School District Open Enrollment Begins Next Week

Open enrollment for Natrona County School District begins next week.

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The Natrona County School District's 'Schools of Choice' policy means parents new to the district or with children entering kindergarten or 6th grade can enroll their children in any school with available space, regardless of where in the county they live.

Mike Jennings, director of student support says most parents would have received catalogs describing schools in the district and their various teaching styles, but the district also offers a series of open houses during the month to help parents make that choice.

"No one knows their children better than they do. So we strongly encourage that they attend the open houses that they are interested in, ask a lot of questions and just make the choice of where they think their child will thrive and be very successful."

Jennings stresses that the vast majority of students registered during the 30 day enrollment period are placed in their school of choice. This past fall the district added an additional preference for placement consideration when schools reach capacity. That new preferance will now take into account proximity to the school for kids going into kindergarten and sixth grade.

The main thing Jennings says is to get to one of the openhouses so you make an informed choice.

"Then sometime before the 31st- between the 3rd and the 31st- go online, its a very big button right in the middle of the webpage, click on that, and select the three choices you have for your child and then in the Spring they'll get a letter confirming what school their childs enrolled in."

He says parents also should have received a separate letter providing them with a username and password for the school request process.

Students staying in the same school do not have to do anything; they will automatically have a place next fall.