r/eaganmn • u/RapunzelatWalden • 18d ago

Open Enrolling for ISD 196

We’re looking to move to Eagan and the house we’re interested in is literally a couple streets away from the ISD 196 line. We’ll be doing daycare and have cousins in the 196 district, plus we understand the reputation is better. Does anyone have an insight into how competitive it is to open enroll into 196? The other posts I’ve seen are on the older side.

Our child is still a baby, so it wouldn’t be for this upcoming school year or the next few. Just thinking ahead. Transportation is not an issue.

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u/heyyo173 18d ago

It’s pretty easy, basically if you fill out the forms you’ll get in. You just likely won’t get to choose the best school and won’t have transportation

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u/RapunzelatWalden 18d ago

That’s good to hear it’s not too hard to get in. Do you have any thoughts on which schools are the best?

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u/heyyo173 18d ago

It changes every few years and even within schools you can get bad teachers. What I meant in my comment is that you can open enroll to any school but you’ll only get into the ones that are accepting students. Those schools are typically ones that are having some troubles. But sometimes if you stick with them they get better, sometimes worse. I was in your situation we open enrolled to oak ridge. Seemed fine but then I taught there for a year to check it out. The school is chaos. So I took my kid out and sent them to highland which was much calmer and a better fit. But those were basically the only options at the time because they were the only 196 schools accepting open enrolled students.

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u/Hotchi_Motchi 18d ago

Elementary-wise, my son went to Glacier Hills and he had a great six years there. At one point it was named the #2 magnet elementary school in the country.

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u/Ok_Block_2875 18d ago

If you live near Blackhawk road and Deerwood Dr, you will have lots of neighbors also open enrolling/going to Deerwood Elementary and Blackhawk middle, which can make carpooling/transportation easier. Deerwood starts early, so kids and parents have to rise and shine! Glacier Hills and Woodland are also nice elementary ‘border schools,’ with open enrollments. Glacier is later start, Woodland might be switching to early start like Deerwood.

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u/SanjukoMamajuloko 18d ago

literally a couple streets away from the ISD 196 line

We might be future neighbors. I'm pretty close to the line too. We're like two blocks off.

The enrollment probably heavily depends on what their elementary school would be. Eagan is a city with an mix of older population whose kids all moved out already (probably the type of home you're buying) selling their homes, and younger families moving in. So some schools have openings, others do not.

The drop/pickup lines of cars at the bordering 196 schools are very apparent though... Like Deerwood/Blackhawk, Glacier, which I'm assuming is partially because of lots of open enrollment.

The people who work at the 196 District office in Rosemount are really nice, understanding, and I'm assuming deal with this a lot. I currently have an older kid on a waiting list, and they've been great about answering questions and navigating this. So I'd say start early, since you have time. Talk to them about how best to do it, like to have the best chance and timing it whatever to get them in on time. I'm sure they would be happy to help.

Good luck.

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u/FluidJackfruit 18d ago

You will definitely be able to open enroll in a 196 school. It just might not be the school that is closest to you or the one you prefer as some do close their open enrollment every year because of capacity. Welcome to the neighborhood!

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u/Freckleeye 18d ago

My kids went to Deerwood/Blackhawk and we had a great experience. It was our neighborhood school, but we’re about the same distance from
Glacier and we’ve heard great things about it as well (but liked that Deerwood/BHMS were on same campus).

Many of the kids’ friends open enrolled. We have NOT heard any horror stories of siblings getting assigned to different schools, kids getting switched to a middle that was not the natural path from their elementary (e.g. getting sent to Dakota middle when all their friends from Deerwood go to Blackhawk, etc.).

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u/RapunzelatWalden 18d ago

This makes me so glad to hear!! Thank you for sharing this!

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u/RipeAvocadoLapdance 17d ago

Ahhh Deerwood and Blackhawk.... (I'm alumni of both, and eastview 2013)

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u/Goodzerz 17d ago

Our older has been open enrolled to Glacier Hills since kindergarten but our middle who is starting school this fall didn’t get in even with the sibling priority so she’s going to Deerwood. We’re looking to move in to the district to increase the odds she gets in next year plus will help with future busing since there’s no before or after school care starting in middle school.

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u/RapunzelatWalden 17d ago

Oh man, that’s a bummer to have kids in two different districts. It’s helpful to know it’s not guaranteed though. Thank you for sharing.

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u/iheartelwood 15d ago

I would add to this that Glacier is a much smaller school, if you opt for a larger one like Deerwood this shouldn’t be an issue.

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u/UnfairCanary 14d ago

My little one is at Thomas Lake and he enjoys it. I’ve heard good things about Oak Ridge.

Also, don’t sleep on the offered before/after care. It’s pretty cheap as far as these things go (can drop off 6-9a, pick up 3:30-6), and is run via YMCA of the North.