2010-2011 Kindergarten Enrollment Information

APPLICATION DEADLINE JANUARY 29, 2010.

Enrollment for 2010-2011 is now closed

Enrollment Policy

The Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School is a classical liberal arts K-12 school, located in the Greendale neighborhood of Worcester. New students may enroll in Kindergarten through Grade 12. Preference is given to siblings of currently enrolled students and students residing in the towns designated in the charter: Auburn, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Sutton, West Boylston and Worcester. Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School is open to all Massachusetts residents.

Charter schools may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, creed, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability, age, ancestry, athletic performance, special need, proficiency in the English language or in a foreign language, or academic achievement in admitting students, nor may charter schools set admissions criteria that are intended to discriminate or that have the effect of discriminating on any of these bases. M.G.L. c. 71, § 89(l); 603 CMR 1.06(1).

Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School may accept applications for students in kindergarten through grade twelve. The School will determine the number of seats available by grade annually. All applications must be received by the applications dates scheduled during the school year. Students entering kindergarten must be 5 years of age by September 1. Abby Kelley Foster reserves the right to determine the academic placement of a student at each grade level. The school will publicize the time, date and location of the lottery one month in advance in the local newspapers, student newsletters and school website.

All applicants must provide the school at the time of application, a certified copy of the student’s birth certificate, along with proof of residency (utility bill, driver’s license). In cases of outstanding circumstances, such as homelessness, the school may waive the proof of residency requirement.

Applications will not be processed without all information on file. An individual who falsifies any enrollment document will be subject to immediate withdrawal from the Lottery or an offer of admission may be rescinded.  Falsification of any enrollment documents will render your application or admission offer null and void.

Each year, Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School determines the number of spaces available for new students based on the number of returning students and the cap for each respective grade level; Abby Kelley Foster must:

1. Give preference to siblings* (*only for grades being accepted) of students already attending Abby Kelley Foster, defined as attending in the current school year.
2. Give preference to resident students as defined in 603 CMR 1.06(4); (Auburn, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Sutton, West Boylston and Worcester)

Under current law, charter schools may:

• Require students to complete the grade preceding the grade the student plans to enter;
• Strongly encourage parents/guardians to attend informational sessions; and
• Ask students and parents/guardians to sign compacts or memorandums of understanding that demonstrates their agreement with the school's mission.

Siblings are students who currently have siblings actually attending the charter school at the time of the lottery. Siblings are children who share a common biological or legal parent as opposed to children who may live in the same household but do not share a common parent. For example, foster children are not considered to be siblings unless they share a common parent even though they may live in the same household. On the other hand, children who live in different households but share a common parent are siblings for purposes of the sibling preference.

Residents are students who live in the city or the town as defined by the school charter. Residents enrolled in district, charter, private or parochial schools get equal preference. Students residing in Auburn, Holden, Leicester, Millbury, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Sutton, West Boylston and Worcester receive enrollment preference.

Non-residents are students who live in a city or town that is not specified above.

ACADEMIC PLACEMENT
Under current law, Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School may require students to complete the grade preceding the grade the student plans to enter. Once the student has formally accepted admission to Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School, the School will forward a records release request to the sending district.
All new students entering our School are required to attend registration. Parents/guardians will be notified in writing of the dates, times and documentation they will need to bring in order to begin the registration process. Registration includes meeting with your building principal, completing required paperwork and academic placement testing. Students in grades 1-12 will be assessed in order for the School to complete class schedules and assign students to their academically appropriate grade level. All Kindergarten students are assessed through our first- year screening process.

In compliance with Massachusetts General Laws, Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School will determine the appropriate grade level for each student entering the school Students are placed in their academically appropriate grade level based on current reports, progress reports and English and Math placement tests administered during the registration process. All parents are notified in writing if their child is required to complete the grade preceding the grade the student plans to enter for the upcoming school year within 7-10 days of registration. Parents/guardians have the right to appeal the grade level placement of their child to the building principal and the superintendent.

THE PROCESS FOR ACCEPTING STUDENTS

1. Abby Kelley Foster will determine the number of spaces available based on the number of returning students and grade level capacity annually.
2. Set a deadline for accepting student applications for the available new spaces, with reasonable public notice of at least one month in advance.  
3. Publicize the application deadline and the fact that there will be a lottery if there are more eligible applicants than there are available spaces.  
4. Set a date for the lottery, with reasonable notice of at least one month before the lottery date. 603 CMR 1.06(6).
5. All parents/guardians must complete an ENROLLMENT APPLICATION in order for a sibling, resident, and non-resident applicant to participate in the enrollment process.

6. After the application deadline passes, all applications are divided into three categories; Siblings, Residents and Non-Residents. 603 CMR 1.06(4)

7. All applicants will receive written notification that the school is in receipt of their application including the time and date of the lottery.
8. Applications will not be accepted after the scheduled deadline.
9. If the school receives more applications than seats available a lottery is held.
10. A lottery for each category (Siblings, Residents and Non-Residents) is held to determine admission or establish a waitlist.
11. All accepted or waitlist applicants are notified in writing by the school of their status within one week of the lottery.
12. Parents or guardians are requested to notify the school by verbally or in writing within 48 hours if they accept or decline an offer of admission.

13. All applicants that accept or decline an offer of admission will receive written notice from the school.

LOTTERY PROCEDURE

• A lottery will be only be held, if the school receives more applications than seats available.
• All applications are divided into three categories; Siblings, Residents and Non-Residents.
• Individual Student Enrollment Application information is transferred to an index card and placed into a lottery drum. Index cards include the student name, grade and city/town of residence, or sibling status.
• A lottery will be held for each of the three categories listed above, if the school receives more applications than seats available.
• An impartial person will administer the lottery. Representatives from the St Gobain/Norton Company Human Resources Department administer the lottery each year.
• As a card is drawn the grade and name(s) will be announced, assigned a lottery number and written on the appropriate grade level chart.
• As openings become available siblings will be offered admissions first, residents second and finally non residents, in the order the names were drawn in the lottery.
• The school will maintain a wait list for each of the three categories, if necessary.
• Students and families will be notified of their admission for the upcoming academic year or of their position on the waitlist in writing within one week.

WAITLIST PROCEDURE

• The school will maintain a waitlist for Siblings, Residents and Non-Residents.
  The waitlist is created according to the procedures mentioned under the section Lottery.
• A student maintains his/her position on the waitlist until offered admission or until the student declines to remain on the waitlist.
• No student can be assigned a waitlist number for enrollment except via lottery.
• If an applicant’s sibling resident or non resident status changes at any time during the school year, the applicant’s current waitlist status will be subject to change. The applicant will be removed from its current placement on an active waitlist. The applicant will then need to reapply during the next open enrollment period.

ACCEPTING OR DECLINING AN OFFER OF ADMISSION

Parents or guardians will be contacted by phone as openings become available. It is the parent’s/guardian’s responsibility to notify the school of any address or phone number changes. If the school is unable to contact a parent/guardian regarding an open seat for admission or waitlist update for a student within 48 hours, the student’s application will be considered declined and removed from our waitlist or applicant pool. The school will notify the parent/guardian in writing that the school considers their application or waitlist status declined by default. If the student’s application is removed from the waitlist or applicant pool the parent/guardian will need to re-apply during the next open enrollment period.

The parent or guardian must notify the school in writing or by verbal communication if they request their application be removed from the waitlist or decline an offer of admission within 48 hours of the offer. If the school does not receive written or verbal confirmation from the parent/guardian that they have declined the position on the waitlist or an offer of enrollment within 48 hours, the student’s application will be considered declined by default.  The parent or guardian will receive written confirmation from the school that their application has been declined by default or removed from the waitlist.

LIMITATIONS
Charter schools must ensure they do not enroll too many students from a sending district and cause the student’s sending district to exceed its net school spending cap as specified in G.L. c. 71, §89(i). If the enrollment of a student would cause the sending district to exceed its tuition cap, then the charter school must skip over the student and keep him/her on the school’s waiting list. 603 CMR 1.06(4)(d). However, siblings of enrolled students are exempt from the provisions of G.L. c. 71, §89(i). A sibling of an enrolled student may enroll in the school regardless of the school district tuition cap. In such cases, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shall provide the school with the tuition payment which is subject to appropriation.
Once a student is admitted to Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School, that student has a right to continue attending the charter school. This right to continued attendance exists even if the student’s district of residence changes. The only exception to this rule would be if the new district of residence was at or above its net school spending cap and, for that reason, the school would not receive a per pupil tuition for that student.

WITHDRAWALS AND TRANSFERS
Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School may accept applications for students entering Kindergarten through Grade 12. The School will determine the number of seats available by grade each year. Any student that is withdrawn from the School may apply for re-admittance.  

Parents/guardians must notify the Enrollment Department concerning the transfer of their child to another school. Parents must complete a permission to release records form at Abby Kelley Foster before any student records can be forwarded to another school. All books and other School property must be returned to the School; any outstanding balances must be settled.

We will consider it a withdrawal if a student does not attend class during the first five days of the school year. This applies specifically in cases where a parent has been unresponsive in signing a withdrawal form and where we have credible information that the child is enrolled in another school or not living in the area.

ABBY KELLEY FOSTER CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOL CONSIDERS A STUDENT WITHDRAWN FROM THE SCHOOL ONCE THE PARENT/GUARDIAN HAS COMPLETED AND SIGNED A WITHDRAWAL FORM.

INFORMATION SESSIONS
Parent information sessions are held monthly during open enrollment. Sessions begin promptly at 8:30 a.m.

Contact Information
AnnMarie Little, Director of Government Relations, amlittle@akfcs.org or 508-854-8400 x3625

Dianne Crosbie, Enrollment Coordinator, dcrosbie@akfcs.org or 508-854-8400 x3644.

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