Waitlist Link

Tracy Libros was kind enough to send this link along.

She said she doesn't have a report on waitlisted non-attendeance area K sibs.

There is also a link to checking a student's waitlist status.

Both these links, along with other info, are at the Enrollment Information page.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Does the district still limit the number of spectrum seats per school if they do away with self-contained spectrum classes? How does it work for middle school Honors class? What happens if you have more kids tested into honors math for 6th grade? Will they still get a seat? Does anyone know or have MS experience?

Curious parent
Anonymous said…
Are these number based on the artificially low "functional capacity" caps placed on buildings?

If Madison has REAL room for 300 at the grade level and there is less than a handful on a waitlist which only happened because of a phony capacity limit, why not just let them all in?

Unless those on the list are kids over the 300 seat actual capacity. But I doubt it.
-annoyed
Po3 said…
Why does Lawton have waitlist for Spectrum as it is no longer self-contained, seems like that would be one benefit to the new model, everybody would get Spectrum.


Also, if both Franklin and Garfield have waitlists, where are these students assigned, RBHS?
New To SPS said…
I also do not understand the Spectrum waitlist for Wedgwood for 1st and 2nd grade, since under-enrollment in Spectrum was given as a reason for changing the program.
wsnorth said…
Yeah, this doesn't make much sense. Even Madrona has a wait list (of 1), and West Seattle High (of 3). Do they do this just to torture people?

sign me really annoyed!
Anonymous said…
How can an attendance area school have a waitlist? Aren't all comers guaranteed a seat? Northgate has one child on the waitlist for K and 3 for first. Are these out of area sibs?

SLP
Anonymous said…
SLP - I believe an attendance area school, like the high schools, does have to accept others who live in the area - but students who do not live in the area can request assignment to those schools during Open Enrollment. They only get in if there is room after the neighborhood students have been accepted.

That's my understanding - Another Parent
New To SPS said…
Ok, that makes sense for the Spectrum waitlists then, too. Basically, I think this means neighborhood students are now placed ahead of non-neighborhood Spectrum students.
GreyWatch said…
@curious parent

not exactly sure how it works anymore, but I think your math scores guarantee you a seat wherever you test in, whereas spectrum placement is space available. At least that's how it worked for us two years ago. That year they had all 5th graders take a math test to determine 6th grade placement. They didn't tell you until the day you showed up for 6th grade where you placed, however, so I think they were keeping their options open as far as how many classes they would need and where the cut-off would be to make the schedules work.

I think they've shifted to MAP scores (or MSP? can't keep track), and made the cut-off scores known.

In middle school, Spectrum is only ss/la. My son didn't take the spectrum/app tests, but in the first few weeks of school, his teacher suggested he move into those classes. However, there was no room so he, and a few other kids in the same boat, stayed put. The teacher, to her credit, tried to give them different assignments and was a bit more demanding in terms of what she expected from them. He hated it and just wanted to do what the rest of the class was doing. This year (after testing in fall 2009) he is in self-contained spectrum for ss/la and loves it because he is doing what everyone else in the class is doing.
Anonymous said…
I think they flubed our application as we are on the wait list to a school that because of sibling link we should have gotten in. Is there any recourse?

confused or angry not sure yet...
Anonymous said…
Note to parents unhappy with their kindergarten assignments: there are some amazing schools on this list with tiny waiting lists and you can get added to the end of any waiting list just by asking.

--Jusy saying
Anonymous said…
Caution to "just saying" Many of those schools with short wait lists are so overenrolled that it is very unlikely that even one person will move. Can you identify the schools you were thinking about on the list?

Without knowing how many on the list are siblings, it is impossible to guess about the real wait list vs the probable waitlist. In the NE so many schools are so overenrolled that it is highly unlikely that they will take anyone past siblings.

John Rogers is a fabulous schools with a short wait list but the list is mostly siblings.

- ne parent
dj said…
NE parent, if a parent has an unsatisfactory kindergarten assignment, can you explain what they might lose by adding themselves to a wait list at a school they prefer? i noticed the same thing just saying did about the wait lists, and I know that my own kid just got in to a neighborhood school that is (1) not our assigned school and (2) is not his plder sibling's school, and (3) popular and (4) supposedly only would have room for kids from its assignment area (and he wasn't the only one, and that school has a short wait list). I understand there are schools out there oacked to the gills, but I don't think that the situation is as dismal everywhere as you portray, and I would encourage parents to look into the situation.
Anonymous said…
dj, I agree that there are lots of great schools and that there are always hidden gems that you can get into.

I have so many friends that LOVE John Rogers and the list is short enough that you might get in. But the issue is MIGHT.

I am just curious about
1) If Just Saying could identify any specific schools that are most likely to have a short wait list that moves!
2) Since you can only be on one wait list, it is a big deal of families to give up their spot at the school they really really want for another school that they might get.

Thornton Creek has only moved 2 students off of the K waitlist in 4 years. That is mostly because they have over enrolled the K class by at least 10 students each year so whoever is 1 is really 11.


- ne parent
anne said…
as an example, Stevens ELementary. It has a waitlist that is pretty small, but this year it has 3 K classes instead of the usual 2. It's way over-enrolled and can't continue to have 3 K classes. I guess they may take kids on the wait list to make the 3 class sizes equal numbers though.
Anonymous said…
I was thinking about dj's questions.

Essentially, I want data from the district that is meaningful (insert pained laugh here). Seriously, being first on the waitlist only matters if there is any intention of moving the wait list.

I am very surprised at the number of families that listed Garfield for their wait list spot. They changed the boundaries and took away the 10% choice seats.

In other words, they essentially put a "Closed" sign on Garfield. They said very bluntly, G is over-enrolled and we can't let anyone outside of the neigbhborhood in.

I think an actual "Closed" sign would be helpful. This would really help families to navigate this "kind of a choice, but only if you have a lot of knowledge option."

- ne parent
Anonymous said…
Are there any other families out there with incoming Kindergartners waitlisted at their older child's school? Our family is in this situation, and I'm wondering how many other families may be as well.

We are happy with our older child's school, but our incoming Kindergartner just got assigned to the district's worst performing elementary school. He is #7 on the waitlist at his sister's elementary. We are beyond frustrated with this situation, as we have been invested members of our daughter's elementary for 3 years and didn't see this assignment plan coming when we enrolled her in 2008. The district's answer to having our children together is to assign them both to the district's worst performing elementary, or continue to have them split at schools with no equality whatsoever.

I'm not feeling incredibly optimistic based on the SSD response to this issue. Does anyone have any inside information?
Anonymous said…
I find it disheartening that my son is 2nd to the last on a waitlist...and that the waitlist added another student in front of him from the first report. So much for lottery. Also, we live 50 feet from that schools' area boundary.
Jan said…
To Anonymouses on 6/14 and 6/15 -- please sign something to the end of your posts, so they don't get deleted per the policy (see below "Leave Your Comment."

Anonymous from 6/15 said:

I find it disheartening that my son is 2nd to the last on a waitlist...and that the waitlist added another student in front of him from the first report. So much for lottery. Also, we live 50 feet from that schools' area boundary.

I am not sure how this can happen!? I get that there is a "waterfall" of preferences initially, but it would seem to me that once the list is set up, it shoulc not be subject to further tinkering (obviously, the GIANT tinker out there is just moving over the summer to an attendance area you like better -- if you are in an incoming class -- but that has to be tolerated because people from other cities move here, and their kids automatically go to their neighborhood schools unless they enter them elsewhere). Does anyone know how this works?

I think Anonymous ought to at least call Tracy Libros (or whomever) and see if she can figure out why her child was bumped to a lower spot.
StepJ said…
This is just a guess based on what parents have told me or what has been forwarded to me...

There seems to be an issue with the Sibling Linking form and how applications were processed during Open Enrollment. Especially, involving Option Schools.

It seems pretty much the Sibling Linkage form was not considered during the processing of applications.

If all worked out as it was supposed to great.

If there was a processing mistake - as in no consideration of the Sibling Linkage form - then any errors are being manually corrected (if a parent contacts Enrollment.)

What Anon. at 1:49 pm might be experiencing is a manual adjustment to a Sibling Linkage form that was not processed per rules during Open Enrollment.

This is becausse Sibling is the first Tiebreaker and takes priority over Geo. Zone or Lottery.

There is no longer any distance tiebreaker. It does not matter how close you live to a school listed on an application if you do not live within the Geo. Zone/Attendance Area of the school you listed for first choice.
StepJ said…
And a little add...

A new enrollment system was used to process applications this year.

It is perfectly normal and excpected that some testing scenarios might be overlooked and as a result - mistakes to occur.

As a parent if you believe your application was not processed as promised by a member of enrollment staff (when turning in your application), or by what you read in the Transition Plan -- please do call and ask it be investigated.

If you are told -- the mistake is your fault -- please request that a link be provided to the specific rule of enrollment processing that you did not follow. (An e-mail with a statement does not qualify - unless it is from Tracy Libros. Otherwise, it needs to be a link to a specific document/rule for enrollment processing.)

If no link is provided - do not believe it is your fault. Ask for an investigation, and if needed an Appeal.

I really wish that the standard reply to a parent was not - "It's Your Fault." I wish instead an initial response was more along the lines of -- we will investigate and get back to you -- or -- this is a known issue that we will correct in the program, in the interim someone will contact you within 'x' period of time and this will be corrected as outlined by enrollment policy 'x.'

As a parent, if you have been told it is YOUR fault -- don't believe it until a link to a specific enrollment rule has been provided. Otherwise, you are likly being tossed a line to just get you off the phone.
StepJ said…
As an add...

It is reported that a new computer system was used this year to process applications.

It has also been reported that there have been quite a few processing 'omissions' regarding the Sibling Linkage form - especially involving Option Schools.

No response yet to any inquiries about this.

It is perfectly normal to expect on the first year out of a new computer system that there might be mistakes.

What would not be perfectly acceptable would be for a parent to be told that any error or suspected error that occured to be the fault of the parent.

As a parent, if your application was not processed per promises given to you by Enrollment staff when you turned in your application, or different from your reading of the Transition Plan -- please contact Enrollment and request an investigation.

Do not take a statment of "It is Your Fault" at face value. Request that a link to a specific document and rule be sent to you that outlines how your application was in error.

If only a statement in an e-mail is provided and no link to a rule/guideline, then do not believe it was your fault.

Request an investigation, and if necessary file an Appeal.

I really wish the first response to parents was not, "It's your fault." Instead, why not - We will investigate and let you know, or, This is a known issue that will be corrected in the program. In the interim a specialist will contact you within 'X' time period and can correct this issue in accordance with rule 'X' of Enrollment Policy.

Parents -- trust your instinct and if no proof is provided otherwise do not believe any statement that a mistake in processing your application is in fact your fault.

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