{"id":5812,"date":"2022-08-19T01:37:22","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T01:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/2022\/08\/19\/open-enrollment-some-notes-on-treating-each-other-well\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T19:50:18","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T19:50:18","slug":"open-enrollment-some-notes-on-treating-each-other-well","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/open-enrollment-some-notes-on-treating-each-other-well\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Enrollment: Some Notes on Treating Each Other Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Over the last two weeks, I\u2019ve done a lot of reading state law and local district policies on enrolling nonresident pupils. That\u2019s allowed me to write our Prichard Committee \u201cjust-the-facts-ma\u2019am\u201d explainer<\/a>. In the process, I\u2019ve also formed some opinions about how these changes can be handled to work constructively (or as constructively as possible) for students, staff, families, and communities. They\u2019re my starting thoughts, and I\u2019ll share them here.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Susan Weston, Prichard Committee Senior Fellow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First, four suggestions for districts about admitting and serving nonresident students:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Define your \u201cenrollment capacity\u201d as 20 students per classroom teacher<\/u> under contract for the current school year (or a number in that ballpark). The 20 is an honest number for helping teachers set up classrooms that are responsive to individual needs. You don\u2019t have to use the higher numbers found in state class size caps as your capacity. If you start out below those caps, you have a little<\/u> space to fit in a few<\/u> late-arriving resident pupils. (20 isn\u2019t set in stone. If you look at district finances and need to set the number higher, that\u2019s respectable. If you look at your community commitments and want to set the number lower, that\u2019s exciting.)<\/li>\n
  2. Admit all the non-resident students who won\u2019t put you over capacity<\/u>. You have room, their families want them in your schools, and they\u2019re Kentucky kids. That should be enough. Don\u2019t prioritize or give preferences. Don\u2019t sort or evaluate children. Welcome them, treasure them, and teach them. (When the law says districts \u201cshall not discriminate between nonresident children,\u201d I think that already means you can\u2019t sort and prioritize, but I know you may read the law differently. So, if you do think the sorting can fit the law, let me appeal to public education values: I hope you won\u2019t try to pick and choose between the students who arrive at your schoolhouse door.)<\/li>\n
  3. Make admission permanent,<\/u> with a small exception if later enrollment changes could push you over capacity. An admitted student becomes part of your community. The best thing for the student is for that to be a settled matter unless rising numbers will substantially harm your ability to serve residents. Don\u2019t require a new application each year. Also, don\u2019t push students out of your schools based on issues like attendance, grades, or behavior: treasure your learners even when you find it challenging to serve them well. In Danville, we say \u201conce an Admiral, always an Admiral.\u201d Whatever version of that phrase your system uses, I hope you apply it to your non-resident students from the day you admit them until long after their 50th<\/sup> reunion.<\/li>\n
  4. Skip tuition<\/u>. You won\u2019t need the money. Your SEEK guarantee will go up for each student, and the state will pay the full<\/u> guarantee amount into your coffers, reduced only for any missed attendance days. The added funding will be enough to cover books and supplies and furniture and other dollar costs the student adds, and you won\u2019t admit students who require you to hire more teachers. Plus, tuition won\u2019t bring in many dollars. You\u2019ll have to waive tuition for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches*, so the fees will only affect a small fraction of learners and their families. (I agree with the Department of Education that tuition is unconstitutional. If you disagree on that, I hope you\u2019ll still consider this other argument I\u2019m making: you can afford to be welcoming and kind by skipping the tuition, so I think you should.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Second, a quick thought for \u201csending districts,\u201d meaning the folks in communities where some resident students will move to another district. I know that\u2019s going to be challenging. Even small enrollment shifts can bring substantial disruptions. In all districts, and especially in small ones, even a handful of students leaving can require a staffing cut, and that cut may mean bigger classes or fewer course options. In all districts and especially in those that have already been handling declining enrollment, challenges may arrive faster and harder because of this legal change. I promise my notes above are not arguments in favor of the new law: I\u2019d need to study for a lot longer before I could take a position on a change this big. Instead, since the change is now in Kentucky law, my thoughts are only about working with that fact and implementing the new rules in ways that are responsible, constructive and kind.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019d love to learn from perspectives and concerns I haven\u2019t addressed here, so please do share thoughts if you have them.<\/p>\n

    * Above, I mentioned Kentucky\u2019s requirement to waive fees for student eligible for free or reduced-price meals. If you want to check out those rules, they\u2019re found in <\/em>KRS 160.330<\/a> and 702 KAR 3:220<\/a>.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Over the last two weeks, I\u2019ve done a lot of reading state law and local district policies on enrolling nonresident pupils. That\u2019s allowed me to write our Prichard Committee \u201cjust-the-facts-ma\u2019am\u201d explainer. In the process, I\u2019ve also formed some opinions about how these changes can be handled to work constructively (or as constructively as possible) for students, staff, families, and communities. They\u2019re my starting thoughts, and I\u2019ll share them here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-policy-matters"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6186,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5812\/revisions\/6186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}