The Lawrence school board Monday agreed to authorize drafting a new policy designed to end the chaotic system of handling student transfer requests, the majority of which are at the elementary level.

Meeting a new application deadline of Dec. 1 and not violating the district’s objective of maintaining small class sizes in elementary schools will be hallmarks of the policy, to be written by a district committee.

Scott Morgan, board president, said a student’s specific reason for requesting a transfer would no longer be relevant. Removing that subjective element should streamline the administrative process of reviewing transfer requests, he said.

“What it does is bring order to chaos,” Morgan said.

He said the new policy would stipulate that transfers could be revoked at any time and must be renewed annually. Students are to be notified of district decisions about six months before a new academic year starts, he said.

Transfer policy at secondary schools would generally follow current practice. For example, a student who starts at a certain junior high school would still be allowed to complete his or her education there if his residency changed to another junior high area. But that student would later have to attend the high school serving his new residence.

Students from neighboring public school districts who want to attend Lawrence schools would have to apply, be accepted and enroll before Sept. 20.

The district needs an official transfer policy because it was inadvertently left out of a new manual adopted by the board.

“This is an area that cries out for the board to set policy,” he said.

Currently, the 10,000-student district has approved transfers for 335 elementary students and 100 secondary students.