Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Option Enrollment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board discusses option-enrollment parameters; formal vote scheduled for next meeting
Summary
The North Platte Public Schools board reviewed state-required option-enrollment parameters, including classroom caps and a list of closed grades at multiple elementary schools. Superintendent Dr. Rhodes said the district must set these parameters annually; the board will take formal action at its next regular meeting.
The North Platte Public Schools Board of Education discussed parameters for option (open) enrollment that the board must adopt annually under state legislation, with formal action scheduled for the board’s next regular meeting.
Superintendent Dr. Rhodes told the board that state law requires districts to adopt an annual resolution setting the parameters and ratios that govern option enrollment in October and that the resolution remains in effect until the district adopts a new one. "This also came out of the legislature a few years ago," Dr. Rhodes said, explaining the timing and scope of the requirement.
Dr. Rhodes outlined classroom-size targets the district is using to set capacity for option students: K–2 classrooms at 20 students and grades 3–5 at 22 students; English-learner classes at the elementary level at 10 students and at 15 for secondary levels. He also said special-education placements are handled case by case and that the district left a five-student cap in place for a potential elementary-level behavior program that is not currently operational. On middle-school grade-level sizes Dr. Rhodes gave a figure the transcript records as "3 25," which was not clarified in the discussion.
Dr. Rhodes also read the list of specific grade-level closures for families seeking to option into North Platte for this school year and next: Cody Elementary — kindergarten, second and fourth grades closed; Eisenhower Elementary — third and fourth grades closed (also earlier referenced kindergarten, second, and fourth); Jefferson Elementary — kindergarten through fifth closed; Lake Maloney — second and third closed; Lincoln Elementary — kindergarten, first, second and fifth closed; McDonald Elementary — first through fifth closed; Washington Elementary — second through fifth closed; and the district’s alternative high-school program is closed to optioning. Dr. Rhodes emphasized that the closures apply to optioning only, not that the district lacks classroom space generally.
When a board member asked how many students were currently opting into the district, Dr. Rhodes said she would check the exact figure but estimated historically "probably 60 to 70" and that she would look up the specific number to be sure.
Board members did not take a vote on the resolution at the meeting. Dr. Rhodes said the board will consider formal adoption of the option-enrollment resolution at its next regular meeting.
The discussion covered program-specific capacities (EL, special education, potential behavior program) and the mechanics of the state requirement; board members asked procedural questions, and Dr. Rhodes responded that the district will supply the precise opt-in counts when available.
Looking ahead, the district indicated it will bring the formal resolution for board action at the next regular meeting, and parents seeking to option into the district were advised that some grade levels are closed by the resolution parameters being drafted.
Ending: The board deferred formal action to the next regular meeting; parents and families seeking option enrollment should expect the district to publish the adopted parameters and the district to confirm exact numbers of recent opt-ins once staff review the historical data.
