South Range denies open enrollment for IEP students, leaving families scrambling for alternatives
Families in the South Range Local School District are facing uncertainty after the district announced it would no longer renew open enrollment for Individualized Educational Program (IEP) students in grades 7 and 8. This decision, effective for the current school year, has left many parents scrambling to find alternative educational options for their children. The move comes after the district cited capacity limits as a primary reason for the denial.
South Range officials, including Superintendent Jarred Zapolnik, have stated that the district’s current staffing and facilities cannot accommodate additional IEP students due to growing enrollment numbers. This decision has prompted frustration and concern among families who believe their children will be negatively impacted.
Capacity limits lead to the decision
As reported by the WFMJ, the district cited “set district capacity limits by grade level, school building, and educational program” as the core reason behind the decision. Zapolnik explained that the workload for teachers in these specialized programs was already too high and adding more students would compromise the quality of education. “Not just the case load, but actual workload with specific teachers… my fear would be that we would be violating the operating procedures and that students just wouldn’t be getting an optimal education,” said Zapolnik.
This explanation, however, has done little to calm anxious parents, many of whom feel blindsided by the change. Pat Adams, a parent whose child has been part of the district since first grade, shared his frustration. “For my wife to get that news and myself to get that news that she was no longer going to be welcome into the South Range family, it was very disturbing,” Adams said, as quoted by the WFMJ.
Parents voice concerns over future education
The families affected by this decision have expressed deep concern over their children’s future education. Jodi Yenik, another parent, said the support her daughter has received from South Range has been invaluable. “South Range has been absolutely phenomenal with my daughter, so this is why it’s really a hard pill to swallow,” Yenik told the WFMJ. “I didn’t think that a community that supported us for that many years, since the first grade, would deny us education just like that.”
As of now, Zapolnik has stated that hiring additional staff to accommodate more students is not an option due to the uncertainty of long-term enrollment needs. “The point of open enrollment was never to take so many students that you are hiring staff for the open enrolled,” he noted, as reported by the WFMJ.
