Northwest Allen County Schools reports 129 open-enrollment transfer requests; district restricts transfers to two middle schools

Superintendent Mr. Barker updated the school board on the district’s open-enrollment process and the volume of transfer requests for next school year.

"As of early this morning, we have 129 transfer requests from out of district families," Barker said, then read a grade-by-grade breakdown (kindergarten 24; grade 1 eight; grade 2 18; grade 6 12; and others). He told the board the district’s current capacity thresholds (40 for elementary, 20 for middle, 10 for high school) allow the district to accommodate the requests received so far.

Barker said the district will review requests against family school preferences and asked families to provide first, second and third choices in case their top preference cannot be met. He also told the board that 20 of the requests are from students who were enrolled this year in the district’s Knack program and then moved out but are now seeking to return; those 20 are included in the 129 total.

To preserve balanced enrollment and staffing while the district implements a middle-school boundary rebalancing plan for 2026–27, Barker said the district "does not intend to approve any transfer requests to Carol Middle School or Maple Creek Middle School," regardless of residency, so that families inside and outside the district are treated the same.

Board members asked clarifying questions about whether the 20 returning students were part of the 129; Barker confirmed they were included and said staff expect to begin notifying families about placements within about a week.

The summary and timeline of the transfer-review process will guide staff decisions this spring before final approvals later in the board’s calendar.