Saginaw Public Schools revising open enrollment policy

SAGINAW TWP., Mich. (WNEM) - The Saginaw Public Schools Board is revising the district’s open enrollment policy, affecting those in grades six through 12.

Future changes will decide where students will go to school.

“We’re attempting to correct the feeder patterns within the district,” said Dr. Ramont Roberts, the superintendent of Saginaw Public Schools.

Under changes approved Wednesday night by the Saginaw Public Schools Board, all students in grades six through 12 will attend school near where they live, according to their official home address in the student database system.

“In order to make certain that our feeder patterns and our enrollments are correct at each of the middle school facilities, we need to address open enrollment beginning at the sixth grade starting in Fall 2024,” Roberts said.

“The first year at Saginaw Middle will be sixth grade only. The second year will be six and seven. The third year will be sixth, seventh, and eighth. So, we’re going to phase into that,” said Dr. Charles Coleman, the president of the Saginaw Public Schools Board.

The revised policy has some exceptions for students admitted to the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy or the Saginaw Career Complex. Students enrolled at Thompson Middle School with an address designated for Saginaw Middle School will also be exempt from this policy, but only through the 2025-2026 school year.

“We don’t want to disrupt the education that’s going on at Thompson and the students who are currently attending Thompson. They will complete their career where they are,” Coleman said.

The new revision will also affect Zilwaukee School.

“Zilwaukee will only become a K-5 school after Fall of 2024. And so, all district students in grades six through eight would either attend Saginaw Middle School, Thompson Middle School, or obviously if they are admitted into Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy.”

The revised policy takes effect beginning the 2024-2025 school year.

“We want to give as much advance notice of how this is going to operate as possible,” Coleman said. “So that will advise the parents who live in the 48601 area to know that their students are going to be going to Saginaw Middle on Weber and those students, those sixth graders who live in the other area zip codes will be going to Thompson Middle.”

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