Jerome Joint School District No. 261

STUDENTS 3003

School Boundaries

The Board of Trustees of Jerome School District No. 261 have established attendance zones to facilitate the District’s educational programs by regulating attendance, as efficiently as possible, at the various school buildings. Such zones are subject to periodic revision as deemed necessary by the Board

A student will attend school in a building serving his or her attendance zone. The student’s attendance zone is based on his or her residence at the time of enrollment. The student’s residence is the address of the parent or guardian enrolling the student. Proof of residence is required.

Transportation

Parent’s or guardian’s of a student accepted under the Open Enrollment Policy #3010 will be responsible for transporting their child or ward.  If bus space is available, then students accepted under the open enrollment policy may be transported from an appropriate, established bus stop within the District’s boundaries.

All requests for an intra-district transfer must comply with the district’s Open Enrollment policy #3010. Deviation from this policy may occur for the education of children enrolled in special programs.

Attendance Area Criteria and Considerations

School enrollments and capacities (both optional design capacity and program capacity) will be reviewed annually. School attendance areas will be adjusted when new school capacity is added either through the construction of a new school, when facility upgrade increases capacity at an existing school, or the overcrowded condition at a school requires moving a large number of students to a less crowded school.

All boundary recommendations and decisions will consider the following criteria:

1. The creation or modification of school attendance areas shall not knowingly promote inequitable student assignments based on racial or ethnic groups, family income, religion, or disabilities.

2. The capacity of each facility shall be considered to ensure optimal utilization of space while also planning for future enrollment increases.

3. Emergency portables (portables; non-educational spaces that have been converted into classrooms) will generally not be considered available capacity when creating or adjusting attendance areas.

The Board will consider but will not be limited to the following criteria while considering proposals to alter or create school boundaries. The considerations are listed in rank order of their relative importance while making attendance area recommendations to and decisions by the Board:

1. Optimal Design Capacity: The overarching goal of altering school attendance areas is to reduce enrollment and relieve overcrowding. No other criteria holds greater weight while evaluating proposals to alter existing attendance areas or establishing an attendance area for a new school.

2. Program Capacity: In addition to balancing enrollment based on a school’s optimum design capacity, special programs that are housed in existing schools will be considered before increasing a school’s enrollment. Attendance area proposals will consider special programs as part of a school’s general operations. As a general practice, these programs will not be moved in order to create more space in an existing school facility.

3. Minimizing the Number of Student Moves. Attendance area proposals should achieve reducing enrollment and reducing overcrowding while doing so by changing schools for the fewest students possible.

4. Moving Students Multiple Times. Using projected enrollment increases, attendance area changes should be considered if proposed changes to an attendance area will be reversed or changed when future attendance areas are created. The district will attempt to reduce multiple moves for students.

5. Current Students and Future Enrollment. Attendance area proposals should include an analysis of both current students and new students based on projections of increased enrollment created by subdivisions that have been approved for construction at the time the attendance area proposal is created.

Any attendance area proposal will be presented to the Board of Trustees no later than the first regular meeting of the Board in May to go into effect the next school year.

Cross Reference:

3010 Open Enrollment

8110 Safety Bussing

Policy History:

Adopted on: 12/19/2023

Revised on: 02/25/2025