A room full of students wearing the wrong school colors, staring blankly at you is a scary thing.

But at least a handful of Miss-Lou children are going to have to face their fears in the coming days and weeks, as they transfer to a new school and begin the school year all over again.

Concordia Parish School District administrators have been talking about residency for years. It’s common knowledge among adults that children are required to go to school in the district in which they live.

And this summer, the parish school board started turning up the heat on the residency issue by sending home letters and talking to parents.

Yet, even today, children are attending the wrong school and breaking the rules.

This time, the school board has the U.S. Justice Department breathing down its neck to make sure the problem is corrected.

Because parents chose to break the rules, children will have to suffer the consequences.

Being the new kid is never fun.

And though we hate that these children will have scary moments ahead, we applaud the school board and the justice department for making a wrong situation right.

Rules are rules, and it is time they were followed.

Perhaps parents can learn from this example and save their children the heartache next time.