Parents may request to send their child to an elementary school other than the one that serves their regular attendance area. Requests for open enrollment must be made using a “Petition for Open Enrollment” form, available at their home school. Petitions must be submitted to the Child Accounting Department, 1516 Sycamore Street, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18017. Requests will not be accepted earlier than May 14 or later than July 14. Parents moving into the district after July 14 but prior to the end of the first quarter may request open enrollment for their child at the time of registration.

Consideration for open enrollment requests will be determined by the following criteria:

• Space availability in a particular school and grade after resident students are assigned
• Exceptions may be made for fifth grade students who are in good standing and who were accepted for open enrollment in the prior school year.
• Students who have successfully been enrolled in a building under open enrollment in previous years
• Siblings of students who are currently enrolled in the open enrollment school will be given priority consideration. There is no guarantee that all children from one family will be accepted for open enrollment based on the criteria above.
• Requests for open enrollment assignments out of a building will not cause that building’s student enrollment to fall below a limit established by the Board of School Directors.
• Parents who elect to apply for open enrollment agree that their child will comply with all of the following conditions:
• The student will not exceed six tardies.
  
• The student will not exceed 10 cumulative days of absence.
  
• The student will not have two or more academic failures in one marking period.
  
• The student will have no Code of Conduct infractions resulting in suspension.
  
• The student will not be picked up late at student dismissal more than three times.
Failure to comply with these conditions of open enrollment may result in the child being returned to his/her resident school and will result in the child being denied the open enrollment privilege for the following year.
• Parents must confirm their intent to accept the open enrollment assignment with the open enrollment school by August 15. Failure to notify the principal by this date may result in the child being assigned to his/her resident school.

Once a student has been accepted into a building under the open enrollment option, that student will not be permitted to transfer to another building within the district at any time during that school year.

Parents must assume full responsibility for transporting their child.

Parents should seriously consider open enrollment requests to elementary schools where students matriculate into their resident middle school since there is no open enrollment at the secondary level.

Open enrollment is approved for one year only. Parents must reapply each year. Acceptance into a school under open enrollment does not guarantee that a student’s entire elementary school career will be spent at that school.

Open enrollment procedures will be reviewed each year.

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