• Placement through Open Enrollment (both resident transfer and non-resident students)

    Cartwright District offers School Choice, meaning families may attend any Cartwright school of their choice, regardless of where they live, subject to capacity and program suitability upon completion of an English Open enrollment application or Spanish Open enrollment application. Per Policy JFB, placement is based on the following priorities:

    1. District residents, including those who are required by law to be admitted.
    2. Resident transfer students who currently attend the school and their siblings.
    3. Non-resident students returning to the same school from the prior year & their siblings*.
    4. Students who are children of district employees
    5. Students who are in foster care and students who meet the definition of unaccompanied youth prescribed in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act are not attending their school of origin or school of residence
    6. Resident Transfers (In-District students opting for school choice); If there is excess capacity remaining after the reserved capacity identified above, the District will give open enrollment priority to nonresident students in the following order:
    7. Students who attend a school that is closing.
    8. Nonresident (out-of-district) students not included in any of the above criteria.

    *Enrollment in a school’s PreK program does not guarantee placement at that particular school for kindergarten.

    Out-of-District (Non-Resident) Families
    Families that live outside of the Cartwright District boundaries (non-residents) may also apply for open enrollment to a Cartwright school of their choice. The process for registering is the same as above for non-resident families. The following guidelines also apply.

    9. Mid-year applications are accepted each year until May 1 of the current school year.

    10. Enrollment is based on available space (view capacity by school).

    11. The parent or legal guardian will be notified whether the application has been accepted, rejected, or placed on a waiting list.

    12. The parent or legal guardian of the student is responsible for the student’s transportation.

    13. Applications may need to be re-submitted annually.

    If the remaining capacity at a school is insufficient to enroll all nonresident students who submit a timely request, the school will select students through an equitable selection process such as a lottery (but not limited to a lottery), except that preference shall be given to the siblings of a student selected through an equitable selection process such as a lottery.

    Enrolling at Marc T. Atkinson Gifted Academy
    Marc T. Atkinson is gifted in middle school. Students entering 7th & 8th grade during the 2022–23 school year are given preference if they qualify on the gifted assessments. Additional applications may be required.

    Enrolling at Cartwright Virtual Academy
    Cartwright Virtual Academy is an Arizona Online Instruction (AOI) school and is required to submit daily logs of instructional minutes. Pursuant to A.R.S. 15-808, the daily attendance for each student shall be determined based on the instructional time reported on the student’s daily instructional log. The log shall be completed daily by the parent or guardian and filed weekly with the school. Failure by parents to submit these weekly logs may result in revoking a student's open enrollment status.

    Admission Standards

    Admission may be refused to any student who has been expelled from another educational institution or who is in the process of being expelled from another educational institution. Providing false information on the open enrollment form may result in the application being revoked.
    Except as provided in A.R.S.     15-816.01, the district will not limit admission based on any of the following:

    14. Ethnicity or race.

    15. National origin.

    16. Sex.

    17. Income level.

    18. Disability

    19. Proficiency in the English language.

    20. Athletic ability.

    Transportation of Students Admitted Through Open Enrollment
    The District may provide transportation for open enrollment resident transfer & nonresident students from a designated pickup point on a bus route serving the attendance area of the school to which the student has been admitted or as may be otherwise determined by the District.
    The District shall provide transportation for nonresident & resident transfer students with disabilities whose individualized education program (IEP) specifies that transportation is necessary for the fulfillment of the program:

    A. of not more than thirty (30) miles to and from:

    21. the school of attendance, or

    22. a pickup point on a regular District transportation route, or

    23. for the total miles traveled each day to an adjacent district.