BVSD WAITINGLIST OPEN ENROLLMENT ZIP

For many people, thatвЂ™s clearly a pretty big challenge.ДЄs for charters, вЂњfounding familiesвЂќ or employees often get first dibs on coveted classroom slots. The only certain way to get into a school you want вЂ“ if itвЂ™s a neighborhood school вЂ“ is to buy or rent a house within the boundary of that school, she says.

BVSD WAITINGLIST OPEN ENROLLMENT ZIP

вЂњYou end up being held hostage by your zip code,вЂќ Piper says. She said even if parents put their child on the wait list when he or she was an infant, he or she may not get into kindergarten there. She notes that one Core Knowledge school in Parker had only 436 enrolled students last year, but 2,000 still on the waiting list to get in. Many schools put a priority on siblings of enrolled students. Some focus or magnet schools may bump neighborhood kids up higher on a list, for instance. Karin Piper, choice and charter school advocate, saysВ itвЂ™s vital to talk to people at the school youвЂ™re interested in to understand what you can do to improve your chances. So, is there a strategy to improve your chances of getting in the school you want? Wilcox says the single best strategy for families is to make sure they feel very strongly about their first choice school вЂ“ donвЂ™t pick a school вЂњyou may be iffy about.вЂќ And be patient. Of those applicants, 43 percent get their first choice school вЂ“ a percentage that has declined in recent years because demand is growing while the number of open seats is not. Wilcox reports that more people are submitting open enrollment applications every year вЂ“ topping out at more than 6,000 applications last year вЂ“ or roughly 20 percent of all students. Turns out, in Boulder Valley, 60 percent of the 30,000-student districtвЂ™s students attend their neighborhood school 32 percent are enrolled in a focus school or neighborhood school outside their home boundary and 8 percent attend charters, according to BVSD Assistant Director for Student EnrollmentВ Mike Wilcox. Things have turned out all right (for the most part) but sometimes I wonder if our daughter would have had a more enriching experience in a different, smaller, more nurturing setting. Now, weвЂ™ve only got one year left before middle school. So we enrolled at our neighborhood school. The result? We didnвЂ™t get in any of the schools. Then, as our second choice, we selected an elementary school known for its outstanding academics and its focus on music and math.

We knew our chances were very slim, but we submitted an application anyway. One was small, in a historic building downtown, and had a well-developed International Baccalaureate focus. We settled on a few schools we really liked for our daughter. I wonвЂ™t pretend to compare my situation in Boulder Valley вЂ“ one of the stateвЂ™s top school districts вЂ“ to the plight of inner city families surrounded by failing schools. If you saw вЂњWaiting for Superman,вЂќ the lottery analogy is dead on. We like to pretend that we all have abundant choices about where our children attend school, but the fact is, we donвЂ™t. How can you not participate in the dance? I mean, itвЂ™s your child, and you want whatвЂ™s best for him or her, right? A false promiseД«ut choice also is a false promise. Open enrollment season is indeed a crazy time. вЂњHmmm вЂ¦ they seem nice, and very well-dressed.

Still, I was there, checking out the parent volunteers who escorted us around the school. At one visit, my ears were completely clogged, I felt rotten and I had to wonder what the heck I was doing.

I remember getting really sick, but still feeling like I had to show up at these open enrollment venues. Of course, all this happens smack dab in the middle of the holiday season. We dutifully took notes and scrutinized childrenвЂ™s art on the school walls as if we were art brokers: вЂњWow, they must have a really good art teacher here вЂ¦ or is the teacher guiding their work too much, so it looks too professional?вЂќ My husband and I faithfully showed up at the open enrollment tours and school visits for parents.

See 2012-13 open-enrollment deadlines and links for ColoradoвЂ™s largest school districts.

Bvsd waitinglist open enrollment