if you are at a HRCS...

[Anonymous]

NP here. I did not get email from CM either and recall the conversations and outrage about not having a public lottery on DCUM. However, a PP few pages back pointed out that the law requiring public lottery changed years before that, 2007 I think.

[Anonymous]

The only threads I found about this started after the 2013 lottery and the talk was all about the lottery for that year. I didn't find any posts in 2012 where someone reported being told there was no public lottery that year. That being said, I am glad they are now on the common lottery to prevent this kind of talk from happening in the future. Plus it just makes the application process easier - I wish there had been a common lottery back when I was applying to schools!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is patently false and unfair to keep stating either as fact or repeating a rumor that CM did not have public lotteries until this year. I applied to the school in 2012 and still have an email from them stating when and where the lottery would be held and that families were invited to attend but not required to do so.

I absolutely do not believe this. You say you have it, then copy and paste it here. You can take out your name and email addy, but copy and paste the whole message or it didn't happen. And I'm another who called the school that year by the way to ask when/where the lottery would be and was told there wasn't a public lottery.

Post the email.

You're funny! Hmmm, wonder why they went ahead and joined the public lottery? Do you really think they didn't get heat from PCSB? But it is absolute fact that at least in 2012 and 2013 it was NOT public. I think they may have done a public one earlier this year for the current school year. Can anyone confirm whether the one held in early 2014 was public or not?

I do not think "absolute fact" means what you think it means.

From the application confirmation email I received when I applied in 2012:

"Dear parent/guardian,

I am writing to confirm that we received your application to enroll your child at Creative Minds International Public Charter School. Thank you for your interest in our program.

We will be in touch with you after the enrollment period closes (after April 9, 2012, or if there is a lottery, after April 17, 2012) to let you know if your child was accepted for the 2012-2013 school year. If accepted, you have until May 14, 2012 to complete and return your child’s enrollment information to save his/her space. If we do not receive the enrollment packet by May 14, 2012, the space will be offered to the next student on our waitlist.

To learn more information about our program or the admissions process, please check our website at www.creativemindspcs.org, or attend an open house.

Open Houses at 3224 16th Street NW Washington, DC 20010;

Wednesday, March 14, 2012 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Lottery

The Enrollment Lottery will be held at 3224 16th Street NW Washington, DC 20010 on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 7 p.m. Families are invited but not required to attend."

(Corrected below post - I was not told there would be no lottery; I was told there'd be no public lottery.)

I applied for this exact same school year. I did not receive this email, and when I called the school to ask about attending the lottery, I was told there was not a public lottery. You did not paste sender info from this message, but giving you the benefit of the doubt that this is an actual copy of an email, my experience was still of being told explicitly that there would be no lottery that I could attend as a member of the public. I was also on DCUM then, and there was discussion of the lack of a public lottery, and NO ONE mentioned having been given a time/date/location for a public one or of actually attending the CM lottery that year. And there were many people like me who had contacted the school directly and been told what I was. Honestly, the school itself doesn't claim to have had a public lottery that year. So it didn't happen, regardless of this possibly legit email.

Not to be rude, but which is more likely - the fact that you are the only one that didn't receive this email (when others obviously did) or that you just missed the email?

Many people contacted the school? Which is more likely, that this is getting exaggerated or like the year before - they had a public lottery and no one showed up?

This is the same year that I applied and I didn't go to the lottery (I think I got a postcard with my waitlist number).

You are missing the 2 main points: 1) You don't get to decide whether to do a public lottery or not based on whether anyone shows up. The lottery (if not a common lottery) has to be public, and if no one shows up, oh well. 2) If you want to know how many people reported contacting the school that year, search the archives for threads. I think multiple people at the time reporting being told there was no public lottery vs. one person listing an email they got trumps, but you are of course free to value whatever you want to value.

At the end of the day, CM did at least 2 years with no public lottery, it shot them in the foot with many in terms of credibility re: their admissions process, and that is just the way it is. Now they're in the common lottery, a lot of parents love the school, and they are moving and seem to be doing fine, so soon it probably will be considered ancient history. It was a shady decision, but it seems like they've moved past it and I wish any school educating DC children the best if they are doing their best to serve DC children.

1. Is it public if no one shows up? Maybe they had a public lottery and no one was there. What is that? It's still a public lottery but with no one in attendance.

2. You seem to have missed the actual law (or just glossed over it). Please feel free to go back and read it. I will wait for you to find where they "must" do a public lottery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only threads I found about this started after the 2013 lottery and the talk was all about the lottery for that year. I didn't find any posts in 2012 where someone reported being told there was no public lottery that year. That being said, I am glad they are now on the common lottery to prevent this kind of talk from happening in the future. Plus it just makes the application process easier - I wish there had been a common lottery back when I was applying to schools!

Agreed, people focus to much on the insignificant aspect on this, or Yu Yings waitlist, or whatever. They miss the forest for the trees of our education system. But, I assume they must be small minded people anyway.

[Anonymous]

I was so happy that this thread had taken a different turn, but the CMI shady lottery troll is back. Hey troll, read this: CMI DID NOT HAVE TO HOLD A PUBLIC LOTTERY. SO IF THEY DID NOT HAVE A PUBLIC LOTTERY IT IS OKAY. PERFECTLY LEGAL. READ THE LAW.