Appellants' applications were denied on the basis that they were filed late without good cause. During the hearing, Appellants testified that the District had failed to notify them of the open enrollment deadline. The evidence showed that the District's newsletter inadvertantly published last year's open enrollment deadline date. The Superintendent testified that the inaccurate date was due to a proofreading error; however, he further testified that the District does not publish notice of open enrollment deadlines in a newspaper.

Ms. Davis testified that she had not received a copy of the student handbook, where the District publishes the deadline, because she had registered her children over the telephone, and had received only a receipt for the registration fees she paid by check through the mail. The District acknowledged that it does not send the handbook to parents who register their children over the telephone.

There was no evidence presented that the District had accurately notified Appellants of the open enrollment deadline by any of the three ways listed in the applicable statute, Rule 17.3(2).

That the decisions of the Board of Directors of the Seymour Community School District made on February 19, 2001, and May 21, 2001, denying Appellants' open enrollment applications were reversed.