Hooksett High School Placement Policy

1. Hooksett High School Placement Policy For Students Entering Grades 9-12

2. Definitions • Tuition Agreement – Formal agreement between the Hooksett School District (sender) and another School District (receiver) • Minimum 10 years in length per NH Department Of Education (NHDOE) • Describes expectations for sending and receiving school districts • Superintendent may assign students to schools of record under a tuition agreement • Must be approved by voters • Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) – Less formal agreement between sending and receiving school districts • No term length minimums or maximums • School Board approves an MOU, no voter approval required • Assignment of child to school initiated by parent or guardian, not Superintendent • Receiving school describes a maximum number of students allowed to attend from sending school district • Amount of tuition agreed upon by the two parties is listed

3. Definitions (continued) • Tuition Agreement Schools (High Schools of Record or Anchor Schools) – Public High schools approved by the voters to send all high school aged students. Receiving high schools are registered with the State of NH DOE. Formal tuition agreements exist between the Hooksett school district and the receiving high school district. • M.O.U. Schools (Satellite Schools)– Public high schools approved by the Hooksett School Board, to send a limited amount of Hooksett high school aged students, after the parent or guardian requests such an assignment. Usually space is limited and that maximum limitation is defined within the MOU between Hooksett and the receiving high school district.

4. What Is It? • The Hooksett High School Placement Policy is indeed a Hooksett School Board Policy • Used by the Hooksett Superintendent of Schools • Used for the purpose of reducing lists of interested students provided to Satellite Schools • Only used when the number of students exceeds the maximum allowable number provided by the Satellite School • The decision of the Superintendent is final

5. What Ideas Have Been Considered for Selection Priority Fairness? • Siblings Currently Attending School • Siblings Previously Attended School • Physical Location of Student’s Home in proximity to satellite school • Preference for school size • Lottery • Preference of program offerings not offered at other Satellite Schools • Family tradition of attending school • First come first serve • Application deadline

6. Hooksett High School Placement Policy • Policy only used when number of requests for enrollment for a Satellite School exceeds the number of available spaces available at that school: • Application Deadline – No requests accepted for consideration after application deadline. Late submissions accepted only by the discretion of the Superintendent. • First Preference Consideration – List of students is derived by the weight of their preference on the high school placement request form. For example, for Satellite School X, all applicants who selected School X as their first preference would be entered in the first round selection of names.

7. Hooksett High School Placement Policy (continued) • SiblingsCurrentlyEnrolled – If the applicant has a sibling currently attending the Satellite School, that student automatically is added to the list provided to the receiving school. In the remote chance that the applicants being considered all have siblings, then no student is automatically added to the list. Note: The only reason that any weight at all is given for siblings is to reduce the amount scheduling conflicts and transportation issues that could be potentially experienced by the parent or guardian if the children of the same family attended different schools. • Lottery System – In a public forum, on a date no later than <lottery_date> the Superintendent will insert names of applicants listed on identical strips of paper, calling out each name as it is entered into the lottery container. The Superintendent will then blindly and randomly select one by one, strips of paper out of the container that have the student names on them, and read the names aloud as they are selected. The names will be recorded until the maximum number of students as stated in the receiving school MOU is reached.

8. Hooksett High School Placement Policy (continued) • Policy JCB – The parents of the remaining students are notified that they were not randomly drawn. If those parents wish to pursue an opportunity directly with the Superintendent of the Satellite School, and use policy JCB to acquire an available seat (if one exists) the Hooksett School Board and/or Superintendent will support this. • Alternative Preference Selection – If the list to be provided to the Satellite School is not completely filled in the first selection round, additional rounds of selection may occur, following the same process, but following the weight of preference selection (for example second preference, third preference, etc.)

9. Hooksett High School Placement Policy (continued) • List Finalization – Two weeks after the public lottery list creation, the lists will be officially finalized, and provided to the Satellite Schools for confirmation of enrollment. This two week period is the time parents may seek to use policy JCB to secure a position within a Satellite School for their child. • Records Retention – The finalized lists provided to the Satellite Schools along with each high school placement request form will be maintained by the office of the Superintendent until the month of January of the next school year. This is done to ensure if there are any questions about the application or assignment process, proper records are retained. Note: We hope to perform this task electronically in the future, so storage of documentation will all be done electronically.

10. Conclusions • The Hooksett School Board has defined a fair policy for the Superintendent to use • Parents and custodians have multiple chances for unique educational opportunities for their children • The lottery system is a fair process for nearly all children to have an equal chance at selection. Adding too many variables becomes overcomplicated. • Siblings are prioritized only in consideration of parent/custodian conflicts with transportation and scheduled events at the school

11. High School Placement Request Instructions Hooksett New Hampshire maintains a unique opportunity for high school aged students, where we maintain two quality school districts of record. Specifically Manchester Central/West High Schools and Pinkerton Academy are the “anchor” public schools maintained for Hooksett families and their children. Hooksett provides unique, albeit smaller opportunities with what we refer to as Satellite School Districts which are currently Londonderry, Bow and Pembroke. If you are interested in a Satellite School opportunity for your child (none is required), please enter the letter corresponding to your first preference on the High School Placement Request form. If you wish, you may also add a second and even third preference if no slots are available within your first preference school. Finally, in the chance that the Satellite School does not have enough available space, or your child does not intend to request an enrollment option within the Satellite Schools, please select a preferred Anchor School option. Note 1: The responsibility for transportation and tuition differences with satellite schools lies solely with the parents and/or guardians of the Hooksett high school aged child. Note 2: The Hooksett School District makes no guarantees that a family’s first, second or even third preference of a Satellite School will be approved due to the capacity limitations at those schools, which is why it is important to select an anchor school that is preferred.

12. High School Placement Request High School placement request forms, accepted starting _________________ must be received by the Hooksett School District no later than _________________. The forms will be maintained by the Superintendent’s office. If you have any questions, please contact Superintendent Littlefield at plittlefield@sau15.net or 603-622-3731. Satellite School Options • No satellite school requested [default] • Bow High School, Bow, NH • Londonderry High School, Londonderry, NH • Pembroke Academy, Pembroke, NH (If MOU approved) • Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH (If MOU approved vs. tuition agreement) Anchor School Options • Student assignment made by Superintendent [default] • Pinkerton Academy, Derry, NH (If tuition agreement approved) • Manchester Central/West High School, Manchester, NH Instructions: Place a letter next to the available space(s) below corresponding to the Satellite and Anchor School options listed above. If spaces are left blank, Satellite School default is option A while Anchor School default is option F. I request that __________________________________ be considered for enrollment to a Satellite School in order of preference below: Satellite School Preference(s): #1____#2____ #3____ #4____ Anchor School Preference (choose only 1): #1____ Parent/Guardian Signature:___________________________________ Date: ___________________________________

13. Questions??