Open Enrollment

We are so excited to be one of the 'schools of choice' for families who are locating or relocating to the Cedar Valley! So far this year we have welcomed over 30 new Pirates to our galleon under resident student or open enrollment status since August 23rd. 

This is the natural time of year where we field a lot of questions regarding the enrollment of students: who is classified as a resident student, what non-resident students [are], and ultimately how open enrollment works. As a start, resident students are those who live within the boundaries of the Hudson Community School District and do so for the purpose of making a home. In other words, if you are living in the district for the sole purpose of attending school, or living in another district, you are not a resident student and subsequently cannot attend Hudson Schools. 

That is unless you file for open enrollment. Open enrollment is designed as a 'choice option' for students and families that wish to attend another public school outside their resident district. But as most of you know, open enrollment isn't necessarily a slam dunk. As a start, new open enrollment paperwork must be on file in both the receiving and resident district(s) by March 1st (or September 1st for kindergarten students). That means for the school year we are currently in, students who are attending under open enrollment filed that paperwork prior to this past March 1. If that happens, in most cases the receiving school district can unilaterally act to accept that open enrollment application. And by the way once you file and are approved, you don't have to reapply each year. Your open enrollment is valid until you as parent decide that you no longer want to attend that district and instead wish to return to the home (or resident) district. Plus, once you are established under open enrollment, siblings are also automatically granted open enrollment status once they are of school age, so as to not to have children attending in different school districts. 

However, there are a few distinctions where the resident district has to approve the application first. And in many cases these requests are denied.

The first and most common is if the resident district has a voluntary diversity plan. There are five school districts in Iowa with voluntary diversity plans: Davenport, Des Moines, Postville, Waterloo, and West Liberty. Because Hudson is contiguous with Waterloo, the voluntary diversity plan oftentimes comes into play. It is very typical for a family from Waterloo to file open enrollment paperwork from Waterloo to Hudson and then have it denied. Keep in mind, Hudson can only act on an open enrollment application from Waterloo if they first approve it. 

Second, a resident district also has authority to act first if the applicant alleges pervasive harassment. Sometimes a family will file for open enrollment under Iowa's bullying and harassment law, but prior to granting that request, it must be demonstrated that attempts to remedy the situation have been unsuccessful. For example, if the school district has been informed of the allegation, administered discipline to the offending party, and made other accommodations to protect the safety of the student, and the harassment continues; then the resident district can grant open enrollment. However, in cases where open enrollment is proposed as the first option, those applications are typically denied because the district has to first be given the opportunity to remedy the problem. 

Another reason where the resident district is required to act first is if there is a serious health need. Again, the onus on approval rests with the resident district and is usually only considered as a last option. If, after working with the school district a workable solution isn't possible then open enrollment may be granted. Yet like those applicants who want to open enroll due to pervasive harassment, when it is proposed as the first option it is almost always denied.

Open enrollment for pervasive bullying and harassment and a serious health need are both considered 'good cause open enrollment'. Outside those two reasons, school districts do have the authority to grant open enrollment outside the March 1 deadline with no good cause if both school districts agree. This is solely a local decision and incredibly rare, generally contemplated case by case when considering unusual circumstances.

Perhaps to the outside observe this all seems somewhat trivial because at the end of the day students are students, right? If only it were that simple. You see, the distinction is critically important and we are about to start a process of sorting and accounting for all our students: those who are residents attending Hudson, those who are non-residents attending Hudson; those who are residents attending another school district, and on and on. It is important because in Iowa, the amount of funding we have to operate our school is dependent on the number of students we serve in our classrooms. For those students who attend a school other than their resident school: that funding ends up in the other district. This is why we ask the questions we do, and require they paperwork needed for enrollment.

At the end of the day we are honored and humbled that Hudson is your school of choice. We want as many of your children here as we can get. We just need to ensure we do it in the right way. 

School is Now in Session

It takes a lot of people to get kindergarten through the lunch
line at the beginning of the school year!

Well, the first day of school is now in the rear view mirror and routines have, for the most part been established. Yesterday was the last 'first day' when our preschool students started class, so we now have everyone here and are off and running. All systems are basically, normal? Generally when people ask me how the first day of school went, my 'tongue in cheek' response is that I have only three main goals when it comes to the first day of school: get everyone here safely, make sure everyone has lunch, and get everyone home safely. While it may sound as if the bar is relatively low in terms of first day expectations, those three things are pretty big evolutions in a school day. One of the things I have learned from my many years in education is that on the first day of school the buses are never on time, it takes a long time to get kindergarten through the lunch line, and the end of the day can be likened to organized chaos while we make sure all the students get on the right bus. That said, our first day was a success and while it may only seem like yesterday, today marks day 8!

After we get the first day figured out, the expectations increase exponentially. Classroom routines are  practiced and have been established, specials are in full swing, high school schedules are set, and the first sets of assessments are just around the corner. Most importantly, high quality instruction is now underway! Our fall sports seasons have now entered competition with both the football and volleyball teams beginning last week and the first cross country meet of the year scheduled for tomorrow night. We are also super excited to see the return of the fall play this year, which as I understand it, the cast list was announced late last week. You'll want to mark your calendars now, the fall play is scheduled for November 8-9!

The success of our first week and a half of school can largely be attributed to the commitment and long hours put in by our staff. Our custodians had to work late into the evening, on weekends, and even had to put some vacation time on hold to make certain the buildings were ready to go. Our construction workers also had to keep their foot on the gas to ensure construction in the lower elementary was finished before the arrival of the staff. And of course the teachers! When we knew it was going to be close to the deadline for open house, I explained my expectation for that evening. We reassured these teachers the most important thing for students and parents was to meet their teachers, find their locker, and drop off supplies. It mattered not if they had bulletin boards up or rooms fully decorated. It may not have mattered to you or me, but it sure mattered to them. When I walked the halls shortly before 5:00 that evening the rooms looked amazing, by far surpassing expectations!

Enrollment continues to rise at Hudson Schools!

So on our first day of school we opened up with 754 students, an increase of six over the first day last year. At the same time, we had 30 brand new Pirates that started with us on August 23rd. While not an apples to apples comparison, you have to look all the way back to 2006-2007 to see a higher enrollment number. Indeed this is unofficial and will change between now and October 1st, which is the day we will officially lock in the number. It may surprise you to know that enrollment remains fluid. Since starting school we have had a few additions to our student body. This will certainly continue with both additions and subtractions as we make our way to Count Day on October 1st.

In any event, it is great to have our hallways filled with students again! Hope you all have a great year and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!