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501.15 Open Enrollment Transfers - Procedures as a Receiving District

Code No.  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 or board’s designee will have complete discretion to determine the attendance center of the students attending the school district under open enrollment.

 

The superintendent will act on the open enrollment request in a timely manner.

 

The superintendent or superintendent’s designee 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 superintendent, in his/her 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 not be eligible for participation in interscholastic athletics, at the varsity level, only, in accordance with applicable laws.

 

Parents are responsible for providing transportation to and from the receiving school district without reimbursement unless the parents qualify for transportation assistance.  Upon a parent's request, the superintendent may approve transportation into the sending district.  The transportation is limited to within a limited number of miles of the district boundary/current bus route.  The superintendent's approval is subject to the sending district's approval.

 

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.

 

 

Date Board Approved: 7/19/2010

Date Board Updated/Reviewed: 9/12/2022