Specialty Lottery 2015

[Anonymous]

Do you remember saying you spoke Spanish at home on your app? It sounds like that may have moved you to the top of the list for Chavez.

[Anonymous]

I don't remember if I mentioned Spanish on the app. I may have, but I can't find any record of that. However, that shouldn't have caused a different placing with a net change of 65 slots. Does saying you speak French at home cause some placements to jump over others (for Kindergarten)? I think we'd see lawsuits galore if that were true.

I'm going to (calmly) reach out tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll get some answers/resolution.

[Anonymous]

Well for TAG we were given a number in the 80's for Glenarden woods and it clearly states that our TAG school is Heather hills based on our address. Unless there was a boundary change and they have not updated the website. I am grateful for a the number hoping that she will get a spot, but do not understand how my neighbor TAG school was Heather hills and we are glenarden woods. If i call i do not want to make the situation worse. But very confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well for TAG we were given a number in the 80's for Glenarden woods and it clearly states that our TAG school is Heather hills based on our address. Unless there was a boundary change and they have not updated the website. I am grateful for a the number hoping that she will get a spot, but do not understand how my neighbor TAG school was Heather hills and we are glenarden woods. If i call i do not want to make the situation worse. But very confused.

On the School Finder page, there is a section that talks about 2015-2016 changes...when was the last time you looked?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember if I mentioned Spanish on the app. I may have, but I can't find any record of that. However, that shouldn't have caused a different placing with a net change of 65 slots. Does saying you speak French at home cause some placements to jump over others (for Kindergarten)? I think we'd see lawsuits galore if that were true.

I'm going to (calmly) reach out tomorrow. I'm hoping I'll get some answers/resolution.

A PP mentioned that 1/2 of the slots were reserved for fluent Spanish speakers. I am assuming they are assigned through the lottery. The other immersion schools do not do this.

[Anonymous]

I checked on Thursday and the day of the lottery and it still shows Heather Hills as the TAG center for my address. I did see changes but the TAG center location was not one of them. Unsure what happened as to why she was chosen however, i feel they will not change it and bump a person from Heather Hills that has the same number. Wondering if anyone has had this happen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I checked on Thursday and the day of the lottery and it still shows Heather Hills as the TAG center for my address. I did see changes but the TAG center location was not one of them. Unsure what happened as to why she was chosen however, i feel they will not change it and bump a person from Heather Hills that has the same number. Wondering if anyone has had this happen?

A friend of mine had this issue with another Specialty program and he did get bumped up to the top of the wait list but it was a cluster and he ended up not getting in. I would call ASAP if you have a low number and get it sorted out. You don't want to wait until all the offer letters have gone out.

[Anonymous]

I would think with the high 80s you have a better chance at glenarden woods then heather hills. I believe both schools are great schools. I would think you have a better chance at getting into glenarden woods. Call and if they are going to give you the same number will heather hills have that many slots. Maybe someone on the forum can say if glenarden woods or heather Hills is a better school. You may want to call and check today.

[Anonymous]

Our daughter got low 100s for 1st and 2nd choice. 2nd choice school was about 10 points or so higher. We got an offer for the 2nd choice after assuming it was a wrap for both. Now to figure out what to do since we really prefer the 1st choice.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

I'm the parent who had the great lottery numbers at Pullen, Robert Goddard, and Chavez, in that order, but only got an offer from Chavez. I spoke with them this morning and now I have a clearer vision of the process. I can also say that the system does not seem to be corrupt in any way, although I can see how some parents may feel that way if they don't get what they think they should get. I'll explain with an example. Say I got the following results (not the actual numbers):

#1 at Pullen
#19 at Goddard
#75 at Chavez

When they say they treat each program equally, they mean that after the numbers are generated, the number applies to that list only. The program that gets filled first is a random choice. This year, they chose to fill Chavez first. If they had 78 spaces available, they sent out invites to the first 78 on the Chavez list. This is how a #75 placement can knock out a #1 placement from a different list. It's not based on ethnicity derived from last name, language spoken at home, hair color, or any other discriminatory criteria. It's just which school is randomly chosen to be filled first. If they had chosen to fill Goddard first, we would have been invited to Goddard. If they chose to fill Pullen first, we would have been invited to Pullen.

I have a high degree of confidence that nothing nefarious is taking place. It was my "fault" for not understanding all of the details. I first thought that if I had three "winning" lottery numbers, I'd get three offer letters. However, after reading through everything, I see now that this is not the case.

The way to prevent this scenario is to make sure you're going to be happy with all of the choices you make, because you could be awarded any of them...or, just choose one program only.

Thanks for everyone's insight and comments. I wish our society invested more in our children, all schools were high-performing, and there was no need for a lottery...maybe some day.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing that info, PP.

But what if you really want a spot at Pullen? What do you do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for sharing that info, PP.

But what if you really want a spot at Pullen? What do you do?

Then she should have only chosen Pullen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone,

I'm the parent who had the great lottery numbers at Pullen, Robert Goddard, and Chavez, in that order, but only got an offer from Chavez. I spoke with them this morning and now I have a clearer vision of the process. I can also say that the system does not seem to be corrupt in any way, although I can see how some parents may feel that way if they don't get what they think they should get. I'll explain with an example. Say I got the following results (not the actual numbers):

#1 at Pullen
#19 at Goddard
#75 at Chavez

When they say they treat each program equally, they mean that after the numbers are generated, the number applies to that list only. The program that gets filled first is a random choice. This year, they chose to fill Chavez first. If they had 78 spaces available, they sent out invites to the first 78 on the Chavez list. This is how a #75 placement can knock out a #1 placement from a different list. It's not based on ethnicity derived from last name, language spoken at home, hair color, or any other discriminatory criteria. It's just which school is randomly chosen to be filled first. If they had chosen to fill Goddard first, we would have been invited to Goddard. If they chose to fill Pullen first, we would have been invited to Pullen.

I have a high degree of confidence that nothing nefarious is taking place. It was my "fault" for not understanding all of the details. I first thought that if I had three "winning" lottery numbers, I'd get three offer letters. However, after reading through everything, I see now that this is not the case.

The way to prevent this scenario is to make sure you're going to be happy with all of the choices you make, because you could be awarded any of them...or, just choose one program only.

Thanks for everyone's insight and comments. I wish our society invested more in our children, all schools were high-performing, and there was no need for a lottery...maybe some day.

Glad you got some clarity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hello everyone,

I'm the parent who had the great lottery numbers at Pullen, Robert Goddard, and Chavez, in that order, but only got an offer from Chavez. I spoke with them this morning and now I have a clearer vision of the process. I can also say that the system does not seem to be corrupt in any way, although I can see how some parents may feel that way if they don't get what they think they should get. I'll explain with an example. Say I got the following results (not the actual numbers):

#1 at Pullen
#19 at Goddard
#75 at Chavez

When they say they treat each program equally, they mean that after the numbers are generated, the number applies to that list only. The program that gets filled first is a random choice. This year, they chose to fill Chavez first. If they had 78 spaces available, they sent out invites to the first 78 on the Chavez list. This is how a #75 placement can knock out a #1 placement from a different list. It's not based on ethnicity derived from last name, language spoken at home, hair color, or any other discriminatory criteria. It's just which school is randomly chosen to be filled first. If they had chosen to fill Goddard first, we would have been invited to Goddard. If they chose to fill Pullen first, we would have been invited to Pullen.

I have a high degree of confidence that nothing nefarious is taking place. It was my "fault" for not understanding all of the details. I first thought that if I had three "winning" lottery numbers, I'd get three offer letters. However, after reading through everything, I see now that this is not the case.

The way to prevent this scenario is to make sure you're going to be happy with all of the choices you make, because you could be awarded any of them...or, just choose one program only.

Thanks for everyone's insight and comments. I wish our society invested more in our children, all schools were high-performing, and there was no need for a lottery...maybe some day.

Glad you got it straightened out. Did they say how they pick which program to fill first? It seems to me they should fill the most popular program. There were three times as many applications for Goddard as there were for Chavez.

[Anonymous]

To clarify, I should have said that of those three choices (Pullen, Goddard, and Chavez), Chavez was filled first. They said that the school/program order to be filled first was a random order. So, maybe out of all of the specialty schools in the PGCPS system, Chavez was third this year, Goddard maybe 7th, etc. out of how many specialty schools, 15(?). However, out of the three schools I was able to choose, Chavez was the first to be filled. They didn't tell me (and I didn't ask) which came next, Pullen or Goddard.

So, yes, in hindsight, if I knew I was going to get a great Goddard number, I would have picked only Goddard as it was my first choice. That's the "all eggs in one basket approach"...or the "all or nothing approach". However, I chose the "better something than nothing approach", never dreaming that ALL of my choices would be "winners" with one choice able to push another choice out of contention.

I hope this at least helps some people understand the process better.