High school athletic transfers are a hot topic in the state of Nebraska. There are many questions on how transferring works in high school. 

In District 66, the Director of Student services, Robert Aranda, oversees all families wishing to enroll in Westside.  Aranda makes a distinction between transfers and option enrollment.   Option enrollment occurs between two school districts and transfers occur within a district. 

“For example, some of our neighboring school districts have multiple high schools within their district,” Aranda said. “Such as in Millard Public Schools. If a student attending Millard North chooses to attend Millard South that is an in district transfer. If a Millard North student wants to attend Westside they would need to apply for option enrollment.”

In the state of Nebraska every family has a choice of where they send their children in the public education system through the option enrollment process.   

“In Nebraska, every family has the opportunity to choose from their resident district to another district,” Aranda said. 

When a family is interested in another district they have to fill out an option enrollment application. When Aranda goes to choose who gets admitted, all of the applications are drawn blind to not bias the results. 

“Families would have to apply between September 1 and March 15. That’s the time window,”  Aranda said. “Then we have to do a blind draw, so every family that applies has the equal opportunity to come in.”

If the student is selected they are then given the opportunity to enroll in the Westside district. If that student is in a sponsored sport, Aranda directs parents towards Athletic Director Tom Kerkman to allow communication between parents and the athletic department. 

“I end up giving that phone call or email to Mr. Kerkman. So he can take care of that,” Aranda said.

Kerkman stresses that if a student wants to participate in a varsity activity that student will need to be added to the NSAA May 1st eligibility list. If not on that list, that student will have to sit out for 90 days. He also mentioned that students can only be on the May 1st list once and if you wanted to enroll with another school you would have to sit 90 days unless your family moved. 

The athletic department communicates guidelines to coaches if families and students contact them about potentially optioning into the school district.  The department’s goal with this is to handle all communications between potential option families if they have questions about potentially transferring. 

“One guideline is not attending other districts’ middle schools athletic events,” Kerkman said.  “I don’t want them to have to go out and think that they have to go recruit ninth graders or eighth graders, there’s really no need to go out and recruit.”

After graduation last year Westside lost many star athletes. Despite all the rumors circulating, Kerkman reports that only about 50% of the sophomore through senior option enrollment students contribute to varsity teams. 

For 2023-24 school year, 104 sophomore, junior and seniors applied to Westside. Out of those who applied, only 20 were admitted. District wide, 713 students applied last school year and only 297 got admitted. The majority of the option enrollment students come in kindergarten. Of the 297 applications that were approved, 144 were kindergarten applicants.

Regardless of the number of students admitted to Westside through option enrollment, Kerkman cannot and will not recruit student athletes from other schools to help improve rosters.

Once a family has accepted option enrollment, Kerkman gets in contact with the other schools’ athletic directors and is transparent with a potential transfer. Knowing that transferring and option enrollment  is a hot topic in the city, he believes in communicating with the other schools and providing pros and cons of transferring. 

A majority of students who are optioning into Westside are not optioning for athletics.   

“We have a lot of great programs at Westside, and obviously, it’s attractive to many families and student athletes,” Kerkman said. “Families want to option into Westside to be a part of  many great programs for example the choir, show choir, band, orchestra, journalism, academics, e-sports, marketing, and facilities just to name a few.”

Aranda has varying views from Kerkman, but both share a common theme in their opinions on why families flock to Westside.

“My personal opinion is that the district has done an excellent job of selling itself. The “W” speaks loudly, I think, in the state of Nebraska and, of course, in Omaha. But I think the district has done a really, really good job of marketing itself,” Aranda said.

Overseeing all option enrollment students, Aranda thinks there are two major keys that help a family decide what school district is best for their family besides programs and facilities. 

“Two of the things that parents look at are safety and strong academics. Westside checks those two boxes and we’re continuing to get better in both areas,” Aranda said. 

Junior football player and track athlete Bryson William option enrolled with Westside at the start of his junior year. What stands out most to Willaims is the sense of culture that Westside really has and continues to grow.

 “What stands out to me about Westside is that the culture is great and the football team is a family. The community is a family. Every single person in the Westside community has your back,” Williams said. “ I like that I can surround myself with people who have the same goals as me.”

After competing during his freshman and sophomore years, Williams and his family decided they were going to look for another school.

“Since I didn’t get much time in my sophomore year my parents and I thought it was time for a change,” Williams said. “There weren’t a lot of people that had the same goals as me. I was really looking at either Millard North or Westside.”

With so many ideas from people around the Omaha metro and state about optioning into a new school, Kerkman sees it as an opportunity to help improve Westside as a whole. 

“When students do come into Westside, they add a lot to our school culture. Not only are they good athletes, but they’re really good academically, they’re good stewards,” Kerkman said. 

While option enrollment still raises eyebrows, the system run by Aranda and his team at student services ensures a fair and efficient process.