Do your want your child to attend school in a different district next year? For parents who wish to transfer their children into or out of any Oklahoma school district for the 2006-2007 school year, the best time to act is in January, Putnam City officials advise.

State law requires that students attend school in the district in which their custodial parents, legal guardians or others having legal custody reside. That’s why for the most part, Putnam City students go to Putnam City schools, Oklahoma City students go to Oklahoma City schools, Yukon students go to Yukon schools, and so on.

However, state law also lays out procedures and timelines specifically so that students may transfer to school in a district other than the one in which they reside. Those provisions come in two forms: open transfers or emergency transfers.

Open transfers are requests for transfer filed between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31. These transfers allow children to attend school in a different district during the next school year. Parents are notified in early June whether open transfers have been approved by the board of education.

Parents ask for open transfers for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a school in another district is closer to where parents work, making parenting and child care arrangements easier. Sometimes parents wish for their children to attend a school in another district that offers special programs or has a distinct emphasis in its curriculum and instruction. Sometimes parents simply want a fresh start for their child.

Parents requesting open transfers should always begin in the school district in which they want their children to attend, says Mike Fry, director of Student Services for Putnam City. Putnam City parents who visit Fry’s office at 5640 N.W. 40th will receive the necessary forms for the transfer request.

Not all requests for open transfers are granted by districts that parents want their students to enter. In Putnam City, district officials review all open transfer requests, granting them only if there is space available in schools and if students have a good discipline and attendance history.

Still, when it comes to transfers between districts, open transfers are the closest thing to a sure bet. Parents who follow the provisions of the law and whose kindergarten –grade 12 students have acceptable discipline and attendance records can transfer their students between districts with little problem.

Any transfer request not made between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31 is considered an emergency transfer.

As one might guess from the label, emergency transfers are mostly for emergencies. State law is very specific about circumstances under which such transfers may be granted. Reasons for emergency transfer are defined in law as:

• the destruction of a school building
• a total failure of a school transportation system
• the inability to offer a student the subject he or she desires to pursue (if a student has moved into the district after Feb. 1, the end of the open transfer period)
• a catastrophic medical problem
• an agreement between sending and receiving school district.
• the unavailability of remote or on-site Internet-based instruction by course title in the district of residence for a student identified as in need of dropout recovery or alternative education services
• the unavailability of a specialized deaf education program for a student who is deaf or hearing impaired.

 Most requests for emergency transfers fall into category 5, which requires only that two school districts agree to let a student transfer from one district to the other. However, the law does not require that districts grant such emergency transfers, and not all districts do. Putnam City is a district that does not grant emergency transfers except for true emergencies such as catastrophic medical problems.

Fry says parents in any metro area school district who want to transfer their child to a school in a different district for the 2006-2007 school year should probably not count on an emergency transfer. Seeking an open transfer in January is the best course of action.

Fry says the advice is good for all, but especially for the few Putnam City parents who want their children to attend Classen School for Advanced Studies in the Oklahoma City school district next year. Fry says those parents should go ahead and apply for an open transfer for their child in January. If months later their children are accepted to Classen, they can attend the school next year. If their children are not accepted to Classen, parents can simply choose not to use the transfer.

For any parent anywhere in the state who missed the January window for open transfers and are not able to obtain an emergency transfer, there are options. They may move to the district in which they want their child to go to school. They may send their child to a private school, or they may home school. They can also wait until the next January and apply for an open transfer then, delaying their plans for a year.

“For parents who want to transfer their children to another school district, the time to take care of this is between Jan. 1 and Jan. 31. State law designates that as a time for open transfers, and open transfers are much easier to acquire,” Fry says.