I have a question re: kindergarten entry

azzyberry

Hi,

My DS is in preschool and won't be starting kindergarten for another 1-2 years but I was just starting to look into the kindergarten schools in our district and I'm confused about something.

Our school district has two K-8 schools.  I was looking at the enrollment requirements and to get in to either school there is a lottery.  If you aren't picked in the lottery, you get put on a wait list.  I'm confused by this.  It's not like these are private schools.  These are the public schools in our school district.  What if my DS isn't picked in either lottery?  It's not like they can just not let him go to school...can they?

Obviously I have some more research to do to figure out how things work but I thought maybe someone here who has been through this already might have some insight?

 TIA! 

neverblushed

Are the schools you looked at regular elementary schools, or are they public charter schools?  I ask, because two K-8 schools for an entire school district seems very low.  Your thumbnail says you live in/near Seattle.   I would be surprised if a school district in a major metropolitan area had only two schools for all the kids aged 5 - 14 in the entire district, KWIM?  However, I would not be surprised if there were only two magnet schools in the district, nor to find out that they did kindy enrollment by lottery.  

I just opened another tab on my browser and found the Seattle public school website.  There are hundreds of elementary schools in the actual Seattle public school district.  Here is a link to the Seattle public school district elementary school list:

https://www.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=197023&sessionid=136c5b66e9f9288f600c395d9721abed&t 

If you don't actually live in Seattle, try this link:

https://www.k12.wa.us/maps/SDmainmap.aspx

for a list of all the school districts in Washington State.  Choose your district (they also have a map of the district boundaries, if you are unsure what district you live in.)

HTH!

MagicCityMomma

neverblushed:

Are the schools you looked at regular elementary schools, or are they public charter schools?  I ask, because two K-8 schools for an entire school district seems very low.  Your thumbnail says you live in/near Seattle.   I would be surprised if a school district in a major metropolitan area had only two schools for all the kids aged 5 - 14 in the entire district, KWIM?  However, I would not be surprised if there were only two magnet schools in the district, nor to find out that they did kindy enrollment by lottery.  

I just opened another tab on my browser and found the Seattle public school website.  There are hundreds of elementary schools in the actual Seattle public school district.  Here is a link to the Seattle public school district elementary school list:

https://www.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=197023&sessionid=136c5b66e9f9288f600c395d9721abed&t 

If you don't actually live in Seattle, try this link:

https://www.k12.wa.us/maps/SDmainmap.aspx

for a list of all the school districts in Washington State.  Choose your district (they also have a map of the district boundaries, if you are unsure what district you live in.)

HTH!

I was thinking they sounded like Public Charter Schools.  We have several here and they are the same "lottery system."  

 ETA: Are there any moms at the pre-school who have older children?  They might be able to provide some insight that is specific to your area schools. 

azzyberry

I'm not actually in Seattle but in a smaller city just outside of seattle with our own school district.  That said, when I was looking on the districts website yesterday, I only noticed the K-8 category of schools (which is the two I mentioned) and I didn't notice that there was another section with just elementary which is K-6.  I looked into it some more and it looks like the two K-8 are charter schools but there are a several more elementary schools in our district.

 Thanks for the info.  I had no idea there were regular elementary schools and then charter schools, etc with in the public school system.  This is all new to me.  Fortunately I have some time to figure it out

Thanks again! 

carlab44

Washington State doesn't have charter schools, but it is very common for school districts (both in Seattle and in the surrounding areas) to have some public schools that are lottery only.

We are in the Seattle school district and our "attendance area" school is determined by the district boundaries. If we want to go to a school other than our attendance area school it is a lottery system (with preference given to those with siblings in the school). In addition to that there are several schools that are not attendance area schools so the only way to get into those schools is through the lottery system.

Wahoo

If Kindergarten isn't required, maybe the lottery is for K?  If you were picked / chosen, you could go to the k-8 school for kindergarten, but if not you had to find your own school?

But you would gain automatic admission for 1st grade? 

carlab44

Wahoo:

If Kindergarten isn't required, maybe the lottery is for K?  If you were picked / chosen, you could go to the k-8 school for kindergarten, but if not you had to find your own school?

But you would gain automatic admission for 1st grade? 

For Seattle, and I know for many of the nearby suburbs, the "choice" or "option" public schools are lottery no matter what age you enroll. But once you're in, you're in for K-8 (so you don't have to re-enroll and go through the lottery each year).

jlw2505

A regular (non-charter or magnet) school will need to add classes if they can't get all the in-district kids into the class.  Charter or magnet schools set the number at whatever they choose and then do a lottery system.  In my home district we have both a Spanish Immersion and a new magnet school that both use the lottery system and then the regular schools.  You can open enroll within district to another school (we have 6 of them) but you are only guaranteed a spot at your home school.  We open enroll our kids to a different district and that district has 6 K-s elementaries plus a Chinese Immersion school.  We have the option of half day kindy and full day (you pay for full day).  At the school where my kids will go, it has a huge open enrollment rate and they are at the max of number of kids (2 full day and 2 half day kindy classes) and they still have a wait list.  We were so lucky to get in as I know people on the wait list still.  Anyone that lives indistrict in guaranteed a spot so not really sure how they handle it at this point if anyone new moves into the district as the wait list at this point is all open enrolled kids or kids who have a spot in half day but are on the wait list for full day.