Stewartville board adopts resolution capping Grade 3 open enrollment at 33

The Stewartville Public School District Board of Education voted unanimously to adopt a resolution limiting open enrollment for Grade 3 to 33 students during its regular meeting.

District staff said the limit reflects the number of teacher sections allocated for Grade 3 and that the cap is intended to prevent class-size increases beyond current staffing plans. “We are at capacity in grade 3 based on the number of sections that we allocated for teachers in grade 3,” a district staff member said during the discussion.

Board member Mr. Johnson brought the item forward and asked the board to approve a temporary limit on nonresident enrollments for that grade level. Miss Geber moved to adopt the resolution and Mr. Geist seconded the motion.

Board members who cast votes during the roll call included Mr. Geist, Miss Kiefer and Mr. Welch among others; the motion passed on a 6-0 tally. District staff said the restriction is not necessarily permanent: enrollment could be reopened after the first week of school if expected students fail to arrive. “If we find after the first week of school that we have fewer students than expected because people left and didn’t tell us, we’ll open it back up,” the district staff member said.

The board placed the item under its operational goals for effective and efficient operations, and members offered no amendments to the resolution during the meeting. The resolution limits nonresident enrollment specifically at the Grade 3 level; the board approved continued monitoring and the option to adjust the cap if actual enrollment changes shortly after the start of the school year.

The board moved on to other agenda items after the vote; no implementation date beyond the immediate start-of-school cap was stated at the meeting.