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Shorewood board approves 14 new open‑enrollment seats, confirms 220 continuing open‑enrollment students
Summary
The board approved a staff recommendation to open 14 new open‑enrollment seats for 2025–26, confirmed continuation of 220 existing open‑enrollment students, and adopted sibling preference for any newly available seats; the seat counts by grade were provided in the motion with some grade counts not specified in the transcript.
The Shorewood School Board voted to approve the district's open‑enrollment recommendation for the 2025–26 school year, opening 14 new seats and continuing enrollment for 220 existing open‑enrollment students.
District staff read the motion into the record: “I will take a motion to approve the district's open enrollment recommendation, including the opening of 14 open enrollment seats in the following grade levels: K‑4, 0; K‑5, 9; 1st, 0; 2nd, 3; 3rd, not specified; 4th, not specified; 5th, not specified; 6th, not specified; 7th, not specified; 8th, 0; 9th, 2; 10th–12th, 0. The recommendation also included the opening of 0 seats across all special education programs, continuation of enrollment for the 220 open enrollment students in grades K‑4 through 11 who were enrolled on or before 09/20/2024, and granting preference to the siblings of current students for seats made available as new open enrollment seats.”
Director Kate Harter explained the special education side, saying the district determines seats by current service levels and staff‑to‑student ratios. She told the board that, given staffing and projected needs, special education open‑enrollment seats were set at zero for cross‑categorical occupational therapy and speech and language and that contracted services remain separate from open‑enrollment seats.
Board members asked operational questions about how seats are handled if an open‑enrollment student withdraws; staff explained seats generally remain reserved until a formal withdrawal and late availability often prevents the district from offering vacated seats in the same cycle.
The board approved the motion by voice vote. The motion and seat counts presented in the meeting packet were read into the record; where the transcript did not capture every numeric breakdown the motion text above marks those entries as “not specified.”
Ending: Staff will proceed to implement the approved open‑enrollment plan and continue processing sibling preferences and the 220 continuing open‑enrollment students for next year.
