Open Enrollment

The Kuna School District recognizes the desire of some parents/guardians to enroll their children in a school other than their home school either within or outside the District. In addition, the District believes that the needs of neighborhood school students should be balanced with the needs of those requesting open enrollment transfers. To the extent possible, the Superintendent or designee will attempt to balance these desires and needs.

Open Enrollment Options
The Kuna School District Open Enrollment Process outlines the following enrollment options for parents/and guardians;
 * For students who reside in the District and move out of their home school zone during the school year and wish to stay in their school.
 * For students who reside in the District boundary, but wish to attend a school other than their home school.
 * For students who reside outside the District boundary and wish to attend a Kuna school.

Requests for open enrollment must be submitted annually and in accordance with the Open Enrollment Process.

A student who plans to participate in a varsity sport or activity governed by the Idaho High School Activities Association (IHSAA) should review IHSSA rules prior to submitting an Open Enrollment Application. Some school transfers will lead to a student being ineligible to participate at the varsity level for one calendar year (365 days).

Requesting Open Enrollment
Parents and guardians interested in applying for open enrollment may download and complete the Open Enrollment Application form(s) from the District web site (http://www.kunaschools.org) and submit the application to the District Office.

Open Enrollment Applications are accepted throughout the school year. Applications submitted during the District’s annual Open Enrollment Application Window, outlined below, will receive first priority in the open enrollment process.

Open Enrollment Applications will be evaluated in the order in which they are received and by the Enrollment Priorities outlined below.

Open Enrollment Application Window
Requests for Open enrollment will be accepted at any time throughout the year. Applications received during the "Open Enrollment Application Window" will receive priority for the upcoming school year.


 * The 2014-2015 Open Enrollment Application Window is from April 16, 2014 - May 9, 2014.

In coming years the Open Enrollment Application Window will be from March 1 – April 15.

Applications submitted during the open enrollment application window will receive notification of their open enrollment status within 30 dyas. The District may take up to sixty (60) days to respond to applications received outside the open enrollment application window.

Applications received after the open enrollment application window will be place on a waiting list. Applications on the waiting list will be processed as outlined in this document.

Enrollment Priorities
The Kuna School District is a growing district. In many situations the number of openings are limited, the Superintendent or designee may give priority to certain students. Priorities may include, but are not limited to the following:
 * Students who were enrolled the prior year under Open Enrollment at the requested school;
 * Students residing in the District boundary, but outside the home school zone, whose siblings attend the school;
 * Students residing in the District boundary, but outside the home school zone;
 * Students whose parents are employed by the District;
 * Students residing outside of the District boundary, whose siblings attend the school; and
 * Students residing outside of the District boundary.

The Superintendent or designee may deviate from the above priorities in order to take into consideration unique circumstances or extraordinary factors. The priorities listed above are in order of consideration for openings in space-limited schools. Vacancies will be filled until there are more applications than available vacancies in a category then a transparent lottery may be held for the applications in that category in order to fill remaining vacancies.

Applications received after the deadline will be considered based on space availability at the requested school.

Open Enrollment Restrictions
In order to effectively balance Open Enrollment requests and enrollment within the home school zone, open enrollment may be denied or restricted for the following reasons:
 * a school, grade, or program(s) has lack of available space and/or staff;
 * the current enrollment is at or above the following:
 * Grade Class/Teacher Load Size
 * the student has been suspended or expelled from school;
 * the student has a history of documented disciplinary infractions within the past 3 years; or
 * information on the Open Enrollment Application has been misrepresented or was incomplete.

Approval Process

 * 1) Parent/guardian completes the open enrollment application form annually and submits it to the District.
 * 2) The application is forwarded to the home school principal/designee who completes the appropriate section and sends the form to the receiving school principal/designee. Both principals make a recommendation regarding the application and return in to the District Office.
 * 3) The Superintendent/ designee approves or denies the Open Enrollment request and sends notification to the parent/guardian.

Parent Notification
The District will send parents/guardians a letter approving the request with the following information:
 * 1) Transportation to the requested school is the parents/guardian responsibility
 * 2) Inappropriate behavior, lack of academic progress, or poor attendance, are grounds for revoking a student’s open enrollment during the school year.

Notification of denied open enrollment requests will include an explanation, and should the application be denied due to capacity of the requested school, the denial may include enrollment information for schools with available space.

Revocation of a Transfer
The District reserves the right to remove an open-enrolled student at any time because of unacceptable behavior, false or misleading information on the open enrollment application, lack of academic progress, or poor attendance.

The principal or designee shall inform the parent/guardian of the circumstances which jeopardize the student’s status at the transfer school.

If a student’s open enrollment is revoked, the parent/guardian may request a review by the Superintendent or designee. A request for review must be received within five (5) school days of receiving official notice that the open enrollment has been revoked.

The Superintendnet or designeed will notify the parent/guardian of the Superintendent/designees decision within five (5) school days of the request for review. The decision of the Superintendent/designee is final.

Preventing or Recruiting Potential Open Enrollment Students
The District will take no action to prohibit or prevent application by its students to attend school in another school district or to attend another school within the District. In no case is an employee of the District to recruit students outside of their attendance area. Discipline for violation of this policy may involve actions up to and including dismissal.