501.14 Open Enrollment Transfers – Procedures as a Sending District
The school district will participate in open enrollment as a sending district. As a sending district, the board will allow resident students who meet the requirements to open enroll to another public school district.
Parents requesting open enrollment out of the school district for their student will notify the sending and receiving school district no later than March 1 in the school year preceding the first year desired for open enrollment. The notice is made on forms provided by the Department of Education. The forms are available at the central administration office.
Parents of children who will begin kindergarten in the school district are exempt from the open enrollment March 1 deadline. Parents of children who will begin kindergarten and prekindergarten children enrolled in special education programs and included in the district’s basic enrollment will file in the same manner set forth above by September 1. Parents who have good cause as defined by law for failing to meet the March 1 deadline may make an open enrollment request by September 1 unless another deadline applies.
The receiving district will approve open enrollment requests according to the timelines established by law. The parents may withdraw the open enrollment request prior to the start of the school year. The receiving district’s superintendent will notify the parents and sending school district by mail within five days of the school district’s action to approve or deny the open enrollment request.
Options-Choose one:
The board will not approve a student’s request to allow the receiving district to enter the school district for the purposes of transportation.
An open enrollment request out of the school district from parents of a special education student is reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The determining factor for approval of such an open enrollment request will be whether the special education program available in the receiving school district is appropriate for the student’s needs. The area education agency director of special education serving the receiving district will determine whether the program is appropriate. The special education student will remain in the school district until the final determination is made.
It is the responsibility of the superintendent to maintain open enrollment request applications and notice forms. It will also be the responsibility of the superintendent to develop appropriate office procedures and administrative regulations necessary for open enrollment requests.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code §§ 139A.8; 274.1; 279.11; 282.1, .3, .8, .18; 299.1.
281 I.A.C. 17.
Cross Reference: 501 Student Attendance
506 Student Records
Approved 10/20/2021 Reviewed Revised
501.15 Open Enrollment Transfers – Procedures as a Receiving District
The school district will participate in open enrollment as a receiving district. As a receiving district, the board will allow nonresident students, who meet the legal requirements, to open enroll into the school district. The board will have complete discretion to determine the attendance center of the students attending the school district under open enrollment.
The board will approve all timely filed applications by June 1; incoming kindergarten applications; good cause application; or continuation of an educational program application filed by September 1.
The superintendent will notify the sending school district and parents within five days of the school district’s action to approve or deny the open enrollment request.
Open enrollment requests into the school district will not be approved if insufficient classroom space exists. Open enrollment requests into the school district will also not be approved for students who have been suspended or expelled by the administration or the board of the school district the student is or was attending until the student has been reinstated into the school district from which the student was suspended or expelled. Once the student is reinstated, the student’s open enrollment request will be considered in the same manner as other open enrollment requests provided the required timelines are met.
Open enrollment requests into the school district that, if denied, would result in students from the same nuclear family being enrolled in different school districts, 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 are considered in the order received by the school district with the first open enrollment request given a higher priority than the second open enrollment request and so forth.
Students in grades nine through twelve open enrolling into the school district will be eligible for participation in interscholastic athletics, at the varsity level, in accordance with applicable law.
Parents of students whose open enrollment requests are approved by the board are responsible for providing transportation to and from the receiving school district without reimbursement. The board will not approve transportation into the sending district.
An open enrollment request into the school district from parents of a special education student is 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 the 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 will determine whether the program is appropriate. The special education student will remain in the sending district until the final determination is made. For children requiring special education, the receiving district will complete and provide to the resident district the documentation needed to seek Medicaid reimbursement for eligible services.
The policies of the school district will apply to students attending the school district under open enrollment.
It is the responsibility of the superintendent to develop appropriate office procedures and administrative regulations necessary for open enrollment requests.
Legal Reference: Iowa Code §§ 139A.8; 274.1; 279.11; 282.1, .3, .8, .18; 299.1.
281 I.A.C. 17.
Cross Reference: 501.6 Student Transfers In
501.7 Student Transfers Out or Withdrawals
501.14 Open Enrollment Transfers – Procedures as a Sending District
506 Student Records
507 Student Health and Well-Being
606.6 Insufficient Classroom Space
Approved 10/20/2021 Reviewed Revised