Ms. Peters seeks 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 Jordan.
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 a "serious health condition of the student that the resident district cannot adequately address."
Ms. Peters admits that no one at Nishnabotna High School had notice of Jordan's headaches. Thus, Hamburg had no means to know "what specific steps its staff can take to meet" Jordan's health needs.
Ms. Peters has the right to keep Jordan's health information from school officials, and she has the right to decide that transferring Jordan to another high school is in Jordan's best interests. But a parent cannot withhold information from school officials and then attempt to use that information to justify a late-filed open enrollment application.
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 Jordan B. is AFFIRMED.