By Megan Kelley
Staff Writer
LAKE ORION — The Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education approved the continuation of accepting school of choice students at its meeting on Jan. 10.
The board approved the administrations recommendation to authorize the SOC slots with a target SOC enrollment to not exceed 10% of the building population, or the total district enrollment, for non-residential students, where there is space available in Kindergarten through eighth grade, as well as learning options for the 2024-25 school year by a vote of 5-0.
This is the same recommendation the board approved last year for the current school year.
District Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Adam Weldon presented the recommendation to the board, which was based on the district’s enrollment count on Jan. 4 of this year.
“If we were running our lottery today, this is the chart we would look at,” Weldon said. “Our lottery will be held, if it is needed, in the spring in April.”
The district makes the recommendation for how many potential slots would be open per grade level based on past enrollment numbers and trends, but for Kindergarten they also look at county birth rates, capture rates and registration numbers.
At the elementary level, district documents show a current SOC enrollment per building at under 10%, with the exception of Carpenter Elementary which was near 13%.
Across the district at the same level, they are just above 9% school of choice students, so it still falls under the 10% target district-wide.
Fourth grade is also the only total grade that is above the 10% target but not by much, hitting about 10.71%. There are only five actual classes out of the district’s total 124 class sections that are near or above the contracted max class sizes, Weldon said.
“We continue to be committed to that 10% at each building with the understanding that fluidity can have a measurable impact on those grade levels and grade level percentages,” Weldon said. “School of Choice students really do bring a lot to the district in improving the efficiency of our resources and buildings and they have a very positive impact on our budget to allow us to continue current programming at each building and each level.”
The Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education meets regularly on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month in board chambers at the district Administration Building, 315 N. Lapeer St.
Agendas are available on the district’s website, lakeorionschools.org.