Appellant filed a timely application for her child to open enroll out of the Des Moines Independent Community School District for the 2000-2001 school year. Jessica Martin, a non-minority, will enter kindergarten and is assigned to attend Oak Park Elementary School. Mrs. Martin applied for open enrollment to Saydel for the following reasons: The Martins plan to move to Saydel some time during the next year, and they do not want Jessica to have to attend two different schools for kindergarten. The Martins are concerned about the reading program at Oak Park Elementary, but have sought no specific information about that program. The Martins' home in Des Moines has not yet been placed on the market and they have not yet made an offer on property in Saydel.

Dr. Jeschke, Executive Director of Student Services for the District, said that at the point when the Martins have an accepted offer on property in Saydel, the Des Moines District would immediately approve Jessica's application into the Saydel District. Dr. Jeschke also assured Mrs. Martin that the reading program at Oak Park Elementary is a good one and invited her to meet with the teachers there to discuss it. The Martins' application for open enrollment was denied on March 14, 2000, because the District determined that the departure of this student would adversely affect the composite ratio of minority to non-minority students for the District as a whole.

If the Des Moines District did not have a desegregation plan, there is no question that these parents could open enroll their child as requested, as long as their application was filed in a timely manner. However, the District does have such a plan. The District's open enrollment policy contains objective criteria for determining when open enrollment transfers would adversely impact its desegregation plan as required by Iowa Code ?282.18(2)(1999). The District's open enrollment policy was upheld by the Polk County District Court in Des Moines Ind. Comm. Sch. Dist. v. Iowa Dept. of Education, AA2432(June 1, 1995). That decision upheld the Des Moines District Board's right to deny timely-filed open enrollment applications using the building-closed-to-open-enrollment provision and the district-wide composite ratio.

The facts in the record at the appeal hearing do not show that the District's policy was inappropriately or incorrectly applied to the facts of Jessica Martin's case.

That the decision of the Board of Directors of the Des Moines Independent Community School District, made on March 14, 2000, that denied Appellant's open enrollment request, be affirmed.