I.    PURPOSE

The purpose of this policy is to provide families information about which school is in their prescribed area of attendance.

1. Grades K-5 – Each elementary school has a prescribed attendance area with well-defined boundary lines. Adjustments may be recommended by the Superintendent to the School Board as necessary.
    
2. Grades 6-8 – Each middle school has a prescribed attendance area with well-defined boundary lines. Adjustments may be recommended by the Superintendent to the School Board as necessary.
    
3. Grades 9-12 – The District boundary lines comprise the attendance area for Minnetonka High School, Grades 9-12.

II.    EXCEPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT

The District may assign a pupil to a school other than the regularly assigned school including Tonka Online in these instances:

1. Special Education: A pupil may be assigned to a school other than the regularly assigned school to receive special education instruction. The school may be located anywhere inside the school district or outside the school district boundary lines in programs as determined by the District.
    
2. Vocational Education: A pupil may be assigned to a secondary vocational center located in another district, provided the pupil is simultaneously enrolled in Minnetonka High School.
    
3. Discipline: A pupil may be assigned to a school other than their regularly assigned school when the pupil’s behavior record demonstrates that a new environment may be educationally and socially sound.
    
4. Optional Pupil Transfer (OPT): A pupil may be assigned from the regularly assigned school to another school under the Optional Pupil Transfer (OPT), as described below, to achieve better class attendance.
    
   1. Parent Option Plan (POP) Students in an overcrowded grade level (prior to the first day of school) must be moved back to the regularly assigned school. See more information in Section III.
       
   2. The District may reassign pupils who are located near adjacent borders or within areas which minimize transportation costs and/or disruption of multiple neighborhoods. District transportation will be provided.
       
   3. Reassigned students will be returned to the regularly assigned school at the end of the school year. There may be two exceptions:
       
      1. The parent/guardian may request to POP transfer the pupil to the receiving school for the subsequent school year. All the rules for POP will be applicable.
          
      2. Overcrowding may still exist in the subsequent school year, in which case the Optional Pupil Transfer may again be invoked.
          
   4. Parent/guardian consent is required before a pupil may be reassigned under OPT.
       
5. Non-Resident: A pupil who does not reside within the District or who does not otherwise qualify for residential status, may be assigned to a District school; based upon available space and class size limitations. Every effort will be made to assign siblings of said students to the same school if they are in the same grade range (K-5, 6-8, or 9-12); however, the District may assign these students to different schools if available space and/or program limitations exist.
    
6. Special Case: A pupil may be assigned from the regularly assigned school to another school or learning site for reasons other than cited in this policy, but which have sound educational or safety rationale. Only the Superintendent has authority to approve such an assignment.

III.    PARENT OPTION PLAN (POP)

A parent/guardian may request on voluntary basis that a pupil attend a school within the District other than the regularly assigned school under the Parent Option Plan (POP), as described below:

1. This option is primarily to accommodate the interest of parents in having their child in a program at a school other than the school of assignment. Specifically, the Navigator, Language Immersion choice (Spanish or Mandarin Chinese) not being offered at the assigned school, and Ready Start Kindergarten Programs are considered appropriate for POP applications, but other specialized programs may be considered.
    
2. Initiation of the transfer request must originate with the parent/guardian. The Administration shall provide specific forms to this end and shall publicize that this option is available.
    
3. A separate request for a POP transfer must be made for each pupil within the family. Each request will be handled independently; that is, no special privileges will accrue a particular request just because another pupil within the same family has been approved as a POP transferee either in the past or the present.
    
4. Approval for transfer is contingent upon available space in the requested school and program.
    
   1. The transferee may be returned to the student’s regularly assigned school any time before the start of school if late registrants consume available space or other factors materialize which in the judgment of the Administration make a cancellation necessary.
       
   2. Once school starts, the POP pupil will be treated equally with regular students assigned to that school.
       
5. A POP transfer is approved on a year-by-year basis. There is no guarantee that the transfer will be approved in future years.
    
6. The parent/guardian has the primary responsibility for the transportation of the POP pupil for reasons other than attendance at one of the three specified programs. There is no guarantee of District-provided transportation. However, there are some transportation possibilities for an approved POP pupil within the existing route structure. (See Policy #707: Student Transportation.)