “We planned [for this registration camp-out] for two years, and I would have waited for a month to get him in. But when it came down to it, about how strict the school is, we decided against it.

“My son needs to play and throw sand in the sandbox. He’s going to wander out of the line, and he’s going to make noise. If he can’t do that, then we might as well throw him into military school.”

Some of the parents who stayed resented Diaz’s super-early arrival, which they said set off the five-night camp-out.

Maribel Sevilla said she hadn’t expected the wait to start until midweek. But when she drove by the school at 5:55 a.m. Monday to check for any early-bird campers, she spotted Diaz setting up his tent.

It was then that the parent phone tree lit up and droves of campers staked out their spots.

“No one really wants to be here earlier than they have to,” Sevilla said. But with Diaz gone, at least she’s first on the list. “And it’s good for No. 51.”

Some who couldn’t take time off from work managed to get friends and family to sit in their place.

“There was massive confusion,” said Scott Lewis, who has no children but was camping out for a working friend. “I think I slept on a sprinkler last night.”