Eagle Point board to decide on hardship transfer appeal for kindergartner after family misses work session

Eagle Point School District 9 board members heard information Wednesday about an interdistrict hardship transfer appeal for a kindergartner whose family asked that the child be allowed to attend an online program operated through Scappoose School District.

District staff told the board the applicant family did not appear at the work session and that district policy allows an administrative decision to be appealed to the board. Superintendent Kovacs described the transfer as unusual because the student would need to enroll in the out-of-district program to participate and the family did not meet the district's hardship criteria under state guidance.

The district referenced its internal transfer rules (described in the meeting as policy numbers JEC, JECF and JECF-AR) and the Oregon Department of Education's hardship categories, saying the reasons the family offered did not match state hardship criteria such as homelessness, military deployment, medical conditions, safety concerns or other emergency situations. Superintendent Kovacs said the district can offer families other virtual options that are state-recognized, including programs such as Baker Web Academy, Oregon Connections Academy and Willamette Connections Academy, but that the program the family wants, described in the meeting as OpenEd Online Academy (operating out of Scappoose), is not recognized by the state as a virtual academy.

Board members were told the family may be receiving education-related stipends tied to the online program: district staff reported figures of about $1,800 toward supplies and about $1,400 for technology, which the presenter described as an incentive for families to enroll in that program.

Because the family did not appear at the work session, the superintendent said no final board vote would be taken there and that the matter will appear on the consent agenda at the upcoming regular meeting. One board member said privately at the session that when the item comes up at the regular meeting they intend to vote to approve the family's transfer; no formal motion or vote was recorded at the work session.

The district indicated families who qualify for ODE-recognized virtual academies may enroll without an interdistrict transfer, and staff said they will reiterate the process and the board's role at the regular meeting.

For the record, the family listed in the appeal (the Ash family) did not present at the work session, and the board indicated it would act only after the item is placed on the regular-meeting agenda.