When it comes to inter-district transfers, Hollister School
District Superintendent Gary McIntire said he has been seeing more
students transferring into the district than out.
”
I honestly don’t see a flood of students out and I’ve had many,
many students in,
”
he said, adding that he has been directly monitoring the
requests himself.
”
It’s been a bit of a challenge for us, dealing with large
classes and trying to be very mindful of our budget.
”
When it comes to inter-district transfers, Hollister School District Superintendent Gary McIntire said he has been seeing more students transferring into the district than out.
“I honestly don’t see a flood of students out and I’ve had many, many students in,” he said, adding that he has been directly monitoring the requests himself. “It’s been a bit of a challenge for us, dealing with large classes and trying to be very mindful of our budget.”
He did say the district would accept students and adjust staffing if necessary.
“The extra students will kind of pay for themselves,” he said.
He noted that there have been no changes to the inter-district transfer policy, and that any changes would have to be approved before the Hollister School Board. Most changes are suggested to bring the district into compliance with state or federal laws.
One of the changes the district will have to contend with this year is the Open Enrollment Act, SBX5 4, which requires that students in low-achieving schools be allowed to attend any other school in California. The schools listed include the 1,000 with the lowest scores on the academic performance index. R.O. Hardin is one of the schools listed.
The bill requires the district to notify parents and guardians that R.O. Hardin is a “school of choice” so they can choose to send their children to another school if they want.
“(The school) is doing very well so it is a bit perplexing,” McIntire said, of R.O. Hardin’s inclusion on the list. The school’s last API score was 735.
The other schools in the county to make the list include San Juan Elementary School and Tres Pinos Elementary School.
“With the bill, we will be needing to update to include these new provisions,” McIntire said.
“Our board would love to see the school district recover – be able to retain all of our students in our school district,” McIntire said. “We believe in our district programs, but we have to follow the law in the policies.”
The reasons parents have requested transfers out of the district, he said, are the reasons he’s seen in other districts. Sometimes it is from a family that recently moved to Hollister and the family wants to finish school in Gilroy, or it may be a family that works out of town and requests to have the child attend school where the family works.
“I would support them when we have a legitimate concern – if it is going to cause a disruption (in education,)” he said.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
