She's not buying it.

"I don't mind being pulled from a school district for the right reasons," said Mrs. Doyle, a life-long resident of Wheatland. "I don't see any right reasons."

She said talk from Wheatland's Educational Alternatives Taskforce about safety and educational quality are a smoke screen.

"If the parents want to do that, call it like it is," Mrs. Doyle said. "I know why they are doing it. They used every other excuse except why they're doing it. Prejudice, that's why it's being done. It's a black and white issue."

Agnes Cole also believes race is behind the movement.

"I don't see anything wrong with the colored," said Mrs. Cole, 84. "I live beside a colored family."

WhEAT member Don Stinedurf said race has nothing to do with the group's desire to want to leave Farrell schools.

"I've never heard WhEAT people discuss anything that even remotely related to race," he said. "If I thought it had anything to do with racism, I wouldn't be involved in it."

Stinedurf said race is not mentioned as a reason for wanting to leave Farrell schools in the petitions that will be circulated around town.

He added that WhEAT has a nondiscrimination policy, which it has read at public meetings. A flier handed out to drum up interest in an October town meeting said:

"We are not here to knock down or degrade the Farrell School District, nor to insult or slander anyone. We do not wish to discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, sex, religion, political affiliation, national origin or disability. We simply want to improve upon the levels of education for our children and upon their safety both in school and in transit to and from school."

WhEAT members publicly denied that race had anything to do with their effort when Farrell and Wheatland residents made the charge at a public meeting in September 2000, shortly after the movement became public.

WhEAT attorney Joann Jofery, said, "I do not believe that it is racially motivated. I have no idea why anyone would say that. None of the meetings I have attended have had any kind of racial overtones whatsoever."

Ms. Jofery said that while she has an obligation to represent her clients to the best of her ability, she can pick and choose her clients. She said she will not handle racist, sexist or immoral cases.

"If I believed that this were racially motivated, I would have nothing to do with it," she said.

Beyond race, Mrs. Doyle and Mrs. Cole said there are other reasons why they will not sign WhEAT's petition asking for support to leave Farrell schools for West Middlesex.

"My kids were educated at Farrell and they all have nice jobs and nice homes," Mrs. Cole said. "There's nothing wrong with Farrell."

Mrs. Doyle agreed. She said she and her children attended Farrell schools, and her children were honor students in college.

"Farrell must have done something right," she said. "If your kid's not getting A's in Farrell and you pull them out, will they magically start getting A's somewhere else?"

Mrs. Doyle dismissed the argument that students are in danger because they have to walk to school. She said she and her children walked to school, and there is a route that is safer than walking up Mercer Avenue.

People who move into Wheatland know their children will attend Farrell schools, Mrs. Doyle said.

"Be a parent and deal with the situations that are going on or put your child in a private school," she said.

Dawn Schell said she's happy with the way her 5-year-old son has been treated in kindergarten, and has heard good comments about the school from relatives whose children attend there.

"I think they're pretty strict in terms of discipline," said Ms. Schell, a Wheatland resident and a 1985 Farrell High grad. "Their curriculum was OK."

Ms. Schell said she was unaware of WhEAT's effort.

"I'd have to know more about it as to why they're wanting this," she said. "If they come to my door, they're going to get all kinds of questions."

Mrs. Doyle said she does not believe WhEAT's contention about the impact a move would have on taxes.

"They're telling us moving down there our taxes are not going to be raised," she said. "How stupid do they think we are? Do they think West Middlesex residents will pay for Wheatland children to attend school in their district?"

She noted that a West Middlesex school director said earlier this week that the district will have to raise taxes by 9.8 mills to cover the cost of a building renovation project.

"It's a disgrace," Mrs. Cole said. "They want us old folks to pay for them to go to West Middlesex. If they want their kids to go to West Middlesex, why in the hell don't they move to West Middlesex?"