Can't speak to the DCPS system -- we did it last year and didn't have any problems -- but one of the charters we applied to last year somehow didn't get our online application. Everything seemed fine when I submitted it, and because it was my first application I didn't realize there are usually confirmation emails. Didn't know anything was wrong until we didn't show up anywhere on that school's waitlist. Luckily it all worked fine because we got our first choice in DCPS, but just wanted to say it's good to be SURE you get an actual confirmation email for anything you submit online.

Anonymous wrote:What a weird question, OP. Here's an idea...don't leave your child's education to chance more than necessary and submit your lottery picks soon? I can't imagine why it would be beneficial to you to wait until Feb 27 or 28. Lots of things besides the lottery site having glitches that could impact your attempts to submit a last minute lottery form. Are you oddly hoping to benefit from a glitch (ie: claim you submitted a form that was never received so that you can get bumped up the waitlists?). This is just such a strange question. Sorry.

I wouldn't wait until the 27th or 28th, the lottery closes on the 25th!

I am close to the process. There should be no slowdowns or crashes as we get closer to lottery time, BUT, it is smart to allow yourself extra time because you don't know what YOUR situation might be. A power outage, a Comcast problem, an accident that sends you and your child to the ER will fall squarely in your area of responsibility.

IF you experience technical difficulties with submitting your lottery choices before the lottery, please call the critical response team ASAP as mentioned above. Part of the reason that there is plenty of time for people to fill out their lottery choices is so that the process allows for everyone to participate.

OP here. As expected, no one has a valuable response. Thanks, guys!

If you care to ask such a goofy question, how about posing it to the DCPS critical response team instead of this board.

What a weird question, OP. Here's an idea...don't leave your child's education to chance more than necessary and submit your lottery picks soon? I can't imagine why it would be beneficial to you to wait until Feb 27 or 28. Lots of things besides the lottery site having glitches that could impact your attempts to submit a last minute lottery form. Are you oddly hoping to benefit from a glitch (ie: claim you submitted a form that was never received so that you can get bumped up the waitlists?). This is just such a strange question. Sorry.

If I wait until the last day, last (X) hours, etc., to submit my DCPS lottery picks, are there technical problems with getting the submission in on time? Does the website ever bog down or crash? Does it start to slow down or act up for a certain amount of time before the last day? Fail to accept submissions?

(I'm thinking back to how things went during the first day to submit applications to Stokes with a shudder.)

If so, I'm interested in knowing when, in folks' experiences, the system starts to bog down or misbehave.

And please, just offer information on the factual questions.

Thanks.