Richmond Community Schools narrows transfer rules; sets May 15 deadline for transfer requests

Richmond — Richmond Community Schools officials reviewed draft policy 5111 on how the district will determine whether students have legal settlement, who may enroll tuition-free and under what conditions, informally agreeing on a set of options including a May 15 annual deadline for transfer requests.

The policy review covered multiple enrollment categories: transfers from other Indiana districts without legal settlement in RCS; out-of-state students; students expelled from other districts; special-education placements and alternative-education enrollment; transportation for students with individualized education programs (IEPs); and delegation of certain transfer-denial authority to the superintendent.

Board members and administrators settled on the more-permissive transfer option in the draft — the option that allows the district to accept transfer students who do not have legal settlement in the corporation — while reserving several caveats discussed during the meeting. The board directed staff to establish an annual transfer-request cutoff, and participants agreed that May 15 will be used as the district’s guideline for…