ADMINISTRATIVE RULE 432.1

 AR432.1 -  Elementary Intra-District Transfer (IDT)

Any resident student requesting to attend a school other than his/her designated elementary attendance area must complete an application for Intra-District Transfer prior to the initial school year of requested attendance (initial placement) or when requesting a building change from the previous year.  Application for Intra-District Transfer does not need to be made annually after approval of the initial placement if the student is continuing to attend the same school.  Elementary Intra-District Transfer Application forms will be made available to parents in the office of each elementary school as well as on the District website.

Per Board Policy 432 - School Attendance Areas, placement priority is always given to students attending elementary school in his/her assigned attendance area.

For those seeking Intra-District Transfer, consideration and placement priority is given in the following order:

FIRST PRIORITY:  Students who attended the requested school during the previous school year (already placed IDT, Open Enrollment students, or previous resident students who have moved to a different elementary resident area within the school year).  Within the Intra-District Transfer (IDT) process, students enrolled in Early Childhood or a 4K section housed in a District school are not considered as having attended the elementary school for the prior year.  

SECOND PRIORITY:  Students who have a sibling already in attendance at the requested school through the IDT or Open Enrollment process.

THIRD PRIORITY:  Students residing in the School District of Fort Atkinson seeking initial or new IDT placement.

FOURTH PRIORITY:  Students attending the School District of Fort Atkinson through Open Enrollment seeking a new building placement.

Placement is subject to administrative approval and based largely on available space as well as overall balance of class sizes district-wide.  Some rationale may not be considered in IDT requests.  This includes but is not limited to, family member being an alumni of the requested elementary school, family friends that attend a particular elementary school, or a desire to keep students with 4K classmates and/or Early Childhood peers.  A lottery will be used as necessary.  Transportation is the responsibility of the family.

Annual Deadline for Application = April 30th

NOTE - If April 30th falls on a non-work day, applications are due by the immediate following Monday by 4pm.

At the discretion of the building principals, an IDT request may be considered outside of the annual deadline on a case-by-case basis.  These applications are still subject to the placement priority and considerations listed above.  Families requesting IDT will receive confirmation of placement after the close of online elementary registration in August.  

Open Enrollment student building requests, per State law, will be made by April 30^th annually.  By State law, as of the first Monday in June annually, the School District will inform Open Enrollment families as to the student’s initial building placement.  Families requesting Open Enrollment will receive confirmation of placement after the close of online elementary registration in August.  Open Enrollment families desiring a different building placement, shall discuss such request with affected principals.  

In the event that the District makes changes to overall elementary section numbers, or any other decision that impacts the total available student placements per building, Open Enrollment students may be considered first for reassignment to a different District elementary school.  Following the reassignment of Open Enrollment students, an IDT student may be returned to his/her (original) resident attendance area school or moved to another elementary school in the District with available placement(s) based on the reverse of the priority list stated above.  The current building principal will contact the family to alert them of the change in placement and the inability to continue to honor the IDT request.  At that time, if a sibling is also in attendance as an IDT student, as possible, transfer to the newly assigned school will be offered to that/those students as well.  

In the event that the School District of Fort Atkinson asks a District resident family if they are willing to volunteer to Intra-District Transfer their student(s) to a non-resident school area to achieve a District identified need, those students, as well as any siblings currently enrolled in elementary school or siblings thereafter, would then be considered “resident students” of that particular Elementary School for the duration of the family’s enrollment in Fort Atkinson elementary schools.

Application Process:

1. Parents desiring to make application for a new Elementary Intra-District Transfer or parents desiring to make a change from a previous year’s Intra-District Transfer must complete an application form (Exhibit # 1).
2. Completed applications for Intra-District Transfer must be received at your Board policy designated resident elementary school (AR 432) by April 30th.  A meeting will be scheduled to review the Intra-District Transfer Policy and will take place between the parent(s)/guardian(s) and the school’s Principal or designee.
3. The file of applications received will be reviewed by the elementary principals.
4. Principals will approve or deny applications based on parent(s)/guardian(s) and principal or designee communication as well as the review of the priorities and considerations listed here.
5. When application decisions have been reached in August after the completion of online registration, principals will notify parent(s)/guardian(s) of the decision in writing (Exhibit #2, #3 & #4) and a copy of the IDT application and placement confirmation will be placed in the student’s permanent file.
6. If the student is placed in a non-resident school through a voluntary District-requested IDT, a letter documenting this placement will be placed in the student’s permanent file.