Parents and legal guardians who wish to enroll their child in a Limestone County school outside the school or district zone in which they reside can file their application to do so starting Monday.

Limestone County Schools will accept applications through 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 21, giving residents one week to apply. While district choice has already been an option for families, this week also allows for school choice at select schools in the district.

“Hopefully, this will be something that is convenient for parents in Limestone County,” LCS Superintendent Randy Shearouse told members of the Limestone County Board of Education during Tuesday’s work session. “If they work in a certain area and it’s easier to drop their child off, or maybe they have a babysitter in that area, there will be some choice that would be allowed.”

He explained not every application will be approved, and only certain schools will be open to transfers. These include schools that are at less than 90% capacity already, though an “open” school may not have room in a specific grade level for a transfer student, he said.

Shearouse also shared with board members the breakdown in pricing for families that wish to participate in LCS’ district or school choice. For families that live in the city limits of Ardmore, Tennessee — including those in Lincoln County, Tennessee — or who live in Limestone County but not in an LCS school district, there will be a $500-per-household fee. This fee also applies to families who already participate in district choice.

For families that live outside the county or Ardmore limits, the cost is $500 per child. Families that are zoned for LCS but wish to transfer to a different school in the system can do so for free.

“If you’re already in a Limestone County School, you live in our district, you decide to go to one of the open schools, you wouldn’t have to pay anything,” Shearouse said.

Applications can be turned in at the LCS central office at the corner of Jefferson and Green streets in Athens. Those who miss the deadline for district or school choice but need to apply due to hardship will still have that option, he said.

Concerns

Some of the board members had concerns with the idea of school or district choice, particularly in regards to sports. Board member Charles Shoulders asked if it was possible to include on the application room for the applying family to explain why they wanted the transfer and stipulate transfers to play sports at a certain school weren’t allowed.

Shearouse said that concern was already in part handled by the Alabama High School Athletics Association. AHSAA’s eligibility rules state students who attend “a school outside of his/her home school district must attend that school for one full calendar year in order to establish athletic eligibility.”

In other words, a student who lives near Clements but wishes to attend West Limestone would either have to move near West or attend West for a full year before they could join a team. This rule doesn’t apply to students entering seventh grade, however.

Another sports-related concern was the potential for recruitment by coaches. Shoulders and board member Earl Glaze discussed the topic, with Shearouse saying there would be disciplinary measures taken if a coach was caught attempting to recruit from another school in the district.

Shoulders and board member Ronald Christ also asked about the need for school choice and how many it would help, since hardship transfers are already an option. Board member Bradley Young said he personally knew of two families that could have been helped. He said the situations were different for each family, but both had been looking at houses in the Elkmont school district.

However, they wanted their children to continue attending Ardmore, and when it looked that that wouldn’t be an option, they decided against the purchase. One of the families, Young said, had been looking to buy a small farm and didn’t think such a move would qualify as a hardship before the board.

“That’s a convenience factor right there, from our standpoint, I guess,” Young said. “… We’re growing, but some of these families … their parents went to Ardmore, they went to Ardmore, they want their kids to go to Ardmore.”

Shearouse said if the option of school choice ends up more harm than help, it can be changed or removed in the future. However, he said he hopes schools will be able to grow different programs that will allow families to seek more than just sports or location when choosing where their children should be educated.

“I think sometimes you look across the district, you can make something appealing that you offer there that you don’t offer everywhere else, and that’s going to help,” he said. “… That’s sort of a goal of ours. I know sports are important, but we also want the academics to rise so folks want to go to a certain school because they have high academics in place.”

Other business

Tuesday’s work session was followed by the regularly scheduled board meeting, during which members approved the following:

• Clements High band members’ participating in the annual Band Lock-in May 21–22;

• Clements High cheerleaders traveling to Huntsville for cheer camp June 1–4;

• Elkmont Elementary students traveling to Washington to visit monuments and tour museums Oct. 6–10;

• Elkmont High Beta Club members traveling to Orlando for competition June 24–29;

• West Limestone junior varsity and varsity cheerleaders traveling to Huntsville for cheer camp June 8–11;

• Bidding for West Limestone band uniforms;

• Accepting a bid for the administration addition at Tanner Elementary;

• Personnel actions — job description for school technology lead; creation of 16 new school technology lead positions, two prekindergarten itinerant special education teacher positions and a psychometrist position; four retirements; 21 resignations; four new hires; six transfers; 46 contracts; 25 summer worker contracts; eight leaves of absence; and eight supplements;

• Owner/Architect Agreement for the new Elkmont Elementary School;

• Limestone County Career Technical Center’s purchase of an engine lathe;

• Accepting quotes to repair damage from a leaking roof on the northeast classroom wing at the former Owens Elementary site and to repair student bathrooms at Tanner Elementary;

• Purchasing four trucks, social studies and science textbooks, early literacy and math assessments, handwriting curriculum, personal protective equipment and health supplies;

• Permission for West Limestone to enter into a cooperative agreement with Alabama’s Mountains, Rivers and Valleys for a $25,000 grant for strength and conditioning facility and equipment; and

• 20 additional days for part-time front office staff at all schools except Elkmont Elementary.

Visit https://bit.ly/LCBOEagenda to view the full meeting agenda, including a detailed list of personnel actions.