A Change in Assignment Choice Lottery Window will be available from Monday, December 8 through Friday, December 19, 2014 where parents can submit a choice form for up to three schools at their number one choice school.
Since order of receipt of form does not impact assignment, parents will not be allowed to line up at schools.
A lottery will be conducted and results will be posted no later than Wednesday, February 18, 2015 on the GCS website providing the order of lottery selections by grade for each school. Names will not be listed. Parents will access results by using their choice form number. Space by grade level will later determine the choice assignments. Students selecting a school as a higher choice have priority over students selecting the school as a lower priority.
Beginning Tuesday, January 20, 2015, Change in Assignment Choice requests will be date and time stamped at each requested school and listed in order of receipt on the requested school’s waiting list after students on the lottery waiting list. All parents will be notified of their children’s 2015-16 school assignment no later than Friday, March 28, 2015. Students will remain on school waiting lists until the tenth day of school.
The Change in Assignment Choice Lottery does not impact the separate application process for the district’s 11 magnet academies and Sara Collins Elementary. These schools are not included in the Change In Assignment Choice process. Also, other schools are not included in the regular process for Change in Assignment Choice and one school has a component for students attending GCS’s Fine Arts Center. Their student assignments are as follows:
1. Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher Middle School – Population plan may be viewed HERE.
2. Sterling School – There is a First Choice geocode assignment area, as well as the Change in Assignment Choice Process. Students for the Charles Townes Center are selected using Gifted and Talented criteria.
3. Wade Hampton High – Students selected for the Fine Arts Center may request to attend. Other students may attend through the Change in Assignment Choice Process.
Change in Assignment Lottery Process
Step 1 Returning Students Declare Intent – Parents with a student(s) currently attending a school on Change in Assignment Choice must declare their intent for their child to return to their choice school for the following school year by completing a renewal form by Wednesday, December 3, 2014. Those students are provided a slot at the requested school the following year unless extreme circumstances limit space or they have attendance and/or discipline issues. Parents are sent a renewal form by their child’s school.
Step 2 Choice Lottery Window – During the two-week Change in Assignment Choice Lottery Window (December 8-19, 2014), parents/guardians should go to their number one choice school, complete a request form for up to three schools for their child, and submit the form at the number one choice school. Parents/guardians will receive a request form number that they can use later to check the result of the lottery for each requested school. Order of receipt of form during lottery window does not impact selection.
(Note: Parents of rising kindergarten students should submit choice requests in the early window, Monday, December 8, 2014 through Friday, December 19, 2014, and not wait until kindergarten registration in January.)
Step 3 Lottery Results Posted – After the two-week Choice Lottery Window, all students requesting choice will be entered into a database. A computer-generated lottery will be conducted, resulting in each student being assigned a numbered slot for their grade level for each requested school (up to 3). No later than Wednesday, February 18, 2015, results will be posted on the GCS website. Parents can access the lottery order by using the form number. Results provide the order of selection. Names are not listed. Space by grade level will later determine choice assignments.
Students selecting a school as their first choice have priority over those selecting the school as a second or third choice. Students selecting a school as their second choice have priority over students selecting the school as their third choice.
Order of Lottery Assignments (Contingent on space availability)
– Students with siblings who will return to the requested school on Change in Assignment Choice for the upcoming school year have first priority of assignment in the lottery to their #1 choice school.
– Change in Assignment Choice requests for students from overcrowded schools may be given the next priority. If this priority is necessary, it will be declared at the start of that year’s Change in Assignment Choice process. (That priority is determined in November of each year.)
– All other students residing within the school system and children of full-time district employees living outside the district have the next priority.
– Students residing outside the school system are the last group to be -considered.
Step 4 Student Assignment Letters Distributed – No later than Friday, March 27, 2015, student choice assignments will be determined and assignment letters sent to all parents. Once a student is assigned to a requested choice school, lower school choice requests are automatically withdrawn from the lottery system.
Step 5 Waiting Lists Established – Students not selected for a requested choice school (up to 3) will be placed on a waiting list for each requested school. If space becomes available at the requested school(s), students on the waiting list are selected based on their lottery order. This process will continue through the first ten days of school.
The Choice Lottery Window will close Friday, December 19. Beginning Tuesday, January 20, 2015, Change in Assignment Choice requests will be date and time stamped at each requested school and listed in order of receipt on the requested school’s waiting list after all students on the lottery waiting list.