Craig Daily Press

During a recent meeting, the Moffat County School Board approved the first reading of a policy and an accompanying regulation governing the way parents enroll their children in schools of their choice.

The policy and regulation, if approved by the School Board, will affect students attending the district’s elementary schools beginning in the 2009-10 school year.

Reconfiguring the attendance areas for the district’s elementary schools, a process scheduled to take place during the 2008-09 school year, was a main reason behind considering the policy and regulation package, said Christine Villard, Moffat County School District director of student services.

As it stands now, Craig children in kindergarten through fourth-grade attend one of three area elementary schools. Fifth- and sixth-graders attend Craig Intermediate School while seventh- and eighth-grade students enroll at Craig Middle School.

Beginning in fall 2009, however, students in sixth- through eighth-grades will attend a newly constructed middle school. That same year, CIS will be converted to a fourth elementary school.

Those changes require the School District to reconfigure its elementary school attendance areas, Villard said.

Attendance areas generally place students in elementary schools closest to where they live with their parents or legal guardians.

However, the proposed policy and regulation outlines ways in which parents can enroll their children in other in-district elementary schools as space and staff allow.

Open enrollment allows parents to request a school change before the school year begins, according to the School District.

The receiving school principal ultimately accepts or rejects the request, based on district policy and state law.

Application for open enrollment will be available from March 1 until the first day of school, according to the regulation, and all enrollment decisions will be made by September 15.

Open enrollment requests not granted by that date will enter a waiting list, which allows students to enroll in their school of choice as space becomes available. The list will be maintained until March 1, at which point a new list will be created for the next 12-month period.

At that point, Villard said, parents on the previous waiting list must reapply for open enrollment.

Once students enter the school of their choice through the open enrollment process, “every effort will be made to keep the student in that school for a full academic year and permit the student to complete the highest grade in that building,” the policy reads.

Villard said frequent school transitions can be a potential risk factor for students, both academically and socially.

“When a student moves from one school to the next, the social piece of adjusting to new teachers and friends … takes precedence over learning and achievement needs,” Villard said. “Learning takes a secondary role.”

If parents or guardians wish to move their children to another school after the school year has begun, he or she must submit a transfer request.

Once granted, transfer requests aren’t automatically renewed the following year, according to the proposed regulation.

The School Board is scheduled to vote on the policy and regulation at its monthly meeting June 26. Before casting their votes, however, School Board members will take public comments on the policy.

Superintendent Pete Berg­mann did not return calls Monday to confirm the time and date of the hearing.

For more information about the public forum or the proposed transfer and open enrollment policy, call 824-3268.

Bridget Manley can be reached at 875-1795 or bmanley@craigdailypress.com