Want school transfer? Now's time to apply

The Davis School District is accepting applications from those wanting to transfer from their neighborhood secondary school to another secondary school within the district next school year.

This fall nearly 300 junior high and high school students in Davis opted to go to schools outside of their neighborhoods under the district's boundary variance policy.

"We want to give parents a choice — we don't want them to feel their child has to be at a certain school," said Chris Williams, district spokesman. "If a parent wants a child to go to a certain school because they think they will be more successful, we say 'why not?'"

Williams said students opt to change schools for a number of different reasons — programs, friends, sports and curriculum.

To qualify a student for a transfer next year, parents must fill out a boundary variance form and drop it off at the requested school by Feb. 10. Boundary variance forms are available in all secondary school offices.

Students who currently attend a school on a boundary variance will be allowed to remain at the variance school until they complete the highest grade level offered at that school. At that point, if the student still wants to transfer from their neighborhood school, a boundary variance form must be submitted.

After the forms are received, the district holds a random drawing to determine which students will be granted a transfer. Those who are selected will be contacted by the school they will transfer to.

There are generally many more requests for transfers in the district's secondary schools than slots available. Because of that factor, the district opts to randomly select the students who are in the boundary variance pool.

If a student does get the green light to transfer, their family is responsible for transportation to the school.

The application process also includes any interested sixth-grader advancing to the seventh grade in the upcoming school year.

---

E-mail: terickson@desnews.com