Admission to Charters

[Anonymous]

Am I correct that enrollment in DC charter schools, like other DC public schools, must be on a first come first served basis and if there is more interest then space that it must be by lottery? Charter schools can't place additional eligiblity requirements on students can they? Like requiring parents to take certain steps prior to being permitted to submit an application or enter the lottery?

[Anonymous]

you are correct. I have seen one charter state that applications are available at their open houses, implying that one had to attend an open house to submit an application. But, I only read this on a website, and never tried to submit an application. Some charters make it very easy, with on line applications. Some require paper applications.

I think that LAMB has permission to run 2 lotteries, one for Spanish dominant, one for English dominant, because their educational model requires bilingual classes.

The other nuance is that charters can prioritize students of faculty, staff, founders, and current siblings. Some charters also give immediate admission preference to siblings of admitted students, some just move the sibling of admitted student to the top of the wait list, as DCPS did in this year's lottery for the first time.

You didn't ask, but I would also add that charter school lottery wait lists tend to have a lot more movement over time (summers, early fall) than OOB DCPS schools. Some charters don't move a lot (like Capital City, very little movement), but some move quite a bit (EL Haynes, it seemed to me -- my DC had a low number for K ~40, and was offered a place in August -- they did add a section of K fairly late, so that may be the reason).

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Correct. If you believe a school has some advance requirement or waitlist inequities like putting lottery in order of date application received, contact the DC Public Charter School Board immediately! The school could be in violation of their charter or board guidelines. But usually it's just an issue of mis-communication since each school has it's own process. Sibling preference is allowed as in regular DCPS. Proximity to school is not. The whole point of charters is to offer equal opportunities from anywhere in the city on space available basis. Good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have seen one charter state that applications are available at their open houses, implying that one had to attend an open house to submit an application.

pp here. This happened to us last year with LAMB. Somehow I got the address wrong. They were still moving and the website had the new address, which was under construction, but not the interim address which was across town (if I recall). Thus we missed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Correct. If you believe a school has some advance requirement or waitlist inequities like putting lottery in order of date application received, contact the DC Public Charter School Board immediately! The school could be in violation of their charter or board guidelines. But usually it's just an issue of mis-communication since each school has it's own process. Sibling preference is allowed as in regular DCPS. Proximity to school is not. The whole point of charters is to offer equal opportunities from anywhere in the city on space available basis. Good luck

The charter schools I know of tend to take the rules of their lotteries VERY seriously. They usually announce the date and time and hold them publicly so that anyone can attend and confirm the transparency. Also, unlike DCPS (at least "in the olden day" - don't know if it's still the case under Rhee) you cannot "work" a charter waiting list. They will not bump you up on the list no matter how many times you call and ask. And when they DO call you off the list, they generally give you 48 hours to respond or else they move on. So if you're going on vacation over the summer and you're waiting to hear from a charter, call and give them every contact number you can plus email. People have been known to lose their spots because they didn't respond in time.

Finally, they ARE allowed to create their WAITLIST in the order that applications are received. In other words, everyone who goes into the lottery - whether you applied in November or in March - has the same shot at being drawn for the class. However, once the class is filled (say, 20 seats out of 100 applicants) then the school IS allowed to make the person who applied in November #1 on the waitlist, and rank order that waitlist based on date of application down through March (or whenever their last applicant applied before the lottery). This is why it pays to apply to charters as early as possible.

[Anonymous]

thanks for waitlist clarification. here's official policy from website. basically you have to contact the school. (still doesn't explain LAMB)

3.If the school is over-subscribed at the end of the enrollment period, then all the applications go into the lottery.
4.The lottery is a system of random selection of applications that identifies students for enrollment and generates the school's waiting list. During the lottery process all completed and accepted applications submitted during the enrollment period are publicly drawn in random order until capacity is reached and the remainder is placed on the waiting list. Best Practices: The public lottery should occur soon after the closure of the enrollment period.
Example: School may choose to have the lottery drawing at a publicly announced parent teacher meeting, school board of trustees meeting, or a community meeting.
5.The waiting list ranks applications that were submitted during the enrollment period. These applicants should be identified by number and by grade. As spaces become available at the school, they should be offered to the applicants in the order of placement on the waiting list.
6.Schools may exercise two options in arranging the waiting list. 1) Schools may arrange their waiting list by lottery results, OR 2) Schools may place those applications received by the deadline in order of their submission on a waiting list and then all other applications should be placed after them in order of their submission on that waiting list.
Examples:
?During the enrollment period, a school was over-subscribed by 4 students. The 4 students that were not selected for that school year will be placed onto the waiting list numbered 1-4. In September the school receives a post enrollment period application. That applicant must be given number 5 on the waiting list. If another application is submitted in November, that applicant is given number 6 on the waiting list.
?During the enrollment period, a school was neither under-subscribed nor over-subscribed, (the school had an exact number of applicants for the number of available spaces on the enrollment deadline date). An application is submitted the day after the enrollment period deadline. That applicant becomes number one (organized by grade level) on a waiting list. The school may continue to develop its waiting list (organized by grade level) based on submission dates of the applications throughout the school year. Best Practices: Schools should maintain a current waiting list in the main office.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the information, this is what I thought. The question arises from LAMB's policy that you have to come to an open house to get the application. To my mind, that limits eligibilty from all kids of a certain age residing in DC to those kids in DC that have parents that are able to attend an open house or visit the school. They appear to be the only charter doing this. When pressed they agreed someone could come and get an application without attending the open house, but only when pressed and even so they require a site visit when that is not required for DC public schools generally. I am a big proponent of school visits and open houses and have been to many and I know a great deal about this program and was impressed with it, but I find this requirement questionable from an ethical standpoint considering this is a public school and eligibility is supposed to be available to everyone equally. They aren't a private school, they aren't supposed to be able to artifically limit eligiblity by creating additional criteria and all the other charters and DCPS allow applications to be competed by mail/fax/email/internet.