Absent Place 3 Trustee Amber Feller, Place 2 Trustee Mary Bone and Place 1 Trustee Kevin Johnson, the board voted to bring district policy in line with a June vote to open some campuses in the district to enrollment for students who do not live in its boundaries.
The lone "no" vote came from Place 7 Trustee Danielle Weston, who reiterated her previous opposition to allowing out-of-district students to enroll in RRISD rather than attempt to bring families that have left the district back.
"The reason that I'll be voting no is that doing this right now does not address the root cause of the problem in our school district," Weston said. "I've spoken about it before. I don't believe in addressing any problems with external solutions unless and until we've exhausted all internal options and explored them. I do not believe that that has happened."
Revisions to interdistrict transfer policies include the removal of language barring students who attend RRISD schools but do not reside in the district from participating in athletic activities. Previously, the policy made interdistrict transfer students ineligible to participate in varsity sports for one year.
Language regarding transportation policy for transfer students was also added to the existing policy. Specifically, the district will not accept responsibility for transporting transfer students to and from school unless required to do so by legal and administrative regulations.
The policy revisions also establish authority of the superintendent to accept or reject any student as long as that acceptance or rejection is made without regard to race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestral language, according to the policy.
A section regarding who may qualify for an interdistrict transfer was also adjusted to allow children from out of district to enroll at certain campuses based on capacity. Previously, interdistrict transfers were only allowed for students 60 days prior to establishing a residence within the district.
Enrollment for the pilot program will remain open through July 31.
