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[quote=Anonymous]OP.  Quick question (just to beter know your context):  where you the person who started a similar thread a couple of weeks ago? If so, I am the person who provided some extensive answers to that thread.  If so, I think I know what your situation is:  you want to enroll now, without an address yet, in a public school (MD, VA, DC) with a French immersion program.

I am afraid you are very, very likely not going to be able to *secure* a public French immersion option. Please note that you have three problems.  First, you still don't have a local address and, as you have found out, that excludes MD and VA.  (I am surprised this doesn't exclude Stokes - perhaps the fact that, unlikely Sligo and Kent, Stokes is a charter schol, and thus open to all DC residents, not only those in the vicinity, is the reason they gave you that answer).  Second, even if you have an adress right now -- even if you *live* next to the French immersion public school right now -- you will need to go through a lottery; that is, nothing guarantees that you will win a slot through the lottery (that is true for Stokes and Sligo; I am pretty sure it's the same for Kent -- and you can't enroll in it anyway as you don't have an address now).  Third, even if you are right now in the country, with an address, next to the school, please note that it is hard to win a slot -- there are just too many applicants (again, true for Stokes and Sligo, likely true for Kent).

Don't confuse enrollment in a public school (which you can secure just moving to the area served by that school) and enrollment in a French immersion program (which requires winning a slot in a lottery, that is, requires a lot of luck).  Even if you move shortly before school starts (assuming your child will enroll in K or above), you WILL have a spot in a public school -- but it will most likely NOT be French immersion.  Your kid will not be left without a public education this coming year, but it will most likely not be in French.

Just to give you a flavor of the likelihood of getting into Stokes. They have, say, 20 spots for preK (and fewer for K, as preK kids advance to K).  Their application was available sometime in mid-October 2011.  They accept all applications – usually hundreds of them – and then there is a lottery, so you have 20 lucky winners out of, say, 400 people.  The rest go in a waiting list.  The waiting list depends on the order you were in line the day the application was available.  As a result, you have literally dozens and dozens of people waiting outside Stokes that day in the morning (and dozens more faxing or emailing their applications the same day).  The number in the line is key.  If you fill out the application, say, 10 minutes after they begin accepting it, your chances of getting a slot from the waiting list are good.  If you fill it out the day after, your chances are slim – there are dozens and dozens of people ahead of you already.  And that was October.  Now you are in January.  Do the math.  If you apply know, you’ll probably be number 400 in the waiting list.  You can still be extremely, extremely lucky and win a spot in the initial lottery, but you cannot, and should not, assume that it will happen. (In K, it is even harder, as the preK kids from the previous year move on to K).

In sum, your chances of securing, right now, a public French immersion program for your kids are extremely, extremely, extremely low.  If I were you, I would just assume it won’t be an option, at least for this coming year.

As I said in the other thread (if indeed it was you who started it).  You need to look into private options – WIS, Rochambeau, or a French language preschool like Caterpillar, French Maternal, or Communikids.   Note that the deadline for WIS is TODAY JANUARY 10; you can apply online.

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