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Decision Number
197
Book
26
Month
March
Year
2012
In RE
Kathryn K.
Appellant
Jacqueline and Phillip Kuhr
Appellee
Hamburg Community School District
Full Text
Summary

Mr. and Mrs. Kuhr seek reversal of the January 30, 2012 decision of the local board of directors of the Hamburg Community School District to deny the open enrollment request filed on behalf of Kathryn.

The controlling statute for this appeal is the open enrollment law, Iowa Code section 282.18 (2011), and the exception to the statutory filing deadline of March 1 in 282.18(5) regarding applications that seek open enrollment due to "repeated acts of harassment of the student" or a "serious health condition of the student that the resident district cannot adequately address." The sole issue is whether the State Board can find that the Hamburg school board erred in denying the late-filed open enrollment application filed on behalf of Kathryn.

A local school board has authority under the open enrollment law to approve late-filed open enrollment applications if the local board believes that the parent has demonstrated either repeated acts of harassment of the student or a serious health condition of the student that the resident district cannot adequately address. The evidence shows that none of the six criteria regarding severe health need were met. The gist of the criteria is that school officials must have been made aware of a serious health condition and given a chance to address the child's health needs.

There was no evidence presented to the local school board of an objectively hostile school environment. The State Board of Education concludes that the Hamburg school board did not err when it denied the late open enrollment application filed on behalf of Kathryn.

The decision of the Board of Directors of the Hamburg Community School District made on January 30, 2012, denying the open enrollment request filed on behalf of Kathryn K. is AFFIRMED.