Out of District Transfers

Ator Elementary

Bailey Elementary

Owasso High School

The school district will not accept or deny a transfer based on ethnicity, national origin, gender, income level, disabling condition, proficiency in the English language, measure of achievement, aptitude, or athletic ability. 

Transfers that have previously been approved by the school district will remain in effect for future school years unless the district provides notification to the parent or legal guardian that the transfer is not going to be continued for an upcoming school year due to disciplinary action or attendance issues. The district will not require parents to resubmit a new application each school year and will advance the previous application of an enrolled student amending only the grade placement of the student. 

The school district will begin accepting applications for the next school year starting May 1st. Receipt of properly completed applications will be documented by the district so that the district may review those applications in the order submitted for purposes of capacity limitations. The administration will not approve or deny transfers received for the next school year until after the July 1st capacity data is determined for each grade level and site within the school district. 

A transfer may be requested at any time in the school year. State law does limit the ability of a student to transfer no more than two (2) times per school year to one or more school districts in which the student does not reside. Exceptions to this limit will exist for students in foster care. Students are legally entitled to re-enroll at any time in his or her school district of residence. Any brother or sister of a student who transfers may attend the school district to which their sibling transferred so long as the sibling does not meet a basis for denial as listed below. A separate application must be filed for each student so that the district can timely consider requests in the order applications are received. If there are more than one District school sites available for the transferring student, the District retains the sole discretion to determine the school site the transferring student will attend. 

A student who has attended school as a resident student for at least three years prior to moving out of the school district may be allowed to transfer into the district regardless of capacity.  Such a student's application will be reviewed utilizing only disciplinary records and attendance in the determination of the transfer request.

It is the policy of the Board of Education that any legally transferring student shall be accepted by the district under the following circumstances:

1. The district has the capacity to accept the student at the grade level at the school site;

2. The transferring student has not been disciplined for:

   1. violation of a school regulation,

   2. possession of an intoxicating beverage, low-point beer, as defined by Section 163.2 of Title 37 of the Oklahoma Statutes, or missing or stolen property if the property is reasonably suspected to have been taken from a student, a school employee, or the school during school activities, or 

   3. possession of a dangerous weapon or a controlled dangerous substance while on or within two thousand (2,000) feet of public school property, or at a school event, as defined in the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Act.

3. The transferring student does not have a history of absences. “History of absences” means ten or more absences in one semester that are not excused for the reasons provided in 70 O.S. § 10-105 or due to illness. 

By the first day of January, April, July, and October, the Board of Education shall establish the number of transfer students the district has the capacity to accept in each grade level for each school site within the district. The number of transfer students for each grade level at each site that the district has the capacity to accept will be posted in a prominent place on the school district’s website. The district shall report to the State Department of Education the number of transfer students for each grade level for each school site which the district has the capacity to accept. 

The Superintendent, or his or her designee, shall report to the Board of Education the capacity for transfer students at each grade level and each school site. The number of authorized teaching positions, classrooms available, and class size at each grade level and each site, and/or other such factors shall be reported to the Board when determining the capacities at each site. After review of the report, the Board shall approve the capacity for transfer students at each grade level and each school site as it deems appropriate. The Superintendent or his or her designee shall report to OSDE and publish on the district website the capacities determined by the Board. 

A student shall be allowed to transfer to a district in which the parent or legal guardian of the student is employed. 

The school district shall enroll transfer students in the order in which they submit their applications. If the number of student transfer applications exceeds the capacity of the district, the district shall select transfer students in the order in which the district received the application. If a student is denied a transfer because of capacity limitations, the parents may choose to add the transfer request to a waitlist, in which case transfers would be granted in the order in which they are received in the event that space becomes available for a specific school and/or grade.

Students who are the dependent children of a member of the active uniformed military services of the United States on full-time active-duty status and students who are the dependent children of the military reserve on active duty orders shall be eligible for admission to the school district regardless of the capacity of the district. Students shall be eligible for military transfer if:

1. At least one parent of the student has a Department of Defense-issued identification card; and

2. At least one parent can provide evidence that he or she will be on active-duty status or active-duty orders, meaning the parent will be temporarily transferred in compliance with official orders to another location in support of combat, contingency operation, or a national disaster requiring the use of orders for more than thirty (30) consecutive days. 

If a student with a disability applies for a transfer, the student must supply all documentation of the resident district relating to the student’s previous and current IEPs and Section 504 Accommodation Plans so that this district may: 

1. Determine whether the district currently has appropriate programs, staff, services, and placement needed to fulfill the current or anticipated IEP or Section 504 Accommodation Plan of the student; and

2. If a preliminary determination is made that the district has the appropriate programs, staff, services, and placement needed to fulfill the current IEP or Section 504 Accommodation Plan of the student if the transfer application is approved, conduct the statutorily-required joint IEP or Section 504 conference with the district of residence before a final determination of approval or denial is made. Notwithstanding the provisions of this policy, students with disabilities may be educated in this district pursuant to special education cooperative agreements between this district and other school districts. Such transfers will not be deemed to be parent-initiated or student-initiated transfer applications governed by this policy.

Notwithstanding the provisions of this policy, students with disabilities may be educated in this district pursuant to special education cooperative agreements between this district and other school districts. Such transfers will not be deemed to be parent-initiated or student-initiated transfer applications governed by this policy. 

If the transfer application is accepted, the district shall notify the parents of the acceptance. The parent shall provide the district with written notification that the student will be enrolling within ten (10) days of notification of acceptance. Failure to notify the school district within ten (10) days of acceptance shall result in the cancellation of the transfer.  The district will provide written notice of the cancellation to the parent of the student immediately upon cancellation. If accepted, a student transfer is granted for the existing school year, and may continue to attend in future years. At the end of the school year, the district may deny the continued transfer of the student due to disciplinary reasons or a history of absences. Written notice via hand-delivery, U.S. Mail, or email of the intention to deny a continued transfer of the student shall be given to a parent of a student no later than July 15. The parent may appeal the denial of a continued transfer.

If a transfer request is denied by the school district, the district shall provide notification of the denial in writing to the parent by either hand delivery, by U.S. Mail, or electronic mail. The notification shall include:

1. An explanation including but not limited to any citation to the statute, regulation, or school district policy under which the denial was made;

2. A copy of the policy adopted by the district for determining the number of transfer students the school district has the capacity to accept;

3. The date upon which the appeal will be due.

If a transfer request is denied by the administration, the parent or legal guardian of the student may appeal the denial within ten (10) days of notification of denial to the Board of Education. The Board of Education shall consider the appeal at its next regularly scheduled board meeting if notice is provided prior to the statutory deadline for posting the agenda for the meeting. If notice is after the deadline for posting, the board may consider the appeal at a special meeting of the Board of Education. 

The appeal to the board of education shall be submitted to the office of the superintendent.  The appeal shall include the following:

1. The name, address and telephone number of the parent of the student and the student for whom the appeal is being taken;

2. The date the district gave notice denying the transfer request;

3. The basis for appealing the decision of the school district; and

4. The name, address and telephone number of the legal representative, if applicable.

Appeal process:  During the appeal, the board will review the action of the administration and the appeal paperwork submitted by the parent of the student to make sure that the district policy was followed with regard to the denial of the transfer. The board of education will meet in an executive session to review the educational records of the student. If the policy was not followed, the board of education shall return to open session to vote to overturn the denial and the transfer will be granted. This will be a paper appeal and will include the written documentation utilized by the school district as well as a written response from the parent or legal guardian which explains why the policy was not followed.

If the board of education votes to deny an appeal of a request to transfer, the board of education shall instruct the superintendent to provide notification of denial in writing to the parent of the student by either hand-delivery, by U.S. Mail, or by electronic mail.  The notification shall include:

1. An explanation, including the legal citation to the statute, regulation, or school district policy under which the denial was made;

2. A copy of the policy adopted by the board of education for determining the number of transfer students the district has the capacity to accept;

3. A copy of the State Board of Education’s prescribed form for an appeal; and

4. A copy of 210:10-1-18.1 identifies the Accreditation standard for appealing the denial of a student transfer. 

If the board of education votes to uphold the denial of the transfer, the parent or legal guardian may appeal the denial within ten (10) days of the notification of the appeal denial to the State Board of Education. The parent or legal guardian shall submit to the State Board of Education and to the superintendent of the district, a notice of appeal on the form prescribed by the State Board of Education. The superintendent shall immediately provide a copy of the appeal to each member of the board of education. Upon receipt of notice of an appeal, but not later than five (5) days prior to the date at which the State Board of Education is scheduled to consider the appeal the board of education may submit a written response to the appeal. Responses should not exceed five (5) pages. If not submitted by the parent, the board of education shall provide a copy of the policy adopted to determine the number of transfer students the district has the capacity to accept in each grade level for each school site within the district. The parent and the school district will have an opportunity to appear in person or by an authorized representative or an attorney to address the State Board at the meeting.

A student who enrolls in a school district in which the student is not a resident shall not be eligible to participate in school-related extramural athletic competition governed by the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association for a period of one (1) year from the first day of attendance at the receiving school unless the transfer is from a school district which does not offer the grade the student is entitled to pursue as per 70 O.S. § 8-103.2. 

REFERENCE: 70 O.S. §1-114, 70 O.S. §1-113, 70 O.S. §5-117.1, 70 O.S. §8-101, et seq., 70 O.S. §24-101, et seq.; §24-102,    Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, Atty. Gen. Op. No. 87-134, April 1, 1988, State Accreditation Standards 210:10-1-18 and 210:10-1-18.1