The board shall take action on the open enrollment request to the school district as an alternative receiving district within fifteen days of receipt of the open enrollment request. The superintendent shall notify the parents of the board’s action to approve or deny the open enrollment request at the next regular meeting of the board.
Open enrollment requests into the school district as an alternative receiving district shall be considered by the board in the same manner as open enrollment requests into the school district as a receiving district.
Approved open enrollment requests into the school district as an alternative receiving district shall be effective the following semester or at the beginning of the next school year. It shall be within the discretion of the board to make the open enrollment request into the school district as an alternative receiving district effective immediately based upon the circumstances of the open enrollment request and with the mutual agreement of the board of the school district the student is attending. The superintendent shall notify the parents of the effective date of the open enrollment into the school district as an alternative receiving district within fifteen days of the mutual agreement.
Attendance center assignments, athletic eligibility and transportation of students open enrolling into the school district as an alternative receiving school district shall be handled in the same manner as students open enrolled into the school district as a receiving district.
An open enrollment request into the school district from parents of a special education student shall be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The determining factors for approval of such an open enrollment request will be whether the special education program available in the school district is appropriate for student’s needs and whether the enrollment of the special education student will cause the class size to exceed the maximum allowed. The area education agency director of special education serving the school district shall determine whether the program is appropriate. The special education student shall remain in the sending district until the final determination is made.
The policies of the school district shall apply to students attending the school district under open enrollment.
It shall be the responsibility of the superintendent to develop appropriate office procedures and administrative regulations necessary for open enrollment requests.
Open enrollment requests into the school district that, if denied, would result in students from the same nuclear family being enrolled in different school district, will be given highest priority. The board, in its discretion, may waive the insufficient classroom space reason for denial for students of the same nuclear family to prevent the division of a nuclear family between two school districts. Other open enrollment requests into the school district shall be considered in the order received by the school district with the first open enrollment request given higher priority than the second open enrollment request and so forth.
Generally, students in grades ten through twelve open enrolling into the school district shall not be eligible for participation in interscholastic athletics during the first ninety days of open enrollment into the school district. Such students may be eligible to participate if:
- School district and sending district participate jointly in the sport
- The sport in which the pupil wishes to participate is not offered in the sending district
- The sending district was dissolved and merged with one or more contiguous school districts for failure to meet accreditation standards
- The student is open enrolling because the sending district has entered into a whole grade sharing agreement with another school district for the student’s grade
- The student’s parent is an active member of the armed forces and resides in permanent housing on government property by a branch of the armed services
- The student paid tuition for one or more years to the school district prior to open enrolling into the school district
- The student attended the school district under a sharing or mutual agreement between the school district and the sending district for one or more years prior to open enrolling into the school district.
Parents of students whose open enrollment requests are approved by the (superintendent) shall be responsible for providing transportation to and from the receiving school district without reimbursement. The board will not approve transportation into the sending district.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code 139.9; 274.1; 279.11; 282.1, .3, .8, .18; 299.1 (1995)
281 I.A.C. 17.
1990 Op. Att’y Gen. 75
Cross Reference: 501.6 Student Transfers In
501.7 Student Transfers Out or Withdrawals
501.14 Open Enrollments Transfers – Procedures as a Sending District
506 Student Records
507 Student Health and Well-Being
606.6 Insufficient Classroom Space
Approved: 10-8-18
Reviewed: 10-8-18
Revised:
