By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
If a policy of open enrollment were to be adopted, a
long list of questions would need to be properly addressed
and a policy adopted to cover each of the concerns.
For example, the Juab Board of Education would need to
affirm commitment and responsibility to assume a leadership
role in supporting a culture of choice/open enrollment
District-wide.
The philosophy behind the idea of choice/open
enrollment is grounded in the belief that parents know the
learning style of their children and should have options
from which to choose to meet their children's needs.
"Students residing within the District are currently
assigned to attend their neighborhood school," said Kirk
Wright, superintendent of schools.
There must be a long list of decisions made before
such a policy could be adopted. For example, in districts
where open enrollment is allowed an application for
choice/open enrollment must be granted well in advance of
the school year because a transfer is required.
Students residing within and outside of the District
who apply for open enrollment may allowed to attend any
District school or participate in any District program of
their choice on a space available basis.
"That is difficult in our school district," said
Wright. "Larger school districts can absorb enrollment
fluctuations better than small districts can."
In open enrollment schools, the term "choice/open
enrollment" means parent or guardian-initiated enrollment of
a student in a district school or program other than the
student's neighborhood school.
In general, such a policy puts the paperwork, choice
and record-keeping upon the school principal where the open
enrollment is allowed.
Principals maintain records of choice/open enrollments
and transfers at their school, as well as documentation
supporting all grants and denials of choice/open enrollment
applications.
Each principal is responsible for checking student
enrollment records at his or her school to establish that
every student is a resident of the school's neighborhood
attendance area or has an approved authorization for
choice/open enrollment or transfer.
Students who enroll in neighborhood schools or
programs through choice/open enrollment but who do not
reside within the neighborhood attendance area are granted
admission for all grades served by the school or program.
Students who enroll through choice/open enrollment in option
schools or programs are granted admission for all grades
served by the school or program.
"The problem in the district, at present, is that we
are in a state of change," said Leon Pexton, board
president.
After discussing at a board retreat and with
principals at board meeting, there were many items
considered.
One of those being that borders for neighborhood
schools may change as the Red Cliff school is finished and
goes into service. Population in that section of Nephi is
booming.
In fact, the population in the entire district is
increasing.
Pexton said, the district is growing rapidly and the
board has a policy to keep class sizes as small as possible.
If a principal were to grant attendance to their school in
the spring, by the time school started the sizes of classes
might be changed by those who have legitimate rights to
attend the neighborhood school.
Districts who have open enrollment policies have, in
the event of overcrowding of facilities at a choice school
or program, the right to select students for reassignment at
each grade level in reverse chronological order of their
admission.
"That may mean that a student assigned to a class
would have to change just as school started," said Delanie
Hathaway, board vice president.
Under no circumstances, however, are students
reassigned if they reside within the attendance area of the
neighborhood school where they are enrolled.
A policy should also outline the items the District is
not required to do.
School and teacher shopping is not allowed. Once the
student has changed to the school selected, the choice
becomes permanent for the time the student is in the
district.
In most policies, the practice is that a school should
not have to make alterations in the structure of a requested
school or make alterations to the arrangement or function of
rooms within a requested school.
The school should not establish and offer any
particular program in a school if such program is not
currently offered in the school.
Schools must not alter or waive any established
eligibility criteria for participation in a particular
program, including age requirements, course prerequisites,
and/or required levels of performance.
A school should not create additional space in the
requested school or program by changing resources or
staffing allocations.
Importantly, a school should not enroll any
nonresident student in any school or program after October 1
of the then-current school year.
Applications for choice/open enrollment may be denied
based on several criteria. One of those would be that there
is a lack of space or teaching staff within a particular
program or school requested.
Space availability would always be contingent upon
District class size guidelines, subject availability, and
enrollment projections.
Districts may reserve a reasonable number of spaces
for students who move into a school's neighborhood
attendance area during the school year.
The school may deny the application if the requested
school does not offer appropriate programs, or does not have
the necessary resources or facilities to meet the student's
special needs, or does not offer a particular program
requested.
Requests for changes are not considered if the student
does not meet the established eligibility criteria for
participation in a particular program, including age
requirements, course prerequisites, and required levels of
performance.
No request is honored if the student has been expelled
from any school district during the preceding 12 months, or
has engaged in behavior in another school district during
the preceding 12 months that was detrimental to the welfare
or safety of other students or of school personnel. In
addition, no application will be allowed if the student has
been expelled at any time or is in the process of being
expelled as a habitually disruptive student or for a serious
violation in a school building or in or on school property,
as provided under state law.
The policy must even address the student who has
graduated from the twelfth grade of any school or is in
receipt of a document evidencing completion of the
equivalent of a secondary curriculum. Such students will not
be allowed in district programs nor schools.
A policy, to be wise, would need to address
enrollment/population projections at a particular school or
where schools show a substantial growth in the attendance
area so that potential overcrowding is a concern.
Approval of choice/open enrollment in a particular
school or program for one child in a family does not
guarantee that choice/open enrollment will be approved for
any other children in the family to attend that same school
or program of choice.
Norm Wall said that another consideration should be
part of the policy. That would be that any student who was
accepted for a school other than the neighborhood school
would need to have parents who were willing to provide
transportation because the district could not.
"Nebo View, for example, is not now designed for
bussing and for the traffic flow of buses," he said.
School Choice Applications may not be submitted before
October 2 of the year prior to the school year in which a
student wishes to begin attending a particular District
choice school or program.
The deadline for first consideration of School Choice
Applications for the following school year is the second
Friday in February.
A parent or guardian has to complete and sign one
School Choice Application form for each child in the family
who is applying for choice/open enrollment, and the form
must be submitted to the choice school or
program Kindergarten students must register in the school
serving their neighborhood attendance area even if an
application is pending for their choice/open enrollment or
transfer to another school or program, in order to provide
notice allowing the neighborhood school to provide for
adequate staffing and other resources to serve those
students whose applications are denied.
As soon as possible after the February deadline for
first consideration of School Choice Applications, a
determination shall be made as to the number of spaces
available for the following school year at each grade level
served by the school or program. This determination is based
on the projected enrollment of neighborhood students and the
availability of programs, space and teaching staff.
Of first consideration is that new and currently
enrolled students who reside within the attendance area of a
neighborhood school are entitled to attend that neighborhood
school.
The determination of space availability for each
applicant is made based on a priority list that gives
currently enrolled students the right of a student who lives
within the boundaries.
Next to be allowed are student applicants who reside
within the District who are siblings of a currently enrolled
student and who live at the same residence as the currently
enrolled student.
Children of school employees who reside within the
District and children of school employees who reside outside
of the District.
If the number of choice/open enrollment applicants
exceeds the number of spaces available within any of the
foregoing priority levels at any grade level, the space
availability determination will be determined by lot.
"I haven't seen a reason or a compelling need to make
a change," said Pexton.
The Juab School District policy will remain the same
at present. After schools are built, the question may be
addressed once again.
Meanwhile, the dialogue will remain open even if the
schools are not.
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