Oxford’s Board of Education voted unanimously March 14 to allow students who live outside of the district to attend Oxford schools for the 2006-07 school year, but there are stipulations.
Superintendent Virgina Brennan-Kyro suggested opening the schools on a ‘limited basis,? meaning only those districts which border the Oxford district, such as Lapeer or Romeo, are able to send students.
By analyzing the different school’s caseloads in Oxford, Brennan-Kyro said their goal was to maximize the number of students at each school without having to hire additional staff.
‘That’s one of the things you have to look at as a balance because you don’t want to be in the situation where you bring in a new load of students and don’t have the staff to accomodate,? Brennan-Kyro stated to the board.’We really put in a lot of thought, effort and consideration into this.?
The openings at each grade level are as follows:
‘Kindergarten: 4 openings
‘First grade: 2 openings
‘Second grade: 16 openings
‘Third grade: 12 openings
‘Fourth grade: 4 openings
‘Fifth grade: 3 openings
‘Ninth grade: 3 openings
‘Tenth grade: 3 openings
‘Eleventh grade: 3 openings
‘Twelfth grade: 3 openings.
Brennan-Kyro stressed that although there are 16 openings for the second grade, they’re not all at the same elementary school. For instance, three students might go to Clear Lake and five to Leonard.
She also said the middle school grades will not be open to any out-of district-students because they are currently at their maximum capacity.
Oxford has not offered out-of-district schools of choice for the past two years.