School districts cope in

various ways

By John Faucher

County Post East

REGIONAL – Wisconsin’s open enrollment period began Feb.1, giving parents an opportunity to apply and send their children to any public school in the state tuition free.

Under the open enrollment program, parents must apply during the three-week application period to the school district they wish their children to attend. They are informed by April 9 whether their application has been approved or denied.

Since open enrolment began the number of new and continuing transfers among districts grew from 2,464 in 1998-99 to 28,028 students in the 2008-09 school-year.

According to State Superintendant of Schools Tony Evers, the number of applications filed for open enrollment took an unusually large jump in the 2009-10 school-year, reaching 29,706 students in comparison to the prior year’s total of 20,953.

“Open enrollment can be a tool for parents to use for educational benefit for their students—so it can be a good option”, said Clintonville Public School District Superintendent Tom O’ Toole.

Clintonville has gained students every year since the inception of open enrollment. Last year the district gained 67 students and lost 41.

“I think that open enrollment for Clintonville Schools is largely taken advantage of by parents/students who at one time lived in the district they are open enrolling into,” said O’Toole.

For example of the 41 students who are currently open enrolled out of the district, approximately 35 have never attended Clintonville Schools because they open enrolled back into their home districts like; Marion, Shawano, New London or Bonduel because that is where they started school.

Losing students can prove to be costly.

According to District Administrator James Harlan with the Weyauwega-Fremont School District, “The fiscal impact associated with losing 15 students is approximately $138,000.”

Weyauwega-Fremont schools have experienced an average net loss of 15 students per year since 2008-09, Harlan said.

Students or families who open enroll into the district do so for various reasons including geographic, parent’s place of work, overall impression of the district and programming or specific specialties.

“Occasionally, we hear a comment that a student has open enrolled to gain access to specific sports programming,” Harlan said.

Seven miles away, neighboring Superintendant Dr. David Poeshl in Waupaca agrees.

“Some students come for the co-curricular or extracurricular programs that are not offered in other districts, such as hockey,” Poeshl said.

The pattern over the years for Waupaca has been fairly consistent in regards to outgoing and incoming students. In the 2009-10 school year the district saw a net gain with 71 incoming and 58 outgoing, compared to the previous year with 55 outgoing and 54 incoming.

The financial impact for Waupaca School District is negligible.

“The pattern over the years has been that the number of incoming and outgoing students is very close,” Poeschl said. “The majority of students who enroll out of, or into, our school district are doing so for convenience reasons.”

Poeschl said the school board has discussed open enrollments, but has not adopted any strategies for attracting more students through open enrollment.

“There was a time when virtual schools became popular that we had more outgoing then incoming students. However, most of our virtual-school population who were considered outgoing were home schooled at the time. In order to participate in virtual schools, the students had to be enrolled in a school district,” Poeschl said. “When virtual schools first started, we had a lot more outgoing than incoming students, but those students were not enrolled in our district before they began participating in virtual schools.”

In the Iola-Scandinavia School District more students transferred in than out in 2008-09 and it was an even balance of 37 outgoing and 37 incoming for 2009-10.

“It’s been pretty much a wash for as long as we’ve had open enrollment,” reports District Superintendent Joe Price.

“We have students who have open enrolled from our district to Waupaca, but they have never attended school here. Their parents have moved into our district, but they want to continue going to the same school,” Price said.

He noted that some students from the Iola-Scandinavia School District have open enrolled into Waupaca because of its hockey program. Waupaca has the only varsity hockey team in the county.

Districts like Manawa and New London have experienced a net loss of students through open enrollment. They have adopted new strategies with hopes of attracting more open enrollment students.

Both districts are participating in Project Lead the Way, a program involving partnerships with community colleges, universities and industry. This project based curriculum teaches students to think and function in an increasingly technical society. High school students can also earn college credits through the program.

“Our Project Lead the Way is a draw for students looking for increased coursework in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Duane Braun, Manawa Schools District Administrator. Fifty-six percent of the incoming open enrollment students in Manawa listed curriculum, programs and teachers as reasons for transferring into the district.

In the 2009-2010 school-year, Manawa had 36 students transfer in and 47 transfer out. A survey of families in the spring of 2009 revealed that 16 percent of those open enrolled out of the district did so for convenience reasons related to work and or daycare. Sixteen percent said they transferred out because of curriculum or programs available in another district. Some of the students that open enrolled did so because they were already attending school in the non-resident district. Other individual comments ranged from loss of a specific teacher, to disagreement with school board decisions in academics and curriculum.

Another way school districts can attract open enrollment students is though on-line and broadcasts courses.

Manawa broadcasts AP Calculus using interactive television and will soon broadcast a Medical Terminology course to other schools.

“We continue to collaborate with other districts in part-time open enrollment to offer coursework to students from other districts,” said Braun.

Manawa also has a drop out retention program to help students who are failing in the traditional school setting earn a high school diploma.

Over time New London has experienced a net loss in students due to open enrollment. In the 2008-09 school-year 59 students enrolled out and 37 enrolled into the district. District Administrator Bill Fitzpatrick the district is looking at the root cause.

“Those leaving at an early age tend to do so for convenience of the family in securing day care, before or after school. Later in the school experience, students and their families have become informed consumers seeking customized learning experiences that may not be available at their school,” Fitzpatrick explained.

New London had 72 open enrolled students leaving the district and 35 open enrolled into the district for the 2009-10 school year.

“We have noticed a significant increase in the number of students seeking instruction from on-line sources including virtual schools,” said Fitzpatrick. “We are responding to those trends by creating more interactive curricula that includes project-based and rigorous learning opportunities. These include Project Lead the Way and Biomedical Sciences. We have also developed a greater on-line presence for our students,” he said.

New London is also including a blended approach where students are able to combine the access to course materials on-line combined with the face-to-face interaction with their teacher and students in other schools in the region and elsewhere.

The neighboring Hortonville Area School District (HASD) has also experienced a net loss of students through open enrollment. In both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years HASD had 15 students transfer in and 35 transfer out. According to District Administrator Bill Prijic, the loss of those students hasn’t necessitated any significant cuts to date.

Many of the outdoing transfers were due to the lack of all-day kindergarten. “The board implemented full day kindergarten in 2009-10 and will likely implement 4-year old kindergarten soon,” said Prijic. They are also pursuing the creation of a Charter School.

Parents can apply on line directly from the open enrollment Web site at http://dpi.wi.gov/sms/psctoc.html. The online application will be available from midnight Feb. 1 until 4 p.m. Feb. 19.

Paper applications can be obtained from the DPI or any public school district. Paper application forms must be received by the nonresident school district no earlier than Feb. 1 and no later than 4 p.m. Feb. 19. A postmark for paper forms will not meet the requirement.

Parents may submit applications to up to three nonresident school districts for each child during the open enrollment application period.

Parents may request enrollment in a specific school or program in the nonresident school district; however, enrollment in the requested school or program is subject to space and other limitations and is not guaranteed.

Most students who attended a nonresident school district under open enrollment last year are not required to reapply for the 2010-11 school year. However, if the student will be entering middle school, junior high school, or high school in the 2010-11 school year, parents should call the nonresident school district to find out if reapplication will be required.

Parents may apply for their children to attend 4-year-old kindergarten under open enrollment only if the resident school district also offers a 4-year-old kindergarten program for which the child is eligible.

More information is available from local school districts or from an open enrollment consultant at DPI, 888-245-2732 (toll-free), or openenrollment @dpi.wi.gov.

Robert Cloud, County Post West Editor, contributed to this story.

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