This may sound like heresy to the countless families over the years such as those in the Mission Ridge Drive neighborhoods that pushed to get their kids into Nile Garden School, but there are parents who are in the school’s attendance zone that don’t want their kids to go there.

Parents in the Oakwood Shores gated community that is being developed on the former site of the Manteca Waterslides routinely press to get their kids transferred to Veritas School.

District officials say the Oakwood Shores parents have strong beliefs that Veritas School is better because it is newer.

While Veritas offers a quality education, so does Nile Garden. At times test scores — if they are indeed a fair measure of student success — have shown Nile Garden to perform better. But the real kicker in this case is the assumption by many other Manteca city residents that a country school such as Nile Garden offers more attention, safety, and is a more conducive environment for learning especially since it is also smaller.