Regarding Intradistrict Open Enrollment, effective May 6, 2008, the following Board policy will be in effect.
The Governing Board desires to provide options that meet the diverse needs, potential and interests of district students and shall annually review enrollment options.
Students who reside within the district boundaries may apply for enrollment in any district school. The Superintendent or designee shall determine the enrollment capacity of each district school and establish a random unbiased selection process for the admission of students who reside outside of a particular school’s attendance boundary area.
Schools receiving requests for admission shall give priority for attendance to siblings of children already in attendance in that school and to students requesting participation in specialized programs which do not exist at the school of attendance.
A student may be given priority for attendance outside his/her current attendance area when special circumstance exist that may be harmful or dangerous to that particular student.
The district will not provide transportation outside the school’s attendance area. Upon request, the Superintendent or designee may authorize transportation of students living outside the attendance area to and from a designated bus stop within the attendance area if space is available.
Legal Reference:
Education Code:
35160.5 District policies; rules and regulations
35291 Rules
35351 Assignment of students to particular schools
48980 Notice at beginning of term
Crawford v. Board of Education (1976) 17 Cal. 3d. 28
Administrative Regulations
Classification: Students
Policy No. AR 5116.1
Enrollment Priorities
- No student currently residing within a school’s attendance area shall be displaced by another student as a result of the intradistrict open enrollment transfer process. (Education Code 35160.5)
- Applications for intradistrict transfer shall be given priority for admission under the following circumstances:
- A student has siblings already in attendance at that school,
- A student requests participation in a specialized program which does not exist at the school of attendance,
or
- Special circumstances exist that may be harmful or dangerous to a student at the school of attendance.
All other applications shall be subject to a random selection pool.
Selection Procedures
- On or before April 1, the Superintendent or designee shall identify those schools within the district that may have available capacity for additional students. Available capacity may be based on maximum and minimum optimum enrollments, program capacity, staffing issues and facilities.
- All students who submit applications to the district before May 1 shall be eligible for consideration for admission to their school of choice. Students living within the established attendance boundary will have first priority for enrollment.
- Enrollment in a selected school of choice shall be determined by a random and unbiased selection process of the applicant pool exceeds the number of enrollment openings as determined by the Superintendent.
- The Superintendent or designee shall inform all school choice applicants as to whether their applications have been approved, denied, or placed into a random selection pool. If an application is denied, the reason for denial shall be stated.
- Applicants who receive approval for their intradistrict school of choice must confirm their enrollment with that school within two weeks upon receipt of their notification.
- Those schools determined by the Superintendent to be overcrowded at the site or grade-level will not be allowed to accept students on intradistrict transfer requests, interdistrict transfer requests, custodial agreements, and/or transfer requests for specialized programs.
- Frequency of school transfers and duration of enrollment are important factors in maintaining positive academic success. It is the expectation that approved student transfers must attend the selected school of choice for the duration of the normal academic school year.
- Students approved to attend a school utilizing the intradistrict open enrollment transfer procedures shall be entitled to the identical student rights, responsibilities and expectations as applied to all students living within that school’s attendance boundaries. This includes athletic and extra-curricular eligibility requirements in accordance with district guidelines, appropriate student behaviors and equal discipline consequences, positive attendance and academic progress.
- Admission to a particular school shall not be influenced by a student’s academic or athletic performance except insofar as academic standards are required for admission to specialized schools or programs. Such standards shall be uniformly applied to all students.
Revoking Intradistrict Attendance
The District retains the right to revoke intradistrict attendance for reasons other than the student’s academic or athletic performance. Reasons may include, but are not limited to, irregular school attendance, failure to adhere to the district or school discipline policy, or discovery that the application for intradistrict attendance was falsified.
Notifications
Written notifications shall be sent to parents/guardians at the beginning of each school year describing all current statutory attendance options and local alternative education programs available in the district including:
- All options for meeting residency requirements for school attendance.
- Program options offered within local attendance areas and within the school district.
- A description of the procedures for application for intradistrict transfer to an alternative attendance area where student enrollment capacity is available.
- A district application form for intradistrict open enrollment transfer request shall be contained in the annual parent notification materials. This will include an explanation of attendance options under California law as provided by the California Department of Education.
Appeal Process
A student whose request for intradistrict open enrollment transfer has been denied may appeal the decision. All appeals shall be in writing and directed to the Superintendent or designee. A response to the appeal shall be in writing outlining the conditions or factors related to the final disposition of the transfer appeal request.
Regarding Inter District Attendance, effective May 6, 2008, the following Board policy will be in effect.
The Governing Board recognizes that students who reside in one district may desire to attend school in another district and that such choices are made for a variety of reasons. The Board desires to communicate with parents/guardians and students regarding the educational programs and services that are available.
The Superintendent or designee will consider approving transfers on a case-by-case basis, subject to space availability and the considerations set forth in policy and regulations.
The official policy of the Board with regard to Interdistrict Agreements shall be as follows:
- Generally, interdistrict transfers may be approved for the following reasons:
- If the student is in his/her fifth or eighth grade year and his/her parents move to another district.
- If the parents have bonafide plans to move to another district during a semester and wish to avoid having to transfer their child in the middle of the term.
- Special or unusual circumstances which deem attendance of a student in a school outside his area of residence in his/her best interest.
- Child care or parent employment in the district.
- All requests for interdistrict transfers shall be submitted to the Superintendent or designee for consideration.
- The Superintendent shall decide whether each transfer request shall be approved or denied. Requests that are denied by the Superintendent may be appealed in writing to the Governing Board within ten school days.
- Criteria for denying an interdistrict attendance agreement may be based on any one of the following:
- Any expellable offense
- Any suspendable offense
- Unsatisfactory behavior record as evidenced by office or class referrals
- A grade point average of less than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale overall or in the previous term
- An unsatisfactory attendance record as evidenced by school attendance records or SARB referral
- Falsifying information on the interdistrict transfer form
- Negative financial impact on the district
- Transportation beyond that normally provided for students living in the district shall not be provided for students attending on an inter-district attendance agreement.
Legal Reference:
Education Code
46601-46611 Interdistrict Attendance agreements
48918 Rules governing expulsion procedures
48204 Residency requirements for school attendance
48980 Notice of term
48209-48209.18 Student attendance alternatives
52317 Admission of persons including non residents
48915 Expulsion: particular circumstances to attendance area: worker’s compensation
48915.1 Expelled individuals: enrollment in another district for pupil
All students desiring to transfer into or out of the Byron Union School District shall submit an application for interdistrict transfer. Application forms are available at the Byron District Office.
Students residing in another school district wishing to attend the Byron Union School District.
- Shall send all interdistrict applications to Byron Union School District office. An incoming transfer request must include all of the following before it can be considered:
- A copy of the approved outgoing transfer request from the student’s school district of residence, and
- A completed Byron Union School District Interdistrict Attendance Application, and
- A copy of the student’s grades and disciplinary and attendance records from the student’s current district of attendance.
- Applications will be reviewed by the Superintendent or designee.
3. Parents will be notified by the Superintendent or designee if the application is approved. If denied, Parents may appeal the denial, in writing, to the Governing Board within ten school days. Should the Governing Board deny the request, the Parents will be advised of their right to appeal to the County Board within 30 calendar days of the District Governing Board’s decision.
Examples of reasons the Superintendent or designee may approve interdistrict transfers are:
- If the student is in his/her fifth or eighth grade year and his/her parents move to another district.
- To allow students to remain with a graduating class.
- If the parents have bonafide plans to move to another district during a semester and wish to avoid having to transfer their child in the middle of the term.
- To complete a school year when parents/guardians have moved out of the district during that year.
- When the parent/guardian provides written evidence that the family will be moving to the receiving district in the immediate future and would like the student to start the year in that district.
- Special or unusual circumstances which deem attendance of a student in a school outside his/her area of residence in his best interest, including:
- To meet a child’s special health needs, as certified by substantial documentation by a physician, school psychologist or other appropriate school personnel.
- When the student has brother(s) or sister(s) attending school in a receiving district to avoid splitting the family’s attendance.
- When recommended by the School Attendance Review Board or by county child welfare, probation or social service agency staff in documented cases of serious home or community problems which make it inadvisable for the student to attend the school of residence.
- When there is valid interest in a particular educational program not offered in the district of residency.
- To meet the child care needs of the parent.
- If the student’s parent is employed within the District’s boundaries.
- Upon approval, the Superintendent or designee will meet with parents/guardians and student to review enrollment procedures and expectations of students on interdistrict transfers. Specific school site placement will be determined by the Superintendent or designee.
- A copy of the interdistrict transfer will be sent to the school of attendance and to the school district the student is leaving.
Terms and Conditions of Incoming Transfers
Interdistrict transfers shall be approved for a period not to exceed one school year, ending on the last day of the school year. Transfer requests must be renewed annually by submitting a new application. An interdistrict attendance agreement may be approved, or continued in subsequent years on a year by year basis, subject to all of the following conditions:
- Satisfactory academic performance the prior term. Satisfactory academic performance is indicated by a grade point average of 2.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale overall and in the previous term.
- Satisfactory behavior and satisfactory attendance the prior year.
- A determination by the applicant’s prior year principal that continuation of the interdistrict agreement is in the best interest of the applicant, the school, and resident students thereof.
- A determination by the district that space is available.
- Outgoing approval from the district of residence.
The district will not provide transportation to any student who attends a Byron Union School District school under an interdistrict transfer agreement. A student’s interdistrict attendance agreement may be revoked at any time for truancy, inappropriate behavior (including any suspendable offense, as numerated on the suspension form), lack of cooperation, disruption of the instructional and school programs, failure to maintain at least a C (2.0) average in all areas of the curriculum and all classes each semester/term (typically 18 weeks), falsification of material information on the student’s transfer application or with any part of the student’s personal information, or for any other valid reason supporting the best interests of the district or students. In addition, a student’s interdistrict agreement shall be revoked if he/she is recommended for expulsion.
The Governing Board approval of an interdistrict transfer shall entitle the applicant to attend school in the Byron Union School District but shall not assign the applicant to a specific school. The applicant shall be assigned to a specific school by the Superintendent, on a space available basis, taking into account the parent’s request insofar as possible. Students may be reassigned to other schools in subsequent years by the Superintendent, if enrollment at a specific school site exceeds capacity.
Denial of Interdistrict Transfer Agreement
Pursuant to Education Code 46600-46611, the Superintendent or designee will inform the parent/guardian of a student who is denied a transfer, the process for appeal to the District Governing Board and the County Board of Education.
Students who are under consideration for expulsion or who have been expelled may not appeal interdistrict attendance denials or decisions while expulsion proceedings are pending, or during the term of the expulsion.
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