Morgan Hill parents seeking an educational option for their children other than their neighborhood school can soon file applications with the Morgan Hill Unified School District.
On Jan. 10, applications will be accepted for the 2013-2014 school year for parents seeking one of the two options – an interdistrict transfer or choice placement, according to press release from MHUSD.
Choice placement is the process taken when parents prefer their child attend a school within the MHUSD that is not their neighborhood public school.
Those wishing for their child to leave the MHUSD must apply for an interdistrict transfer, according district staff. Parents must file this both with Morgan Hill and the district they want to send their child to. The same applies for those wishing to transfer from an outside district to the MHUSD.
Choice placement students and those transferring to Morgan Hill will be entered in a lottery – set forth by the California Education Code – for enrollment into their preferred school, the press release said. A lottery for students in grades 7-12 will be held the first week of February. For the youngsters, the K-6 lottery is not until fall of 2013.
As always, students who reside in the neighborhood will have priority for enrollment in that school, according to MHUSD staff. Following the placement of residents, they will be placed in schools as needed to fill program improvement requirements or make up for overflow at another location. Students who wish to attend a school via choice placement or an interdistrict transfer are chosen last and only if there are available spaces.
For the 2013-2014 school year, students who were placed in overflow in 2012 will be reassigned to their home school, district staff said. If parents prefer their child remain in their overflow school, they must apply for that school via choice placement.
After the student has been placed in a school through choice placement, that school becomes their home school until they apply for another school. This changes when a student moves up a level – such as from elementary to middle school – at that time their neighborhood school becomes their home school.
For interdistrict students, each year their enrollment in a Morgan Hill school must be renewed by the parent, according to district staff. The district can choose to continue or cancel a student’s enrollment after evaluating their attendance, grades and discipline records.
Parents should plan ahead as the district anticipates having a limited number of enrollment spaces for choice placement and interdistrict students in the upcoming school year, district staff said. Because of high enrollment there will be no interdistrict transfer requests honored for Nordstrom Elementary School, Britton Middle School or Sobrato High School. Students may attend their home school unless otherwise notified by the district.Â
