Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families 

Open Enrollment Update

For Virtual School Families 

May 20, 2009   

Background 

The Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families provides information and support for families who are interested in having their children educated in virtual schools and advocates for the interests of those families. 

Consistent with our role as a source of information, we provided status updates about the virtual school open enrollment process on Thursday, May 7, and Friday, May 8, 2009.  We hope that those updates, along with the extensive Question and Answer list from the Department of Public Instruction dated May 6, 2009, have helped provide useful information about the complicated virtual school open enrollment process and about how the enrollment cap of 5,250 virtual school students for the 2009-10 school year is being administered.  

This current update provides information about several additional questions that have come up about the process, including questions about the waiting list and about the deadlines for enrolling. 

Please keep in mind that the information presented here represents the current interpretation of the Wisconsin laws governing virtual schools based on the state statutes and on the interpretation and implementation of the law by DPI.  The WCVSF does not support all aspects of the current law. In particular, the WCVSF opposed the passage of a cap on virtual school enrollment.  Our goal in these updates is to help explain how the law in its current form works, answer questions about it, and help facilitate its implementation in a manner that is consistent with the state statutes. 

Important reminders 

June 5 deadline.  June 5 is an important deadline for several categories of students:

• All new applicants to virtual schools (those who have applied to enroll in a virtual school for the first time for the 2009-10 school year) who have received firm approval letters from one or more virtual schools saying they have an opportunity to enroll must notify the school they intend to attend no later than June 5 that they intend to attend it in order to be allowed to enroll for the 2009-10 school year.  Each school will explain to you in its firm approval letter whether you may respond by sending in a written “Intent to Attend” form or by calling or e-mailing.
• Current virtual school students who have applied to enroll in a virtual school that is not located in the district where they currently attend virtual school must notify the school they intend to attend no later than June 5 that they intend to attend it in order to be allowed to enroll for the 2009-10 school year.  Again, each school will explain to you in its firm approval letter whether you may respond by sending it a written “Intent to Attend” form or by calling or e-mailing.  (However, if current virtual school students want to return to a virtual school that is located in the district where they currently attend virtual school, they have until September 1 to enroll in the school in their current district, as further explained in Question 3 below.)

Additional information.  Further detailed information about virtual schools and the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families is available at our web site at www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org . 

1.  Can I arrange for two of my children who are on the waiting list to switch positions on the list?  I have one child who has a low number on the waiting list and another child who has a high number on the list.  I think the second child would benefit more from a virtual school education than the first child. 

Answer:  No.  There is no authorization in the statutes for siblings to switch positions on the waiting list.  There also is no authorization for siblings to switch places if one sibling has been admitted to a virtual school and a second sibling is on the waiting list.  We understand that this is disappointing for some families, but as the statutes are currently written this is the way this situation has to be handled.   

2.  Why would one sibling be admitted and another be on the waiting list?  I thought there was a sibling exemption from the enrollment cap so that siblings are guaranteed admission. 

Answer:  The sibling exemption applies to siblings of currently enrolled students.  It does not apply to siblings of students who are new applicants and have been admitted to a virtual school for the first time for the 2009-10 school year. 

3.  If a current virtual school student is moving to a higher grade in a different school in the same nonresident school district, and has had to file an application because they’re moving to a different school, do they need to reply to the school by June 5 to reserve their slot as new applicants are required to do, or do they have until September 1 to enroll as is the case for other returning students? 

Answer:  They are treated as a returning student and they have until September 1 to enroll. 

4.  The DPI Question and Answer list dated May 6 said that the waiting list will not continue into the school term and that after September 1 no more students will be notified that they may attend virtual charter schools.  Why won’t the waiting list continue if there are still students on it?  It is likely that some slots will open up after September 1 because some returning students will choose not to enroll on September 1 and because there will be some normal attrition of students who have enrolled in the weeks after September 1. 

Answer:  DPI administers the rules, however, our interpretation of the statutes at this time is that the waiting list should continue after September 1.  We have had some initial discussions about this with DPI and we will have further discussions with them in the near future.  We hope we can come to a mutual agreement about how the statutes and regulations should be interpreted in this area.  We will keep you posted on our discussions as the open enrollment process continues, but we may not have additional developments to report for several weeks. 

5.  Our child is currently a student at a virtual school.  We were previously undecided about whether our child would return next year, but we have now decided that our child does not want to return.  Do we have to notify the school of our decision? 

Answer:  The short answer is that you do not have a formal obligation to notify the school, but if you have made a firm decision that your child will not attend it would be good for students on the waiting list and for the schools involved to know that. 

The details on this are as follows:  Currently attending students who want to return to their current school do not have a formal obligation to inform their current school about whether they are planning to attend their current school next year.  There is no statutory provision that permits their open enrollment in their current school to be terminated if they do not provide notice of their intent to attend to their current school.  They cannot be refused a slot in their current school as an open-enrolled student in the 2009-10 school year, even if they do not provide notice of their intent to attend.  Their spot is reserved until the school year starts on September 1 if they prefer to take plenty of time to consider their options, even if they do not provide notice of their intent to attend. 

Keep in mind that if you are a current student in one virtual school and you have applied to a different virtual school which you want to attend next year in a different school district and have been given firm approval to enroll in that different school, you must let that different school know that you plan to attend it no later than June 5 or you will lose your slot in that school.  Your slot in your current school is guaranteed until September 1 even if you don’t tell it you intend to attend.  Your slot in a different school in a different district is only reserved if you notify it of your intent to attend by June 5. 

However, although you have no legal obligation to let your current school know whether you plan to attend or not attend that school next year, once you have made a firm decision it would be desirable to let the school know about your plans, for several reasons.  If you have decided to return to your current school, it would help that school’s planning if they know about that decision.  If you have decided not to attend your current school, it would be good for all concerned to know about that decision, because that would open up a slot for a student on the waiting list who wants to have the opportunity to attend a virtual school.  That student would have peace of mind if they knew for sure that they had a slot.  That would also help the virtual schools fill as many overall slots as possible.  

6.  If my child is a new applicant who has received firm approval to enroll in a virtual school, and I notify the school by June 5 that my child will enroll, and we later decide that our child does not want to enroll after all, do we need to notify the school of our decision? 

Answer:  If you have accepted an offer of enrollment and then change your mind after June 5, it would be good for all concerned if you would promptly notify the virtual school of that decision, because that would open up a slot for a student on the waiting list.   

7.  How do I check my child’s status on the waiting list? 

Answer:  See Question 21 on the DPI Question and Answer list. Click Here  The DPI web site will have information about the progression of the waiting list.  Your child has been assigned a number on the waiting list.  You will be able to see on the DPI web site which number is next in line on the waiting list, and this will enable you to see how close your child is to the top of the list. 

8.  My child is on the waiting list.  I know that we have 10 days to respond if we are notified after June 5 that a slot has opened up for them.  What if we’re on vacation when the notification is sent? 

Answer:  See Question 18 on the DPI Question and Answer list.  The statutes require that a parent of a child on the waiting list must respond within 10 days after receiving a notice of assignment to a virtual charter school.  DPI recommends that schools request confirmation of receipt of the notice from the U.S. Postal Service in order to establish the date on which the notice was received.  If a family is on vacation and does not receive a notice in the mail until they return, they have 10 days from the date they receive the notice to respond.      

9.  If my child is still on the waiting list on September 1, what are my options? 

Answer:  At that point, your child can enroll in a brick and mortar school in the school district in which you reside or in a private school, or you can choose to home school your child.  We believe that DPI should continue the virtual school waiting list past September 1, but at this point their position is that after September 1 no more students will be notified that they may attend virtual charter schools.  See Question 4 above for further information on this point.  

Additional information 

Since the open enrollment process is complex, we would encourage you to contact DPI or the virtual school to which your child has applied if you have other questions about your situation. 

• Contact Mary Jo Cleaver at DPI at (608) 267-9101 or (888) 245-2732 if you have general questions about the state’s virtual school open enrollment process.
• Contact the virtual school to which your child has applied if you have questions about acceptance forms, such as how to complete the forms or where to send them, or if you have other detailed questions about procedures that are specific to each school.