Non-parishoner/Blessed Sacrament?

[Anonymous]

Hi --

I've read many of the threads about BS and how difficult it is even for parishoners to get in for kindergarten. I was wondering if non-parishoners ever get in for kindergarten, or if it would be pointless to apply (for 2011, of course)? Thanks in advance!

[Anonymous]

are you a member of a parish in the the Washington Diocese?

last fall a directive came out that parishoners are not given priority - rather all members of the diocese are treated equal. I do not know how each parish is implementing this. But priority for admission when there are more applicants than spaces is suppose to be based on when a completed application was submitted.

[Anonymous]

PP, do you have a link to the directive? This is very interesting - we are members of another DC parish, but would love for our child to have a shot at going to BS.

[Anonymous]

here is a link:
http://www.adw.org/education/pdf/Policies_School_Final%2009.pdf

If you do a search on this link on DCUM you will see a thread where I posted this last fall. In that other thread I believe I stated what pages the new policy re non-parishioners is on. If you can't find the thread, just start reading - it is worth the investment.

[Anonymous]

OP here -- we are members of the Archdiocese of Washington (a church in Silver Spring). I looked quickly at the archdiocese web page and saw something re the tuition should be the same for in/out of parish if you are in the Archdiocese of Washington. I'll look more later to see if I can find where/whether it addresses admission preferences. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thanks 14:14 -- found the other DCUM thread and will read the policy!

[Anonymous]

I can't see how BS or any other parish school would take out-of-parish kids over their own parishioners. They will somehow find a way around it by taking applications from their in-bounds people first or something. Or they will go to a one day registration and folks will be camping out!

[Anonymous]

My son is starting K at BS this fall. While we are in the parish, I would suggest coming to gym mass (Sundays at 10:30) and getting involved (MOMS group, Just Faith, other volunteer opps). They really want people who they know will be involved in the community there and if you can show them that I imagine it would really help your chances of getting in as an out of boundary member down the road.

[Anonymous]

But the bigger issue is siblings. I understand there were only 15 slots for K once siblings were taken care of. That's why it is so hard to get in. IMO, Blessed Sacrament families are big - often 3 kids or more. We go there for Sunday School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't see how BS or any other parish school would take out-of-parish kids over their own parishioners. They will somehow find a way around it by taking applications from their in-bounds people first or something. Or they will go to a one day registration and folks will be camping out!

I do not know how each parish is implementing the policy - I just pointed out the new policy from the Archdiocese. As a parishioner of another desirable catholic school in the area I can tell you that I had my completed application in early. The way the parish might be giving parishioners preference is how they schedule playdates. The policy states that if there is more demand than spaces the deciding factor is when completed applications are submitted. If a playdate is an input to the completed application, the parish might schedule all parishioners 1st followed by non-parishioners (I am guessing on this work around - not saying that it is happening).