Lottery stops in October? No enrollment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok - a bit confused here…
I understand moving down the wait list - rather than up - in the spring and summer: siblings show up, people move inbound to the school district, whatever. (I mean: I actually think that last one would mean the list would stay frozen…? Who knows. I could see it working the other way too.) But we’re more than three weeks into the school year…doesn’t it seem weird for it to happen now? How does that even work? It’s happened on multiple wait lists today…start the morning at 5 and 6, end the day at 7 and 8. Just seems…weird

It's not unusual. Someone may have left because they got a late offer at a school they liked better. The domino effect can go on for a while-- the school makes an offer to #1 on the list. That person has a day or two or three to think about it, then declines. So the school offers to #2... Repeat.

Also, at this time of year people sometimes leave the list, if they know they wouldn't accept an offer. That's a courteous thing to do because it expedites the process for people who actually want the spot.

This is also the time of year that DCPS decides, for over-enrolled classrooms, whether to add a teacher (provided there's a room for this). If they do divide a big class into two, they'll need a few more kids to fill up. This is when that happens.

All these things would make someone go UP a list…not down it. If someone leaves for a late offer or removes their name from the list or a class get added, people still on the list would either stay in the same place or go HIGHER, depending on their original spot - not lose ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:siblings enrolled and/or specifically for preK people moved IB

Yeah that was my guess - but how would that happen almost a month in? You move now, but skip the first few weeks of school? Your other kid maybe went there all last year and the whole first month of school, but you don’t even put their sibling’s name on a zero-commitment wait list until 9 months after the lottery opens, 6 months after the results, and 3 weeks after classes start? How? Why?
Oh well.
(If this weren’t an automated system, I would have…questions)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok - a bit confused here…
I understand moving down the wait list - rather than up - in the spring and summer: siblings show up, people move inbound to the school district, whatever. (I mean: I actually think that last one would mean the list would stay frozen…? Who knows. I could see it working the other way too.) But we’re more than three weeks into the school year…doesn’t it seem weird for it to happen now? How does that even work? It’s happened on multiple wait lists today…start the morning at 5 and 6, end the day at 7 and 8. Just seems…weird

It's not unusual. Someone may have left because they got a late offer at a school they liked better. The domino effect can go on for a while-- the school makes an offer to #1 on the list. That person has a day or two or three to think about it, then declines. So the school offers to #2... Repeat.

Also, at this time of year people sometimes leave the list, if they know they wouldn't accept an offer. That's a courteous thing to do because it expedites the process for people who actually want the spot.

This is also the time of year that DCPS decides, for over-enrolled classrooms, whether to add a teacher (provided there's a room for this). If they do divide a big class into two, they'll need a few more kids to fill up. This is when that happens.

All these things would make someone go UP a list…not down it. If someone leaves for a late offer or removes their name from the list or a class get added, people still on the list would either stay in the same place or go HIGHER, depending on their original spot - not lose ground.

Well, it's confusing because people use up and down the list to mean opposite things. So you are using "higher" to mean closer to receiving an offer.

I would think it's siblings jumping you on the list. Someone gets admitted, they have a sibling or a twin in your grade, you get bumped. I think people get a preference when the sibling has an offer, before it's accepted, so that they can see where their waitlist place would be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:siblings enrolled and/or specifically for preK people moved IB

Yeah that was my guess - but how would that happen almost a month in? You move now, but skip the first few weeks of school? Your other kid maybe went there all last year and the whole first month of school, but you don’t even put their sibling’s name on a zero-commitment wait list until 9 months after the lottery opens, 6 months after the results, and 3 weeks after classes start? How? Why?
Oh well.
(If this weren’t an automated system, I would have…questions)

It's because the siblings are getting late waitlist offers. So they're transferring in from other schools. Understand that DCPS schools make offers to non-IB kids in the upper grades more often than they do for preschool.

And yes, people move house after the first day of school. People mean to move in August but things get delayed. That's how moving goes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok - a bit confused here…
I understand moving down the wait list - rather than up - in the spring and summer: siblings show up, people move inbound to the school district, whatever. (I mean: I actually think that last one would mean the list would stay frozen…? Who knows. I could see it working the other way too.) But we’re more than three weeks into the school year…doesn’t it seem weird for it to happen now? How does that even work? It’s happened on multiple wait lists today…start the morning at 5 and 6, end the day at 7 and 8. Just seems…weird

It's not unusual. Someone may have left because they got a late offer at a school they liked better. The domino effect can go on for a while-- the school makes an offer to #1 on the list. That person has a day or two or three to think about it, then declines. So the school offers to #2... Repeat.

Also, at this time of year people sometimes leave the list, if they know they wouldn't accept an offer. That's a courteous thing to do because it expedites the process for people who actually want the spot.

This is also the time of year that DCPS decides, for over-enrolled classrooms, whether to add a teacher (provided there's a room for this). If they do divide a big class into two, they'll need a few more kids to fill up. This is when that happens.

All these things would make someone go UP a list…not down it. If someone leaves for a late offer or removes their name from the list or a class get added, people still on the list would either stay in the same place or go HIGHER, depending on their original spot - not lose ground.

Well, it's confusing because people use up and down the list to mean opposite things. So you are using "higher" to mean closer to receiving an offer.

I would think it's siblings jumping you on the list. Someone gets admitted, they have a sibling or a twin in your grade, you get bumped. I think people get a preference when the sibling has an offer, before it's accepted, so that they can see where their waitlist place would be.

Yeah, we jumped about 95 spots on a waitlist (up to middle single digits) for our younger kid when our older one was offered a spot at a school. That or a kid moving in-bounds would absolutely move you to a bigger number mid-September.