Question about Arlington lottery elementary schools

[Anonymous]

Hi all. I have a question about the county-wide or specialty schools in Arlington. I know that for ATS, Science Focus, etc. you have to enter a lottery to get a slot. I'm guessing that most people enter the lottery for Kindergarten, but now I'm wondering what people who don't enter it at that point do. Do they have lottery slots available for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, graders, etc? I ask only because a friend mentioned that her son was on the waiting list at one of them for 3 years before he got in. So, if they're drawing from the waiting list that is already 3 years old, do they even do a lottery drawing for the grades past Kindergarten? Or should you just not bother if you don't enter for the Kindergarten lottery?

I hope that made sense.

[Anonymous]

From what I understand, it's only lottery for K. A waiting list is developed at that point, and anyone applying for later grades is put at the end of that waiting list for that grade. Whether it is worth getting on the list would depend on the length of the list and if the school is what you really want.

The two Spanish Immersion schools have entry only at K and 1st. Unless your child has previous Immersion experience or lived in a Spanish-speaking country, you can't apply for higher grades. But if your child does, you stand a good chance at late entry there.

And Science Focus is actually a neighborhood school for anyone living in the Key Immersion boundary who doesn't want immersion. Only the other Team Schools (Jamestown and Taylor) can apply, but very unlikely to get in anymore due to the large amount of neighborhood kids choosing SF along that part of the Orange line.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! That's a very helpful explanation.