Key Elementary - was there a lottery this year for out-of-boundary students?

[Anonymous]

Is this a reliable option for someone living in the neighboring attendance areas that are also eligible to attend, space permitting? If there was a lottery, were lots of people excluded or just a few?

[Anonymous]

Bump. Also interested in this. Also, is there preference for native speakers?

[Anonymous]

Are you talking Arlington?

[Anonymous]

Yes - sorry, talking about Arlington's Key Elementary School (partial Spanish immersion)

[Anonymous]

Key Spanish immersion in Arlington

[Anonymous]

call and ask - they are very open about the #s

[Anonymous]

I'm a Key parent & I have to say that I love the school.

For fall 2012 and fall 2011, everyone who applied to the lottery got in (but you still have to apply on time).

I don't know about school year that just started but I agree with PP who said to call & ask.

And there is no preference for native speakers.

School accomodates all (no english in home, bilingual homes, and english only homes).

Note: it is very important to apply in K - not later.

Principal says that she won't let kids in at 2nd grade up -- even if come from bilingual homes since all Key kids are learning to not just speak spanish but read it and write it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:call and ask - they are very open about the #s

We're applying for K next year and don't live in Arlington yet, so I'm a little trigger shy about engaging the principal in a conversation just yet. We currently live in MoCo and we're going to take a shot at the lottery here first just because it's a financial leap for us to move to Arlington, but in some ways I almost hope the MoCo lottery falls through because I hate the huge size of MoCo and all of the ick that comes with dealing with a school system that is just too big and diverse to meet the needs of all of the students. But I guess the timing will be bad, because if we don't move to Arlington until after the school transfer process deadlines pass (MoCo doesn't announce its lottery results until May), maybe we can't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a Key parent & I have to say that I love the school.

For fall 2012 and fall 2011, everyone who applied to the lottery got in (but you still have to apply on time).

I don't know about school year that just started but I agree with PP who said to call & ask.

And there is no preference for native speakers.

School accomodates all (no english in home, bilingual homes, and english only homes).

Note: it is very important to apply in K - not later.

Principal says that she won't let kids in at 2nd grade up -- even if come from bilingual homes since all Key kids are learning to not just speak spanish but read it and write it.

This was very helpful. Any chance they would take a bilingual child coming from an immersion program after 1st or second grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:call and ask - they are very open about the #s

We're applying for K next year and don't live in Arlington yet, so I'm a little trigger shy about engaging the principal in a conversation just yet. We currently live in MoCo and we're going to take a shot at the lottery here first just because it's a financial leap for us to move to Arlington, but in some ways I almost hope the MoCo lottery falls through because I hate the huge size of MoCo and all of the ick that comes with dealing with a school system that is just too big and diverse to meet the needs of all of the students. But I guess the timing will be bad, because if we don't move to Arlington until after the school transfer process deadlines pass (MoCo doesn't announce its lottery results until May), maybe we can't get in.

You are right to hesitate because I tried this strategy and they really can't and won't tell you anything until you are a county resident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:call and ask - they are very open about the #s

We're applying for K next year and don't live in Arlington yet, so I'm a little trigger shy about engaging the principal in a conversation just yet. We currently live in MoCo and we're going to take a shot at the lottery here first just because it's a financial leap for us to move to Arlington, but in some ways I almost hope the MoCo lottery falls through because I hate the huge size of MoCo and all of the ick that comes with dealing with a school system that is just too big and diverse to meet the needs of all of the students. But I guess the timing will be bad, because if we don't move to Arlington until after the school transfer process deadlines pass (MoCo doesn't announce its lottery results until May), maybe we can't get in.

You are right to hesitate because I tried this strategy and they really can't and won't tell you anything until you are a county resident.

And I think that's totally fair (I'm the poster who said she was trigger shy). I'll wait until I'm ready to sign something on a dotted line to make meaningful inquiry - I assume they'd be willing to talk if I had an address in hand and needed to know if my child would be eligible for the school. My inclination would be to rent near the school itself anyways, in which case hopefully we would gain automatic admission without the necessity of a transfer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:call and ask - they are very open about the #s

We're applying for K next year and don't live in Arlington yet, so I'm a little trigger shy about engaging the principal in a conversation just yet. We currently live in MoCo and we're going to take a shot at the lottery here first just because it's a financial leap for us to move to Arlington, but in some ways I almost hope the MoCo lottery falls through because I hate the huge size of MoCo and all of the ick that comes with dealing with a school system that is just too big and diverse to meet the needs of all of the students. But I guess the timing will be bad, because if we don't move to Arlington until after the school transfer process deadlines pass (MoCo doesn't announce its lottery results until May), maybe we can't get in.

You won't be able to make that strategy work. The deadline to apply is mid April and you have to attend a session at both your home school and the transfer school which are only offered at specific days and times.

Now... If you move into a Key neighborhood that's a different story.

[Anonymous]

Agree. If you want to guarantee admission, I would seriously think about moving into a Key neighborhood. Forget the Montgomery County lottery nonsense and get yourself a spot at the school!

[Anonymous]

I called and met with several APS principals before moving. They were each very happy to answer general questions and some specific questions about our children.

For the lottery schools I found everyone to be very transparent with the process. Of course, they can't guarantee that next year will be the same as this year, but I'm sure they'd be happy to share info from this year.

[Anonymous]

Please post what you find out. Also contemplating a move to a Key admission area.