Seth Leaton ["Seth"], whose date of birth is August 22, 1988, is in the 9th grade for the 2002-2003 school year. His residence is in the Iowa City school district, and, at the time of the hearing, he was enrolled in the Iowa City District. On or about July 31, 2002, Appellant filed an open enrollment application with Seth's resident district, Iowa City, which was approved by the Iowa City Community School District Board of Directors on August 13, 2002. Notice of the approval then was sent by the Iowa City District to the Appellant and to the Clear Creek-Amana District for action by the latter. At its August 15, 2002 meeting, the Board of Directors of the Clear Creek-Amana Community School District denied the application. According to the minutes from that meeting, the application was denied "due to missing application deadline." On behalf of the Clear Creek-Amana District, Ms. Kern confirmed that the Board did not examine the facts, but denied the application solely for the foregoing stated reason.

On the fact of the application, one of the reasons given by the Appellant for filing the application after the January 1 deadline was that "Seth has been targeted by gang members at the school." Specific facts related to that reason were not covered at the appeal hearing because this appeal is resolved without development of the underlying facts. It is sufficient for purposes of this appeal that the application made a facial allegation that Seth was the victim of harassment at his resident district.

Iowa's open enrollment law, Iowa Code ? 282.18, was significantly amended by 2002 Iowa Acts, House File 2515. Effective July 1, 2002, the only local board decisions that may come before the State Board of Education on appeal are denials in which the application was filed after the January 1 deadline and alleged repeated acts of harassment of the student on whose behalf the application was filed. 2002 Iowa Acts, House File 2515, section 19. The only time that a parent or guardian may appeal a denial of open enrollment to the State Board of Education is the third scenario, where the application is late-filed and alleges repeated acts of harassment against the student. We conclude that the legislature deliberately preserved such appellate rights in cases where fairness and equity require a second look at an open enrollment denial to ensure that the best interests of the child are being served.

Ms. Kern confirmed at the hearing that the Clear Creek-Amana Board has not adopted a voluntary desegregation plan. Ms. Kern readily admitted that the only reason the Board of Clear Creek-Amana denied the open enrollment application was the untimeliness of the same. She stated that the Board simply misunderstood, and therefore, misapplied, the Open Enrollment Law. The Clear Creek-Amana Board, as the receiving district, had two options available to it, as follows: 1. It could have denied the application pursuant to one of three reasons. 2. Utilizing new Iowa Code section 282.18(16) [2002 Iowa Acts, House File 2515, section 22], it could have accepted the application.

That the decision of the Board of Directors of the Clear Creek-Amana Community School District made on August 15, 2002, to deny Appellant's open enrollment application for Seth Leaton for the 2002-2003 school year was reversed.