Shaye Carter and Janie Lewis each risked a $300 fine yesterday because they had refused to withdraw their children from Career Connections Charter Middle School and enroll them in Pittsburgh Public Schools.

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They couldn't have cared less.

"I'm more concerned about my child's education," Ms. Carter said of daughter, Ria, a seventh-grader.

District Judge Randy Martini continued the truancy cases for 90 days, hoping that would be enough time to resolve a dispute between the charter school and school district that has students and parents caught in the middle.

Ms. Carter and Ms. Lewis, whose son, Quinn, is a sixth-grader, aren't the only parents defying the school district's efforts to close the Career Connections school. Only two of the school's 75 sixth- and seventh-graders have pulled out since the district began making phone calls and sending letters warning of truancy citations if students weren't enrolled in regular Pittsburgh schools.

But Ms. Carter and Ms. Lewis, both of the West End, were the first to face hearings on truancy citations. Hearings for five more parents and guardians have been scheduled for December; others, such as Patti Jones of Lawrenceville, know that a hearing notice could arrive in the mail any day.

"I can't wait," said Ms. Jones, whose granddaughter, Angelina Wagoner, is a Career Connections sixth-grader. "For the first time in her life, she's making A's and B's ... She's found her niche, and they're not taking it off her."

Ms. Jones said she refuses to be rattled by the district's phone calls or letters, which she "filed in the garbage." As for a possible truancy citation and hearing before a district judge?

"I'll go to jail," she said.

The district had a contentious relationship with charter schools even before the school board voted Sept. 27 to revoke Career Connections' charter and shut the school down. The board questioned the suitability of the Boys & Girls Club building where classes are being held, saying it didn't restrict public access the way schools generally do.

The school has continued operating, claiming that there's nothing wrong with the building and that the school board has exceeded its authority. The school hopes the dispute will be settled later this month by the state Charter School Appeal Board, which granted the school a charter last summer after the school district refused to do so.

Terri Henderson, Career Connections chief executive officer, said Pittsburgh is the only district pursuing truancy complaints. Most of the school's students are city residents, but Dr. Henderson said a handful hail from suburban districts that seem content to let the charter dispute play out.

Pittsburgh parents said they're standing their ground because they've found a good thing. They said the school's curriculum, small class sizes and welcoming environment are improvements over regular Pittsburgh schools.

"I'm definitely not sending her back," Ms. Carter said of Ria, who began the year at Westwood Elementary before transferring to Career Connections.

"It's worth the fight," said Patrice Lesesne, of the North Side, who removed her son, Keenan, from Rooney Accelerated Learning Academy and put him in Career Connections. "I'm looking for a quality education for my son."

Penalties for truancy include a $300 fine--"like I care," Ms. Jones said--or completion of a parenting class. If they refuse to comply with the court order, parents risk jail time.

A Pittsburgh truancy officer said Ms. Lewis' son, Quinn, had missed 26 days of school by the district's count. Ms. Lewis' attorney, Jay Evans, said he'd missed only one day at Career Connections.

Mr. Evans argued that the charter dispute was irrelevant to the truancy case. He said Ms. Lewis was meeting the School Code by sending Quinn each day to a school that taught required subjects.

Judge Martini issued the continuance without objection from the school district, and he continued Ms. Carter's case without holding a hearing.

"I don't know, other than money, why they're threatened by this school," Ms. Lesesne said, rejecting district officials' reasons for closing the school.

Charter schools are funded by the school districts from which they draw students. While wrestling with falling enrollment and chronic budget problems, the Pittsburgh district this year projected spending $25 million on as many as 2,200 students in charter schools.

Lawrenceville resident NcGai Vason thinks her sixth-grade daughter, Morgan, is safer at Career Connections than she would be at the district's Arsenal Middle School.

"She would have gotten eaten alive there," Ms. Vason said. She said Morgan will remain at Career Connections until I am forced" to move her.