SMUSD updates transfer policies

By: NOELLE IBRAHIM - Staff Writer
Some changes affect high schoolers | Tuesday, February 12, 2008 1:29 AM PST ∞

SAN MARCOS -- San Marcos Unified trustees voted Monday to update board transfer policies so that high school students who are denied requests to transfer out of the school district must meet with their principal before filing an appeal.

"A lot of people ask to leave because of rumors and misinformation," said Bob Harmon, director of student services for the district. "This gives the principals a chance to show off their school and programs to parents and students. The belief is, they'll win some over."

State education code requires the board to review its policies on interdistrict and intradistrict transfers annually, Harmon said. Interdistrict transfers occur when students leave San Marcos Unified for other school districts. An intradistrict transfer occurs when a student transfers to another San Marcos Unified school that is outside of their neighborhood's school attendance boundaries.

Monday's change comes in support of the district's policy to generally deny outgoing interdistrict transfer requests, so that fewer students leave San Marcos Unified for neighboring districts, Harmon said.

Trustees last voted to revise the outgoing transfer policy in January 2006 after noticing that many students in the southwest and west parts of the city were transferring to the Encinitas, San Dieguito, Vista and Carlsbad districts, said Harmon.

As residential development swelled in San Elijo Hills, Vista, Carlsbad and La Costa, families who moved to those newer areas began to identify with those communities rather than San Marcos, though students were living within the district's boundaries, he said. District schools near those communities are farther away from the heart of San Marcos, he explained.

Before the revised policy, if a student wanted to leave the district, officials simply signed off on the request, Harmon said. Now the board investigates the reasons behind each transfer request on an case-by-case basis, Harmon said.

"We look at each case individually and see if there is really a hardship," he said.

The added step in the process would give district officials the opportunity to try to retain students, Harmon said.

An example of a valid exception to the general rule of denying requests is allowing high school students, seniors especially, who move into the district to continue to attend the school they were at the previous year.

Trustees on Monday also agreed to continue to keep Mission Hills High closed to students requesting transfers into the school, in an attempt to correct an ongoing enrollment imbalance between the district's two comprehensive high schools. The rule would apply to both inter- and intradistrict transfer requests, except for children of full-time district employees who meet academic, behavioral and attendance requirements, Harmon said.

While Mission Hills High is projected to enroll roughly 2,460 students in 2008-09, enrollment for San Marcos High, the district's other comprehensive high school, is projected at 1,975 students, according to Gary Hamels, assistant superintendent of business services.

"The (balance is) not there yet," said Harmon.

The enrollment disparity has existed since Mission Hills opened its doors in 2004, gathering in much of San Marcos High's student population.

When officials adopted attendance boundaries for both high schools in 2002, it was expected there would be an imbalance at first, which was needed to ensure enrollment relative to each school's capacity in the years to come, district officials said.

The disparity in enrollment aimed to alleviate overcrowding at San Marcos High, which was supporting all of the city's 2,700 high school students before Mission Hills opened. Officials also had planned for a population explosion in the western part of the city. Because of a slowing economy, achieving a balanced number of students at the two campuses could take longer than expected, Harmon said.

Officials projected Mission Hills High would open with 1,200 students. However, the school opened with a total of 1,900 students, because many parents made a concerted effort to transfer their children there. After that first year, the board voted to close the campus to transfers, Harmon said.

-- Contact staff writer Noelle Ibrahim at (760) 740-3517 or nibrahim@nctimes.com.

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