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Small number of school transfer requests received by Bulloch BOE
New state law allows transfers out of residential zones if parents provide transportation
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    The Bulloch County Board of Education only received 63 requests to transfer students to a school outside their residential zone, following a new state law that allows such transfers, providing the parents provide transportation.
    The low number meant school officials only had to hold a lottery for kindergarten students seeking transfer, as other schools and grades had enough spaces open  that a lottery was unnecessary, said Bulloch County School Superintendent Dr. Lewis Holloway.
    A lottery was held Thursday morning, but only for 10 kindergarten slots, he said. Six of  those requests were for moves to Sallie Zetterower Elementary. However, school must be open for 10 days before school officials will be able to determine how many kindergarten spaces will be available, he said.
    Parents whose numbers were pulled in the kindergarten lottery will be notified after the 10 day period is over, Holloway said.  The other 53 parents who requested transfers for  their children will be notified by phone today.
    Those parents must go to the school they requested and register their child, he said.
    Holloway said the transfer requests were diverse and there was no particular school that seemed to be preferred over others.
    The new law, House Bill 251, exempts schools less than four years old and  dictates parents must "assume all costs and responsibilities related to the transportation of your child to and from school as long as your child remains at that school."
    Waiting lists will be compiled should other spaces become available, he said.

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