JFBOPEN ENROLLMENT
JFBThe Pearce Elementary School District has an open-enrollment program as set forth in A.R.S. 15-816 et seq. The open enrollment program described in this policy shall be placed on the District website and made available to the public on request.
No tuition shall be charged for open enrollment, except as authorized by applicable provisions of A.R.S. 15-764, 15-797, 15-823, 15-824, and 15-825.
Definition
Nonresident pupil means a pupil who resides in this state and who is seeking enrollment in a school district other than the school district in which the pupil resides.
Enrollment Options
District resident pupils may enroll in another school district. Nonresident pupils may enroll in schools within this District, subject to the procedures that follow.
Information and Application
The Superintendent shall prepare a written information packet concerning the District's application process, standards for acceptance or rejection, and policies, regulations, and procedures for open enrollment. The packet will be made available to everyone who requests it.
The information packet shall include the enrollment application form and shall advise applicants that they must submit enrollment applications on or before March 1 of each year to be considered for enrollment during the following school year.
Capacity
The Superintendent shall annually estimate how much excess capacity may exist to accept transfer pupils. The estimate of excess capacity shall be made for each school and grade level and shall take into consideration:
A. Physical capacity of the school building and classrooms.
B. Availability of staff members (i.e., administrators, teachers, other certificated employees, and related service providers).
C. Capacity of general education program as well as relevant special programs (Structured English Immersion, Special Education, Gifted).
D. Availability of other resources.
E. Number of students already enrolled or expected to enroll as follows:
1. District resident pupils, including those issued certificates of educational convenience and those required to be admitted by statute.
2. The enrollment of eligible children of persons who are employed by the District.
3. Nonresident pupils who were enrolled in the school the previous year, and who, during the previous year, met or exceeded the District’s expectations regarding academics, attendance, behavior, and progress toward graduation.
The Governing Board shall make the final determination of excess capacity. The excess-capacity estimates shall be made available to the public in January of each year.
Enrollment Priorities
If the Governing Board has determined that there is excess capacity to enroll additional pupils, such pupils shall be selected on the basis of designated priority categories from the pool of pupils:
A. Who have properly completed and submitted applications; and
B. Who meet admission standards.
Enrollment priorities and procedures for selection shall be in the following order and in accordance with the following:
A. Enrollment preference shall be given to nonresident pupils who were enrolled in the school the previous year, if the student, during the previous year, met or exceeded the District's expectations regarding academics, attendance, behavior, and progress toward graduation and any sibling who would be enrolled concurrently with such pupils. If capacity is not sufficient to enroll all of these pupils, they shall be selected on the basis of the date and time of application.
B. Enrollment preference shall be given to nonresident pupils who were not enrolled in the school the previous year. If capacity is not sufficient to enroll all of these pupils, they shall be selected the basis of the date and time of application.
A school shall not admit a pupil if notice is received from the resident school before April 1 that the admission of the pupil would violate the provisions of a court order of desegregation or agreement by a school with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
The following circumstances may result in denial of admission or permission to transfer of an open enrollment student:
A. The student, or his or her parent or guardian, has engaged in misconduct by providing false or misleading information to Pearce Elementary School or to any Pearce Elementary School employee, including information requested or required on any open enrollment or admission application. If Pearce Elementary School District suspect falsification of information in the enrollment packet, a due process hearing will be held in order that the parent(s)/guardian may be presented with the information pertaining to the falsification charges and have the opportunity to respond to any charges;
B. The student, while enrolled in Pearce Elementary School or as a result of attendance in any other public or private school, is currently under suspension or expulsion, has in the past been suspended or expelled, or has been involved in a series of disciplinary problems;
C. The student, while in Pearce Elementary School District or any other public or private school, withdrew from school to avoid possible suspension or expulsion;
D. The student, in Pearce Elementary School or any other public or private school, has a record of excessive absences, which cannot be adequately explained by accident or illness, or truancies.
Pursuant to A.R.S. 15-803(A) "It is unlawful for any child between six (6) and sixteen (16) years of age to fail to attend school during the hours school is in session." A child failing to attend school during the hours school is in session is truant unless excused pursuant to A.R.S. 15-802, 15-803, 15-901.
Excessive absences are defined as excused and unexcused absences totaling fifteen (15) days or more per school year or eight (8) absences per semester and may result in consequences including failure or retention (JH-RB).
The student is not in compliance with any condition of disciplinary action imposed by Pearce Elementary School District or by any other public or private school, or with any condition imposed by a juvenile court pursuant to A.R.S. 8-301 et seq.
Admission Standards
A school shall not admit a pupil if the admission of the pupil would violate the provisions of a court order of desegregation or agreement by a school or district with the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights directed toward remediation of alleged or proven racial discrimination.
A. Students who are approved for open enrollment status in the District must abide by Governing Board policies and school regulations for student conduct, including, but not limited to, those pertaining to regular and punctual attendance.
B. Open enrollment status may be rescinded at the end of a student’s current open enrollment yearly term for repeated violations of attendance or discipline policies. Attendance policy violations would encompass problems such as truancy, but not situations where there is a legitimate excuse for absence such as a documented illness. In the case of students with an active individualized education program (IEP), the placement must be altered through procedures in compliance with applicable special education laws. If a change in placement would require entrance into a program that is at capacity, open enrollment may be rescinded.
C. Pearce Elementary School's students will only be guaranteed the ability to continue their education at Pearce Elementary School until graduation, once enrolled, if:
1. the student maintains a "C" (2.00) average or above; or
2. attends after school tutoring and makes progress toward attaining a "C" average or better; and
3. if the student follows Pearce Elementary School's student behavioral code while attending Pearce Elementary School, including, but not limited to while in the student's classes, on the bus, on campus before, during and after school, in the lunchroom, and during any and all Pearce Elementary School's extracurricular and/or co-curricular events the student chooses to attend.
D. Pearce Elementary School students who fail to maintain a "C" average or better shall be removed from the approved attendance list for the following school year and placed on a waiting list. If the list of any grade students wishing to attend Pearce Elementary School District and those maintaining a "C" average or progressing toward it do not fill all the spaces available for grade level capacity then student from the waiting list shall be provided an opportunity to enroll, with preference given to those willing to attend after school tutoring to progress toward a "C" average.
E. It is the intent of the District to maintain a special education student-teacher ratio that will allow the teacher to work effectively and efficiently toward the IEP objectives of each student.
Notification
The District shall notify the emancipated pupil, parent, or legal guardian between April 1and June 30 whether the applicant has been accepted, placed on a waiting list pending the availability of capacity, or rejected. If the applicant is placed on a waiting list, the notification shall inform the emancipated pupil, parent, or legal guardian of the date when it will be determined whether there is capacity for additional enrollment in a school. If the pupil's application is rejected, the reason for the rejection shall be stated in the notification.
As provided by A.R.S. 15-816.07, the District and its employees are immune from civil liability for decisions relative to the acceptance or rejection of the enrollment of a nonresident student when the decisions are based on good faith application of this policy and the applicable statutory requirements and standards.
Transportation of Students Admitted
Through Open Enrollment
Open enrollment students are eligible for Pearce Elementary School’s transportation from a designated pickup point on a bus route serving the attendance area of the school to which the student has been admitted, or as may be otherwise determined by the Pearce Elementary School District. It is the responsibility of the parents or guardians of the resident transfer student to have the student at a designated pickup point within the receiving school's transportation area.
The Pearce Elementary School District may provide transportation for open enrollment nonresident students who meet the economic eligibility requirements established under the national school lunch and child nutrition acts for free or reduced-price lunches:
of not more than twenty (20) miles to and from:
1. the school of attendance, or
2. a pickup point on a regular Pearce Elementary School transportation route, or
3. for the total miles traveled each day to an adjacent district.
The Pearce Elementary School District shall provide transportation for nonresident transfer students with disabilities whose individualized education program (IEP) specifies that transportation is necessary for fulfillment of the program:
of not more than twenty (20) miles to and from:
1. the school of attendance, or
2. a pickup point on a regular District transportation route, or
3. for the total miles traveled each day to an adjacent district.
Exception
Should there be excess capacity remaining for which no applications were submitted by the date established, the Superintendent, upon approval by the Board, shall authorize additional enrollment of nonresident pupils:
A. Up to the determined capacity.
B. On the basis of the order of the completed applications submitted after the notification date established in this policy.
C. Without regard to enrollment preference.
D. As long as admission standards are met.
E. Whose applications are submitted by March 1.
The open enrollment process required by this policy may be waived by the Superintendent if certain grades or schools are under capacity, as long as it the waiver does not jeopardize funding.
Adopted: September 11, 2017
LEGAL REF.:
A.R.S.
8-371
15-764
15-797
15-816 et seq.
15-823
15-824
15-825
15-841
15-922
42 U.S.C. 11301, McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 2001,
as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015
CROSS REF.:
EEAA - Walkers and Riders
IIB - Class Size
JF - Student Admissions
JFAA - Admission of Resident Students
JFAB - Admission of Nonresident Students
JFABD - Admission of Homeless Students
JG - Assignment of Students to Classes and Grade Levels