Answer: No, assuming that the student was permanently housed in the neighboring community. The legal definition of school of origin is “ the school that a child or youth attended when permanently housed or the school in which the child or youth was last enrolled, including a preschool.” 42 USC §11432(g)(3)(I).
Your school is not where the child was last enrolled. The question is whether your school was where the child attended when last permanently housed. Assuming the student was permanently housed at any point in the other school district, your school district would no longer be a school of origin.
In addition, even if your school district could be considered a district of origin, it’s unlikely that the school building providing 8th grade would be the same building as the high school. School of origin means “school” and not “school district.” The exception to that is if your district has a feeder school pattern, and there is a high school designated to receive students from that middle school/junior high school. If that is the case, you would need to look at whether attending that designated receiving high school is in the student’s best interest. Determinations of best interest must be individualized and take into account a range of factors. We have some interview checklists that might be useful here.