FILE: JBCD
STUDENT TRANSFER AND WITHDRAWAL
TRANSFER
Students shall be required to attend the school in the attendance area in which the legal residence of their legal guardian is located. Students who wish to attend a school other than the one designated for their legal guardian’s resident attendance zone may apply for transfer when circumstances warrant. All requests for transfer shall be in writing, and shall include reasons for the transfer as well as other pertinent information that the School Board may require. In order to determine the cumulative effect of transfers, all transfer requests shall be submitted by the third Monday in July preceding the school year of the requested transfer. Only bona fide emergency transfers shall be considered after this date.
The Superintendent or his/her designee shall consider for approval all requests for student transfer if such transfer is determined to be in the best interests of the student and the school system. No school shall accept a student not residing in that school's attendance zone unless the student has an approved transfer application on file. Applications which are approved are for one school year only and must be renewed by application for subsequent years. Any decision made by the Superintendent or his/her designee regarding the transfer of a student may be appealed to the School Board for a final determination in accordance with state law.
Any student permitted to transfer shall provide his/her own transportation to school.
Types of Transfers
Transfer may be granted based on the following criteria.
Child Tending Services (grades K-6 only)
The transfer of a student from one school to another school located in close proximity to an agency (agency address must be appropriate for the new school zone) providing before and after school care for the student and is being compensated for providing such care. Before a child tending service transfer may be granted, it must be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the school system officials that the single parent or both parents work outside the home at least forty (40) hours per week and that the agency assigned child care duties before and after school actually provided such services.
Employee Privilege
Any employee of the Ouachita Parish School Board, who lives in Ouachita Parish (not in city of Monroe) is allowed to enroll their child in the school where the employee works. An employee of the Ouachita School Board designated to serve multiple schools in the Ouachita Parish, may enroll his/her child in Ouachita Parish Schools outside of their regularly zoned school. Once the student has completed the grades offered at the enrolled school, he/she may continue from the feeder school to the next school which receives the students from that feeder school per principal agreement. Such requests should be made at the beginning of the school year or at the time of the parent’s employment and shall be in effect for each year that the principal agrees per adherence to and fulfillment of the signed contract issued by the principal.
Family Hardship
An event or circumstances that would place a student in physical, mental, or academic jeopardy. Appropriate documentation of the hardship must be provided to the School Board. A student’s after-school work or childcare concerns is not considered a family hardship, nor is participation of the student in school extra-curricular activities.
Medical Hardship
A severe and/or life threatening medical problem of a student necessitating placement of the student in a particular school where immediate medical attention is more available. The student’s attending physician or other medical health care provider must specify in writing why the medical needs of the student mandate a transfer to another school and the dates of doctor visits or hospital stays due to the student’s medical condition. The School Board reserves the right to request additional medical information in the event that they find the information submitted in conjunction with such a request to be incomplete or insufficient.
Senior Privilege
If after a student’s eleventh grade year, his/her home attendance zone legally changes, the student may request to remain at the school where the eleventh grade year was completed.
Intervention
If school system officials feel that it is in the best interest of the student and the system to transfer a student from one school to another, they shall have the right to do so even in cases where parents have not requested transfer of the student.
Transfer Guidelines
All out-of-zone requests are considered and acted upon by the Child Welfare and Attendance Office. In the event a request is denied, the legal guardian may appeal in writing to the School Board. The decision of the School Board is final.
Transportation is not provided for students granted an out-of-zone transfer.
The student and legal guardian who is approved for an out-of-zone transfer shall be required to sign a contract at the approved school regarding attendance and discipline. If the contract is broken, the application is reconsidered and appropriate action will be determined by Superintendent/Office of Child Welfare and Attendance.
Falsifying any information on a request shall result in revocation of transfer approval. Changes in circumstances which allowed the transfer may require the student to return to the school in the residential attendance zone. A student who is attending a school outside his/her residential attendance area without prior approval shall be immediately dropped and re-enrolled in the school in the residential attendance zone.
A student who is attending a school outside his/her legal attendance zone without prior approval at the end of the Junior year shall lose the Senior privilege transfer option.
If at any time the Central Office is informed that a school is overcrowded, and the Superintendent confirms the report, that school shall be closed to out-of-zone transfers.
WITHDRAWAL
Students shall be required to attend school in accordance with statutory provisions. Students may be permitted to withdraw from school however, if approved by the Superintendent and School Board. Such withdrawal must be in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the School Board.
Revised: December, 2008
Revised: August, 2010
Revised: May, 2017
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:104.1, 17:105, 17:106, 17:108, 17:109, 17:111, 17:221, 17:226, 17:227
Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, Bulletin 741, Louisiana Department of Education
Board minutes, 5-9-17
Ouachita Parish School Board