DATE:
March 11, 2021
TO:
Principals
Assistant Principals
Attendance Secretaries
Financial Secretaries
FROM:
Michael Anderson, Associate Superintendent
Travis Hamblin, Director, Student Services
Caleb Olson, Consultant, Planning & Enrollment
SUBJECT:
Accepting and/or Denying Late Enrollment Permit Applications
Permit applications submitted after the third (3rd) Friday of February for the following school year or any permit for the current school year must be determined by the “adjusted capacity” of the school. The adjusted capacity is the total number of students who could be served in a school if each teacher were to have a class size based on the staffing ratio for each grade level (§53G-6-401). Late enrollment permit acceptance is determined by the staffing ratio as follows:
- Elementary schools use the student to teacher ratio for each grade level to determine if there is space available.
- Secondary schools use the student to teacher ratio for each core class within each grade level to determine if space is available.
Schools must use the following standards for accepting and/or rejecting an application (§53G-6-403):
The standards for accepting or rejecting an application for enrollment may include:
- For an elementary, the capacity of the grade level;
- Not offering, or having capacity in, an elementary or secondary special education or other special program the student requires;
- Maintenance of reduced class sizes (Title I, or school trust money used to reduce class sizes);
- Willingness of prospective students to comply with district policies; and
- Giving priority to intradistrict transfers over interdistrict transfers.
The standards for accepting or rejecting an application for enrollment may NOT include:
- Previous academic achievement;
- Athletic or other extracurricular ability;
- The fact that the student requires special education services for which space is available;
- Proficiency in the English language; or
- Previous disciplinary proceedings, except as follows:
- There has been a serious infraction of the law of school rules;
- The student has been guilty of chronic misbehavior which would, if it were to continue after the student was admitted:
- Endanger persons or property;
- Cause serious disruptions in the school; or
- Place unreasonable burdens on school staff.
Using the waitlist in PowerSchool and the standards listed above, permit applications are granted (seated) by the school on a first-come, first-served basis for the entire school year.
Regardless of acceptance or denial, all applications submitted from December 1 to February 19 must be notified of the status of their application by April 2. Applications submitted after February 21 must be notified within two weeks. All applications are notified of their waitlist position when their permit application is processed. While this should satisfy the notification requirements, schools may desire to send an additional notification if they do not plan to accept any permits. Please contact Caleb at x88251 should you have any questions.
