The Peninsula School District will do something it hasn’t done in a decade — allow out-of-district transfers.
In a 3-0 decision, the Peninsula School District Board of Directors voted last Thursday to allow out-of-district transfers — for now. The change in policy comes as the district anticipates about 300 fewer students in the district next school year. The district also released 359 students to other districts this school year.
“The policy would create a level playing field for our district,” PSD Superintendent Terry Bouck said.
Directors Jill Uddenberg and Matt Wilkinson were the only two board members present. Jill Guernsey, president of the board, voted via teleconference.
The policy outlines seven criteria standards for accepting out-of-district transfers. Two deal with sufficient and appropriate space and staff to accommodate new students. Others deal with making sure the transfer will have “real and meaningful” improvements for the student and making sure students aren’t negatively affecting the health and safety of other students.
The district also can weigh the financial hardship of the transfer request.
The policy also outlines student conduct as a main criterion for acceptance. During the application process, the district will review student records to see if they have a history of violent or disruptive behavior, or whether the student has been suspended or expelled for more than 10 consecutive days.
Prior to the new policy, only students who lived in a district without a secondary program or children of full-time classified or certified employees could transfer into the Peninsula School District.
Guernsey also made sure the policy still focused on in-district students first.
“(This is) fill in, after we do what we need to do for our students first,” she said.
Acceptance of the application lasts one school year, the policy reads.
Termination of out-of-district admission can occur if the district no longer has the appropriate programs or space, health risks, application omission or misrepresentation, or financial hardships for the district.
The policy also gives the district the right of refusal of any application for specific programs, grade levels, buildings or the district itself.
Henderson Bay High School Principal Dan Gregory was in attendance and called the policy a “very good product.”
“The policy came up as we were naturally looking at revisions,” Bouck said.
Bouck said the next step is to create an application for interested transfer students.
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