Policy: 3131
Students
District Attendance Areas and Intra District Transfers
The Superintendent shall, as needed, review the geographic attendance areas designated for each building in the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District. Each student in the district is required to attend the school designated for the geographic attendance area in which they reside.
Sumner-Bonney Lake School District students shall attend the school designated for their respective residential areas unless an intradistrict transfer application has been approved according to District procedures.
The Sumner-Bonney Lake School District reserves the right to base final decisions on the needs of all schools in the District. Students may be required to attend a school in another area when enrollment conditions make this necessary. When attendance boundaries are changed, students affected by the change will attend the newly assigned residential school.
Students will attend the school designated for their respective residential areas unless an intra-district waiver application has been submitted and approved or it is necessary to transfer a resident student to another school. The district reserves the right to base final decisions on the needs of all schools in the district. When enrollment in an attendance area substantially exceeds building and/or instructional capacity, students may be required to attend a school in another attendance area.
Intra District Attendance Transfers
A parent or guardian may request that their child be allowed to attend another school in the district. Requests must be submitted using the district’s Attendance Waiver Application System. Secondary students who request attendance area transfers are subject to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s eligibility rules.
Waiver applications may be approved if:
A. A financial, educational, safety, or health condition affecting the student would be reasonably improved as a result of the transfer.
B. Attendance at another school in the district is more accessible to the parent’s place of work or to the location of child care; or
C. There is some other special hardship or detrimental condition affecting the student or the student's immediate family which would be alleviated as a result of the transfer.
Transportation
District transportation will not be provided for students wavering into a new school. Transportation is the responsibility of the parent/guardian.
Reporting Transfers Out of the District
When students move out of the district without notification of where they will be enrolling once they have moved, it can be challenging to know how to report the transfer appropriately and ensure the student’s educational records are forwarded. To address these challenges, the district will follow the Comprehensive Education Data and Research System (CEDARS) Reporting Guidance for reporting students as confirmed or unconfirmed transfers both inside and outside of Washington.
To confirm the transfer of a student who has emigrated to another country, the district will obtain written confirmation, but need not obtain an “official” writing. This means that if a parent informs a school administrator that the family is leaving the country and a school administrator documents the conversation in writing and includes it in the student’s file, the district may report the out of country
transfer as confirmed. However, the district will not report a transfer as confirmed if information that a student has moved is reported from a student’s friend rather than a parent.
Legal References:
RCW 28A.225.225 Applications from nonresident students or
Students receiving home-based instruction to attend district school-School employees’ children- Acceptance and rejection standards- Notification
RCW 28A.225.270 Intradistrict enrollment options policies
RCW 28A.225.290 Enrollment options information booklet
RCW 28A.225.300 Enrollment options information to parents
Adopted 4/4/2012
Revised 7/2016 , 11/2025