Appellants Marlin Jeffers and Melody Hamil are the divorced parents of Brian Jeffers. Brian is currently a third-grader attending the Woodbury Central Community School District. During the time that his parents were married, Brian and his family lived in the Sioux City Community School District. On December 12, 1995, Brian's open enrollment application to attend Woodbury Central Community School District wasapproved by the Sioux City Board for a period of 13 years. In November 1998, Brian's parents separated and began maintaining separate residences within the Sioux City District. They made the decision to cancel the open enrollment agreement with Woodbury Central and enrolled Brian in the Sioux City Community School District for the remainder of his second-grade year.

Brian's experience of changing to a new school in the middle of his second-grade year proved to worsen both his depression and his adjustment to his parents' separation and divorce, which was final in April 1999. Brian's parents, therefore, filed another open enrollment application on September 13, 1999, for Brian to switch back to the Woodbury Central Community School District to continue his education. The Sioux City Board denied the Appellants' late-filed open enrollment request for Brian at its meeting on September 28, 1999, because it was filed late without good cause. Brian's parents appealed the Board's denial of their open enrollment application.

The present situation presents an appropriate occasion for the use of the State Board's discretionary power under Iowa Code ?282.18(18)(1999). It was undisputed at the appeal hearing that Brian's depression is largely the result of a change in custody due to his parents' separation and divorce. It was also undisputed that his depression worsened when he changed schools in the middle of his second-grade year. Brian's doctor concluded that his depression has been improving since he changed back to Woodbury Central at the beginning of his third-grade year. We conclude that it is in Brian's best interest to continue in the Woodbury Central Community School District.

It is recommended that the decision of the Sioux City Community School District's Board of Directors made on September 28, 1999, denying Appellants' late-filed request for open enrollment for their son, Brian Jeffers, for the 1999-2000 school year, be reversed under the provisions of Iowa Code ?282.18(18)(1999).