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Waiting List
Students who are not accepted into any of their magnet requests are placed on a Waiting List. For those students, there is still a good chance of being selected for one of the requested schools if openings occur during the summer or after the third day of school. Keep your notification letter in a safe place. It contains your Waiting List number, and if openings become available during the summer, they will be filled according to that number.
If you are selected, you will be notified by telephone during the summer or at the start of the school year. You will have only 24 hours to accept the seat. If your contact information changes, be sure the current school updates your address and phone number. If we do not receive your acceptance within that period, we will offer the opening to the next student on the Waiting List to assure fairness. If you are selected for a magnet program, you will not be put on a Waiting List for any of your other choices.
If you are not notified of an opening for the first semester of school, there is still a chance you will be selected for an opening in the second semester, beginning in January, 2004.
Priority
At most magnet schools, there aren't enough spaces to accommodate every student who applies. For this reason, each choice that you make on the application is assigned a certain “priority” ranking which is considered in the magnet lottery. Those priorities are described in this section.
Lottery
After applications are turned in, they are processed and prepared for the magnet lottery. The lottery is actually a computerized program that randomly selects students based on the priority that has been assigned to each selected school on the application form.
There is a predetermined number of seats available for each program in each grade level of each school. The lottery program selects students based on the order of school choices and student priority level. That's why it is so important to make your school choices carefully when filling out your application form. Many popular programs fill up with students who have made that program their first choice. Often, there are no seats remaining by the time the computerized lottery begins reading second and third choices. This applies even if you have Program Continuity or Sibling Preference.
Neighborhood Preference
Neighborhood Preference is granted to applicants if they live in the area normally served by the school to which they are applying. Look at the Priority Section for specific instances in which Neighborhood Preference is granted.
Sibling Preference
Some students may want to go to a magnet school that a sister or brother is already attending and will be attending next year. Any Sibling Preference for which you are eligible is printed at the bottom of the application. If you are applying for Kindergarten or are using an application that is not pre-printed, please fill in the name of the sibling who is already attending the school for which you are applying. Sibling Preference gives you a priority for admission through the magnet lottery, but it does not guarantee admission to any program. Neither siblings nor twins applying together for the first time receive Sibling Preference.
Program Continuity
This means following the same magnet program from one level to the next. For example, a student enrolled in a communications magnet program during elementary school may want to continue learning about communications in middle and high school. Program Continuity allows the student to do just that. It is important to remember that the student seeking Program Continuity must re-apply as he or she moves from elementary to middle school and from middle school to high school. Students seeking Program Continuity receive a priority for admission, but it is not guaranteed.
Tiered Continuity
Elementary magnet students sometimes want to switch themes as they enter middle school. Students who want to switch themes as they enter sixth grade will receive a priority in the lottery. It's called “Program Continuity/New Theme.” While it's not as high a priority as a student receives staying with the same theme, it does reward participation in an elementary magnet program. Tiered Continuity is also given to Montessori and Language Immersion middle school students who apply to Paxon for ninth grade.
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