How to Safely Transfer Schools

You need to speak with the school district and see if she can get a waver to attend out of district, don't do anything without that approval in writing.

Hi, Bay Area mom here.
Every district is different. My daughter transferred to a school within our small district (only four schools) but we still had to write a letter and get referrals and that is ONLY considered for the fall term. Please call each school and get your questions answered before making any final decisions.

Contact that school district. If they have open enrollment they might let you for a price. Why would you just do the last semester. If she's going to try to go it should have been for the entire school year. They may not let her since it's only one semester and she's not in the limits and she's been homeschooling. Usually homeschool kids they make take a placement test to make sure they are at the correct lvl before admitting them into public school. Unless you are doing one of the public school homeschools online then it might be a little easier. I am sure she's wanting the prom and the grad ceremony, I know what's the only reason my youngest said he wants to go back to public school is the graduation I told him heck no!!!!!!! We will homeschool him till he graduates (or get's his GED) Then will have a party for him.

I'd have it ironclad, in writing, that the new school will accept her if she lives outside the district with relatives. It depends on how taxes are allocated for school systems, and it also depends on whether the new school is on board with her just dropping for a semester after their class rosters are all set up. They'd also have to accept her home school grades and progress. You say she does "perfect" but they may not agree with the curriculum you are using, so you need a serious sit-down with the guidance counselor and the department head in the new school. Get everything in writing.

If she's going to college, I'd really worry about credits being transferred. Even if she passes everything, and most of that work would be done after her acceptances are in, those acceptances are still provisional and based on a solid finish at the end of the year. Grades from an entirely new school may confuse the college computer, you know? So you need to have conversations with the admissions office.

If she's not going to college, then you only have to worry about her finishing up and doing well enough to graduate. It would be awful if she went to the trouble of moving there and then didn't actually graduate with her friends.

Is this all for the chance to be in a ceremony and walk across the stage? What were the factors that went into the decision to home school? Did graduation and proms and so forth even come up? This might be a good lesson in adulthood for her - choices have consequences.

You need to call the school directly. Even if you lived across the street and were in their district they aren't obligated to allow her to go there.

Our schools occasionally have one year of kids that is over the maximum limit for the school in their zone and they randomly pick kids to be transferred to other schools in the district with less students in that grade.

Point is, just because she wants to go there they might not have room for her.

When you talk to the school tell them she's really missing her home there and wants to come back. Would they allow her to be in their school if she was living with XXXXX located at XXXXX.

This way you will know what their policy is and what you might need to do. If she still has friends in the actual zone for this school can she stay with them instead? Of use their address but actually live with the family you have talked to already?

There would be ways around this but finding out from the school, first of all, would give you the details of what you need to do.

I think what is really going on here is that you want your daughter to graduate high school from a specific school. We have seen that here as well. We have a small rural school and then for the last part of the year, parents will move their kids to another location near a larger city (just over an hour from here) in order to have a certain school name on their kids' diploma. The larger school in this case, realized what was happening and doesn't not allow senior applications to their school unless you can PROVE that the parents moved there.

There is a good reason school generally do not allow this.

You need to contact the school and find out what their requirements are AND if there is even any room for her. Just because she wants to go there doesn't mean she will be able to. Living out of the district changes everything. Good luck.

For one semester. Why. By the time you would get this all figured out it will be June.

If she is not going to be living within the boundaries of the school, there are probably very specific circumstances under which she could attend, and you might have to pay tuition even if she is allowed. I am on the east coast so it may be very different in California, but here you either live in the district or have just moved out of it and are allowed to finish just one year as a non-resident student.

Senior pictures, the prom, etc. are not really important to everyone so their value to your daughter is worth a conversation with her if you can get her into the school, but they are not a reason to do or not to do what you're suggesting.

there is a school about 5 miles from my house. it is a different district. it takes approx. 6 minutes for me to drive there. we inquired about our children attending since its close and better than the district we live in. it would of cost nearly double what a private school costs for the year for one kid. so we opted to apply for the advanced classes for our kids in the district. it now takes me about 20 minutes to drive the kids to school but costwise we could afford the districts school.

check with the school she wants, you may not be able to get her into it or you may not be able to afford it, or they may not have the space for her to start attending mid year. the only people who can answer the question of is she allowed to would be the school. start with them.

She does not "miss school ever" - well she is homeschooled! How in the world would she miss school?

Is she applying to colleges now? That takes up enough time that the added stress of transferring schools might not be a good idea now.

The main thing, though, is you should call the school and ask whether she would be able to transfer and still be able to graduate in June.