For the remainder of the school year, open enrollment at Park is closed for students in grades nine through 11. The district made this decision based on the number of students currently attending Park and class sizes. While spots for open enrolled students for next year are already rolling in, the district and school board can make the decision to close open enrollment any year if the district reaches a high capacity of students.
Closed open enrollment does not affect those who are already attending Park. Their spot is eligible at the school as long as they fulfill their attendance requirements connected to the state and aren’t involved in negative incidents that would raise questions about whether they are the right fit. Assistant Principal Evelyn Lashley said the school reviewed attendance over winter break and found that some open-enrolled students were not meeting the required attendance rate. She said letters were sent home to notify families to improve attendance so that enrollment is maintained by students who meet attendance expectations.
“We just did a check over winter break because there is a rule that people who are open-enrolled need to have 85% or more attendance being at school,” Lashley said. “(Administration is) sending letters home to anybody that’s not currently meeting that, just so they have a heads up to be like, ‘Hey, make sure you start coming more’ because otherwise we want that (student) spot to go to someone who is going to come to school.”
Sophomore Julian Carpenter said he felt conflicted about the district’s decision, recognizing the need to manage space and resources while also expressing sympathy for students who had hoped to attend. According to him, many open enrollment students contribute positively to the school.
“I understand that the district might be worried about overcrowding, but it still feels unfair to students who really wanted to come here,” Carpenter said. “A lot of people I know came through open enrollment, and they add a lot to our school.”
According to senior Zavdi Fisher, a major benefit of limiting class sizes is that students receive more attention from their teachers, which leads to better learning.
“It’s important (to limit class sizes) because having small class sizes (allows for) a better student-to-teacher ratio, so students would theoretically get a better education,” Fisher said.
Assistant Principal Lashley said Park will retain the funding the school has received in the previous years, and closing open enrollment won’t change anything in terms of school resources.
“Any enrollment comes with funding,” Lashley said. “That’s how schools get money as a public school, is that it’s based on the number of students that go to your school. But closing open enrollment is not taking any money away from anything. It’s just, whatever we already have is still what we have.”
According to Carpenter, halting open enrollment for the second semester could reduce diversity at the school. He said students from different backgrounds help shape learning and make the school create a learning environment that reflects the broader community. “It could definitely make the school less diverse,” Carpenter said. “Open enrollment brings in students from different backgrounds and experiences, and that really shapes how we learn from each other. Without that, the school might feel more closed off or less representative of the real world.”
