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Admissions » Lottery Process

Lottery Process

Applications will be accepted during a publicly advertised open application period each year for enrollment in the following school year. Following the open enrollment period each year, applications shall be counted to determine whether any grade level has received more applications than availability. Should WPACS receive a number of student applications from potential students exceeding the number of spaces available within the school, the school will conduct a random public lottery to determine admission for the impacted grade level, with the exception of existing students, who are guaranteed admission in the following year.
 
Preferences in the case of a public random lottery will be extended in the following order:
  1. Siblings of existing students
  2. Children of employees
  3. Residents of the District
  4. All other applicants
The school will enlist the services of an outside agency or auditor to monitor and verify the fair
execution of all activities related to holding the lottery. The following rules and procedures will
be used, which will be communicated to all interested parties prior to holding the lottery.
 
  • The lottery will take place within 30 days of the closing of each successive open enrollment period, which will be at least 30 days long.
  • The lottery will take place on the school’s campus in a facility large enough to allow all interested parties to observe the drawing, or at another public venue near the school large enough to accommodate all interested parties.
  • The lottery will take place on a weekday evening or other time when most interested parties who wish to attend may do so.
  • All interested parties will know, prior to the holding of the lottery, how many openings are available in the school and in the different grades served by the school.
  • The lottery shall draw names from a single pool of ballots or identified pools of ballots.

The ballots shall be drawn by a representative of the outside agency or organization confirming
the results of the lottery. 

  • The drawing shall continue until all names are drawn. Those individuals whose names are drawn after all spaces have been filled will be placed on the waiting list in the order drawn, unless the preferences described above require otherwise.
  • Potential students on the writing list shall provide contact information to be used in the event space becomes available. Families promoted off of the waiting list for acceptance shall be informed in writing and shall have 10 business days from the date of postage to respond. In addition, the school shall attempt, on at least two separate occasions, to contact the parents/guardians of promoted students by telephone. Those families not responding within the 10-day period will forfeit their right to enroll their student in the school for that school year.
  • The outside organization or agency verifying the fair execution of the lottery shall confirm in writing the lottery was conducted fairly, and the school shall keep on record copies of that confirmation