CALABASAS : Open Enrollment Plan Targeted for ’95

The Las Virgenes Unified School District plans to offer parents more discretion over which schools their children attend by the fall of 1995.

In a move to comply with state requirements that school districts offer more open enrollment, the Las Virgenes school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to open space in schools to all students, based on a series of priorities.

Priority for enrollment in any school will be given, in order, to students currently enrolled in that school, new enrollees who live in the school’s area, students with medical or child care-related reasons for wanting a transfer, those who simply prefer another school, and out-of-district applicants.

“We’re not going to displace someone who lives across the street from their school, obviously,” said Assistant Supt. of Education Services Leo Lowe. “And I think most of the preference is going to be based on convenience, because most observers will say the schools aren’t radically different in quality.”

The school board will consider the choice issue again later this month before it becomes policy.

Parents who want their children placed in schools outside their neighborhood in the fall of 1995 would be required to apply by next June 1. A lottery would be held for spaces sought by too many applicants, Lowe said.