SHELBY, Ohio – Shelby City School district is considering opening its doors to more students by discussing moving to statewide open enrollment.
Superintendent Tim Tarvin explained at Monday night’s board of education meeting that currently Shelby schools only allow open enrollment to adjacent districts.
“That means any district that touches us,” Tarvin said. Shelby’s adjacent districts include Ontario, Crestline, Buckeye Central, Plymouth, Crestview and Madison.
Tarvin stated only 7 percent of all districts in the state of Ohio that offer open enrollment have adjacent open enrollment. There is also a percentage with closed enrollment that do not allow students to leave or enter the district, including Lexington.
Shelby City Schools are not responsible for transporting students who choose to leave or attend the district. Also, there would be enrollment caps when accepting open enrollment students in regards to class sizes, due to classroom capacities and a shortage of teachers.
“It’s not a subjective yes or no, it’s an objective look at are we capable,” Tarvin said.
In the past year, Tarvin noted a handful of requests for enrollment have come from within the Mansfield City School district. Because Mansfield is not an adjacent district to Shelby, students would be required to pay between $5,000 and $6,000 per year in tuition.
“We have programs we think are beneficial to kids, whether it’s the SOAR program or the FFA program or it’s simply that parents or legal guardians wants their kid in Shelby,” Tarvin said. “In my opinion, it benefits those families who cannot afford it but would like their children to attend Shelby City Schools.”
The decision on whether to switch to statewide open enrollment will be voted on at the March meeting of the Shelby Board of Education.
