Appellants moved into the Southeast Warren District in March of 1997. Tyna was in seventh grade and Anthony was in ninth grade. The children have done well academicaly. However, Appellants want to open enroll into the Indianola District for two reasons. First, Tyna has experienced difficulty in finding friends in the District and she has come home crying from school because of peer problems. The superintendent testified that he was not aware of any problems, but that didn't mean there weren't some.

The second reason relates to the physical condition of the schools in the District. Mr. Richie testified that the problem appears to stem from the inability of the District to decide whether to build a new single location elementary school, or to divide the elementary school in half with K-3 in Milo, and 4-6 in Lacona.

Appellants filed for open enrollment on April 27, 1998 and their applications were denied on May 11, 1998, because they were filed past the January 1 deadline. The District does not have a written open enrollment policy which requires parents to file applications before January 1. It also publishes notice of the open enrollment deadlines each year.

We saw no error in the decisions of the Board to deny Appellants' open enrollment applications. Their decisions were consistent with state law and the rules of the Iowa Department of Education.

That the decisions of the Board of Directors of the Southeast Warren Community School District, made on May 11, 1998, denying Appellants' late-filed requests for open enrollment were affirmed.