Crap, I too read our DC's letter as just about qualifying for the lottery pool. I guess if it is unclear that means DC was NOT placed? |
There should be three columns. Column 1 is just the name of the program, Column 2 is whether your child met the criteria, and Column 3 is whether they were placed in the program. It is poorly formatted, but it should have the information you are looking for. "Not Placed" if they met the criteria just means they are now on the waitlist, which should have some movement as kids decide whether to stay in their home schools, or decide between two offers if they had good lottery luck. |
What you describing the 3-column format was used in 2023 (at least). This year's letter, there is no column. Just a paragraph for Humanities Result and Math Results |
Hmmm... Either we did not receive "the letter" or DC's was very differently structured. It was just 2-3 paragraphs, no columns, stating that DC "met criteria" for lottery, etc. But I don't have it in front of me to parse the vague language or to look for magic words of " placed/not placed in the regional program" -- so who knows! |
There are no columns in the letter we received. Just one paragraph each for Humanities and Math results. It does talk about whether student met the criteria and was placed in the lottery. But after that it does not clearly say they did not get a spot (I guess for those who were lucky enough to get a spot there is a sentence to that effect). Reading carefully, and knowing about how this works, you get the info. But definitely not a well crafted explanation... |
For those who are (clearly!) more capable of divining the message in these missives, how do you know your waitlist spot? (Is everyone waitlisted, or can you miss even this cutoff ?)
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| FWIW, and assuming there is some continuity year-to-year, the letter should be uploaded to ParentVue. Maybe someone could cut and paste and help everyone else out a bit? |
I don't think there is a waitlist spot. Our letter basically said that our kiddo will have access to local enrichment and remains in the lottery pool for regional program vacancies. So as vacancies open up (kids declining spots) they will fill them from the lottery pool (the kiddos who met the criteria and placed in the pool). Not sure how that process works though (whether they already randomly drew a waitlist in the beginning, or once the first deadline for acceptance passes, they go back to the lottery pool to draw etc.). |
| Does anyone know when the second round of initiation takes place? |
Typically they don't run the second lottery until after they've dealt with all of the appeals. So, there are any number of people who think their child met the criteria but was wrongly denied entry in the initial lottery, or who think their child's IEP was not followed on the last MAP test, or whatever else might be the basis of an appeal. Once they work through all of those appeals, and re-appeals, they'll run the lottery again to fill the missing slots. But it will not be immediate, because that process may take time depending on the validity of the complaints. |
| Are there magnet programs really good? My child got a spot at Takoma park but I know nothing about the program. There isn’t much info too. Are class sizes smaller? Better teachers at magnet school? |
It's not a waitlist. It's a wait pool. They run a new lottery against the wait pool for spots that those placed by the initial lottery decline. They repeat that a couple of times until the spots are all taken. |
| So basically the lottery is just a joke. My kiddo’s two friends got a spot in takoma with lower grades and low map score but my kiddo didn’t bcoz of that lottery joke. Which is a shame on system and it really disheartening for the kids who deserve and wants to go. |
My daughter is also in CES and her score were 260 in map M and always got 100% in math but was not offered a spot which is strange I appeal it bcoz that’s totally wrong for the kids who really deserve our home school is really bad performing below average so I she is disheartened that low score students are getting the seat but kids who deserve didn’t. It’s a shame on system. |
The language is annoying because it says your student met the criteria and was placed in lottery pool. Then it goes on to say that your student will have access to local enrichment, so you have to infer that your student was not selected. Like a PP mentioned, the DCC magnets are clear about what is going on. Your student “has been assigned to the Middle School Magnet for” xyz. Much preferable. |