Are waitlists "real"

[Anonymous]

I guess I expected more. I was chatting with someone and they mentioned that the waitlist for PreK / OOB is just a starting point and that the squeaky wheel works.

Can anyone comment if this is how it used to be, current process, varies school to school?

[Anonymous]

Given the number of OOB kids that make it into even P-K at the sought after schools, I would says that the wait list is not exactly respected.

[Anonymous]

At Charter schools the waitlists are REAL. In the old days, the DCPS OOB waitlists were as you describe "the squeaky wheel." I imagine that with all of Rhee's ship-tightening this has probably been addressed. She certainly has turned some of her focus to improving the OOB process (i.e., by allowing parents to select more schools) so presumably she's improved the transparency as well.

[Anonymous]

From what I understand, some schools more or less abandon the waitlist after school has started. I'm not sure it this is influenced by the assumption that everyone has a slot somewhere at that point, or if at a very busy time they do not dedicate staff resources to it. I don't know of any schools that deviate from it prior to school starting, I know of people who have gotten very last minute calls.

Remember, they make money by head count of kids actually attending. So say, enrolled kids don't show, get in to private off a waitlist, etc., that is a lot of $ they are losing. They are obligated to hold spots for enrolled kids for a week. After that, it's a scramble for bodies and schools with less staff are probably happy to take whoever calls to fill in.

For pre-K 4 I think it is unusual for there to be a lot of OOB kids at the upper NW schools at least. Demand is so high. There are typically a handful per grade after that. I know several at at least 3 schools who got in in Sept or Oct. There was a post last year from a mom in Mt. P who got into Janney in the spring, she happened to call, and a family had just moved.The stats of OOB kids that are published are based on the lottery and don't reflect reality at a lot of even the most popular schools. Of course, you hae to have a kid you are comfortable moving mid-stream.

[Anonymous]

If your child is on an OOB waitlist, and you want him/her to attend the school, you need to determine who the registrar is at the school (usually the business manager), call him/her on a monthly basis, starting May 1st, then weekly, starting July 15th. Pleasantly letting him/her know you are still interested.

I have been fortunate with high lottery numbers, and have been offered a space for 2006 -07 in a second tier elementary school PreK, and 2009-10 in a JKLM 2nd grade using this technique. Child was also passed over for a second tier PreK in 2006-07, when I was sure that number was high enough, based on an open house, that a place should have been offered. (something like 40 slots, 15 in boundary, 10 already admitted OOB, was wait list #7, never got a call). I believe historically, the schools had a lot of discretion, and used it. Under Rhee seems to be tightening up.

Also, charters are much more rigid about wait list accountability. Offer you a space with 48 hours to refuse. I've seen EL Haynes and Yu Ying do this in a very by the clock way. If you are travleing on summer vacation, and want a charter, check before, during, after. . . be sure they know how to contact you.

[Anonymous]

20:51 is right on the money. If you get an offer from a charter off the waitlist, you'd better respond within their allotted timeframe (48 hrs, 72 hrs, whatever) they will drop you right back to the end of the line. Nothing personal but they all roll like that. If you're going on vacation the last week of August? Right before school starts? Give them every contact number you have and every email address.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:51 is right on the money. If you get an offer from a charter off the waitlist, you'd better respond within their allotted timeframe (48 hrs, 72 hrs, whatever) they will drop you right back to the end of the line. Nothing personal but they all roll like that. If you're going on vacation the last week of August? Right before school starts? Give them every contact number you have and every email address.

IME at a highly regarded charter, yes, the wait list was quite real and followed strictly.

[Anonymous]

I think charters have some autonomy with their lottery waitlists. Some of them use the lottery to create the entire waitlist and some create the waitlist based on the order you applied.

IOW, let's say two schools each have 35 applicants for 20 spots. School A puts all the names into the lottery and draws them all out in random order. The first 20 are automatically accepted. #1 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 21st. #2 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 22nd, and so on until all 35 names are ranked.

School B puts all the names in and draws out 20 and they are automatically accepted. Then #1 on the waitlist is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 15. #2 is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 14, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think charters have some autonomy with their lottery waitlists. Some of them use the lottery to create the entire waitlist and some create the waitlist based on the order you applied.

IOW, let's say two schools each have 35 applicants for 20 spots. School A puts all the names into the lottery and draws them all out in random order. The first 20 are automatically accepted. #1 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 21st. #2 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 22nd, and so on until all 35 names are ranked.

School B puts all the names in and draws out 20 and they are automatically accepted. Then #1 on the waitlist is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 15. #2 is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 14, and so on.

This is correct - YY uses the order you applied to create the waitlist.

BUT regardless of if the lottery or some other method is used to create the waitlist - is the waitlist followed?

[Anonymous]

I think the perception is that the waitlist isn't followed because everyone who gets into their first preference school is given a slot, and they are then waitlisted at the other schools. So, the waitlists are automatically inflated. Then, when these waitlists move quickly, the perception is that they're being gamed.

The other comment is, sometimes they open up more slots based on demand. In that case, the principal makes the argument that there are parents on the waitlist who are really still interested, and the school system can decide to add more teachers. Thus, a bunch of VERY INTERESTED parents get in because the entire waitlist moves into a new class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think charters have some autonomy with their lottery waitlists. Some of them use the lottery to create the entire waitlist and some create the waitlist based on the order you applied.

IOW, let's say two schools each have 35 applicants for 20 spots. School A puts all the names into the lottery and draws them all out in random order. The first 20 are automatically accepted. #1 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 21st. #2 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 22nd, and so on until all 35 names are ranked.

School B puts all the names in and draws out 20 and they are automatically accepted. Then #1 on the waitlist is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 15. #2 is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 14, and so on.

This is correct - YY uses the order you applied to create the waitlist.

BUT regardless of if the lottery or some other method is used to create the waitlist - is the waitlist followed?

It is at charter schools, they tend to be very strict about their waitlists and lotteries so that they don't get accused of "cherry-picking."

[Anonymous]

Do you know how long schools continue to pull off the wait list? For example, if a space opens up in November, will they pull off the wait list for that, leave it empty, or fill it if someone calls and asks if there is space?

[Anonymous]

they are suppose to work the waitlist as long as there is a waitlist and there is an open spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think charters have some autonomy with their lottery waitlists. Some of them use the lottery to create the entire waitlist and some create the waitlist based on the order you applied.

IOW, let's say two schools each have 35 applicants for 20 spots. School A puts all the names into the lottery and draws them all out in random order. The first 20 are automatically accepted. #1 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 21st. #2 on the waitlist is whoever is drawn 22nd, and so on until all 35 names are ranked.

School B puts all the names in and draws out 20 and they are automatically accepted. Then #1 on the waitlist is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 15. #2 is whoever applied earliest of the remaining 14, and so on.

This is correct - YY uses the order you applied to create the waitlist.

BUT regardless of if the lottery or some other method is used to create the waitlist - is the waitlist followed?

i thought using the date of application was strictly prohibited by the charter board....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how long schools continue to pull off the wait list? For example, if a space opens up in November, will they pull off the wait list for that, leave it empty, or fill it if someone calls and asks if there is space?

at my daughter's charter, they set a cut off date of, i believe, mid-Oct