More students leave than enter Shawano schools

The open enrollment gap continues to widen in the Shawano School District, as more area students are attending schools in other districts compared with outside students coming to Shawano. The district received 17 new applications in a three-month open enrollment period ending April 30. Fourteen were brand new students, while the other three were students who had been attending Shawano schools but moved elsewhere while still wanting to attend the local schools, according to Cory Kaisler, the district’s data systems coordinator. The 17 new applications bring the total of students open enrolling into Shawano to 165. “We had no denials and no special ed applications,” Kaisler said. The number of students living within the Shawano district but leaving for other schools is another story, according to Kaisler. This year, the district had 298 students open enrolling out of Shawano, but 60 additional applications were approved. Of those, 15 currently attend Shawano’s public schools. The Shawano School Board approved the numbers at its May 12 meeting, and letters will be sent to affected families no later than June 6. The families will need to let the district know by June 30 if they still intend to be in Shawano public schools. “Just because they’re accepted doesn’t mean they’re going to come to Shawano,” Kaisler said. “If the parent fails to notify the school district, we reserve the right to decline the acceptance that we gave them.” There is a second open enrollment period that opens July 1 and continues through the next school year. One of the big factors for students enrolling outside the school district is to have a virtual option instead of attending school in person, according to Kaisler. Shawano recently partnered with the Rural Virtual Academy based in Medford, and it is hoped that having the option locally will curb the high number of students leaving the district. “This year, we have 23 applicants that want to apply to the Rural Virtual Academy,” Kaisler said. “Nine of them currently attend a Shawano school.” Open enrollment numbers do not include students in the school district boundaries who attend parochial schools, Kaisler said.