From: DPI Open Enrollment Sent: Monday, May 3, 2021 8:08 AM To: Demrow, Jennifer DPI Subject: End of the 2021-22 Regular Application Period and Next Steps To – District Administrators and Open Enrollment Coordinators From – Jen Demrow, Open Enrollment Consultant Subject – End of the 2021-22 Regular Application Period and Next Steps We made it through another open enrollment regular application period! Here are the next steps: WORKING WITH APPLICATIONS Nonresident districts must enter paper applications into OPAL by the end of the day today (5/3/21). From the Apps tab and then the All Applications tab, click on Add New App just above the list of applications in, on the right side of the page or click on the Data Entry tab. Enter the information and be sure to Save. Remember that you can export your applications into an Excel spreadsheet. From the Apps tab and then the All Applications page, click on Excel (located at the top right corner, above the Data Entry tab). Select the fields that you want to export and click on the Export to Excel button. SENDING RECORDS Resident school districts must send special education and expulsion records to the nonresident district by May 7. It is not necessary to wait for a request from the nonresident district. However, if the pupil is currently attending a public school other than the resident district, the nonresident district will have to request the records from the school district of attendance. The district should not request records from private schools. If the student’s resident district or district of attendance do not have any special education or expulsion records for the student, please let the nonresident district know that there are no records for the student. For resident districts that have sent records before May 7th, please check to see if there are any newly developed or revised IEPs for any applicant. If there are, please send copies to the nonresident district. APPROVING AND DENYING APPLICATIONS Nonresident districts must notify parents of approval or denial no later than June 11. At this time, you must notification to parents of approved pupils of the specific school or program to which the pupil is assigned. Resident districts must notify the parents of approval/denial no later than June 18. However, if you are able to get any notices of denial out by June 11, it will be less confusing to parents. Both districts need to enter approvals and denials in OPAL. Under the Applications tab, click on the Approve or Deny tab. Click the radio button for approval or denial. If the application is denied, you must enter the reason for denial. If the reason you want to deny is not there, it means you cannot deny for that reason. Be sure to Save. If you have a lot of applications to act on, it may help to use the filters to reduce the numbers you are working on at one time. For example, you could choose to act on one grade at a time. If an application needs to be denied for multiple reasons, you need to enter all reasons for denial into the Approve or Deny tab. For information on how to enter multiple reasons for denial, go to our Trainings webpage, located at https://dpi.wi.gov/open- enrollment/resources/training and review “Entering Multiple Reasons for Denial” section of the training module “OPAL 101 Regular Application Period”. Once you have entered the approvals and denials, you can use the Exports tab to create approval and denial letters. There are instructions on how to create these letters under that tab as well. The approval letters include the approval, the school assignment, and the intent to attend. If you saved the templates that you created last year, you don’t need to create them again. You would just make some minor changes and would be able to skip the step of downloading the templates from OPAL from Step 2: Create the Templates. DELETIONS As a reminder, to request deletion of an application, please use the Delete button in the far right column of the applications list. Please see the list serv notice that we sent out about this topic on February 23rd. If you need us to send you a copy of this notice, please let us know. CHANGE OF RESIDENT DISTRICT OF CONTINUING OPEN ENROLLED PUPILS If a continuing open enrolled pupil will be changing resident district for next year, the parent does not need to reapply for open enrollment. Per statute, school districts can require reapplication one time and one time only – at the beginning of middle school, junior high, or high school. If a district has this requirement, they must send open enrolled parents written notification before the beginning of the regular application period. If a parent did submit an additional application in error, please request deletion through OPAL. CORRECTIONS TO APPLICATIONS The nonresident district can correct any applications that they entered into OPAL by clicking on the Edit link. All other corrections need to be sent to DPI. Please save up the changes and send a list to openenrollment@dpi.wi.gov. If parents have corrections that need to be made, they will be directed to contact the nonresident school district and that district will need to contact DPI to request the change. Only a nonresident district can request changes to open enrollment applications. Errors that can be corrected include spelling errors, date of birth, grade, address, parent names, and resident district. If the resident and nonresident districts are flipped, we will correct that error. We cannot correct an application if the parent selected the wrong nonresident district. If this error occurred, the parent would need to wait until July 1 and apply to the correct nonresident district using an alternative application. PARENTS WHO MISSED THE DEADLINE Parents who have missed the deadline for applying for the 2021-22 school year may submit alternative applications for open enrollment on or after July 1. They must meet one of the seven criteria in order to apply. Alternative applications allow a parent to apply outside of the regular application period; it is not to create an exception to a district’s approval/denial criteria. If you have any questions, please contact us at openenrollment@dpi.wi.gov or call us at 888- 245-2732, option 2. Jen Demrow School Administration Consultant Public School Open Enrollment Department of Public Instruction 608-264-6707 Jennifer.Demrow@dpi.wi.gov DISCLAIMER: The content of this email is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain legal advice, including compliance with state and federal laws and regulations.