Sean C. Morgan
The District 55 School Board will decide this spring whether to completely open enrollment to students from other school districts.
Last year, the state began allowing districts to open enrollment that way, making it possible for any student who wants to transfer in to do so, said Supt. Don Schrader. The district must accept them.
Last year, area districts agreed not to change anything, Schrader said. “We just did things the way we’d done them in the past.”
That means transfers were completed on a case-by-case basis, he said, noting that Sweet Home has a good relationship with the Albany and Lebanon school districts.
“Their kids come here,” he said. “Ours go there. We’ve never denied it.”
It would be rough on a district if it was losing students but not getting others from elsewhere, Schrader said.
Right now, Sweet Home has 32 students going to school out of district and 36 coming in from other districts.
The board must decide by March 1 whether to open enrollment and what the limits will be, he said. It could limit the total number or limit outside enrollment into specific grades.
Sweet Home has large third and fourth grades this year, Schrader said, so the board might choose to limit the number of fourth- and fifth-grade students next year, for example.
The district is preparing to get its online school running, Schrader said. Right now, officials are meeting with certified staff union representatives to discuss the details.
“Article 39 talks about distance learning,” Schrader said. “You have to bargain the impact.”
He doesn’t expect the online school to impact the staff.
“We’re trying to draw students,” Schrader said. Adding students will add opportunities for the staff.
Schrader would like to see Sweet Home draw its own students back from other online schools, such as Connections Academy in Scio.
“They’re popping up everywhere,” Schrader said. “We actually have kids taking online school out of Paisley.
“I think we have a lot to offer students. We want to see if we can increase our enrollment, especially in our online school. We want to get that going.”