Lottery Winnings?

A little birdie told me that 'tis the season to be hearing back from school lotteries, for those families who are opting to exercise the PPS school choice.  Did you participate in the lottery?  Have you heard back yet?  What did the lottery have in store for your child(ren)?  Happy with results or resigning to your spot on the waitlist?

Lottery or not, now's a chance to connect with other families at your schools.  Use the urbanMamas School Connection forum to do so!

Comments

[JM]

Argh! We applied to 3, heard back from 2. Wait listed #59 and #82. Chances aren't good. Right?

I have put all eggs in the basket for the remaining and first choice school, where our daughter attends preschool currently. Frankly, if she doesn't get in I have some unschooling "homework" to do this summer.

Right now I am feeling frustrated that people got in places that they don't want to go and we didn't get into those same places and that once the lottery is done, there really is nothing you can do, but wait and deal with it.

[MamaZuzi]

Unless you are talking about High School, the lottery hasn't even been run yet. The elementary school lottery results won't be mailed out until late this month. That's all I know... waiting to hopefully confirm my child will be a kinder at her brother's school.

[Sheryl]

For PPS, the High School lottery letters were mailed on April 4. Elementary and Middle School letters are supposed to be mailed approximately 6 weeks after the March 7 transfer application deadline (HS had an earlier application deadline, hence the results coming out earlier). So it looks like we've got at least a couple of weeks to go for those of us awaiting the ES and MS transfers.

Based on our own past PPS transfer experience, and the transfer letter I saw over the weekend for our friend's soon-to-be high schooler, the letters are mailed from a central location (NOT the individual schools) and address the outcome of your overall transfer application. You do not hear from each of your school choices individually.

[mommyMAEY]

we applied to a PPS, but have not heard anything back. We did however heard back from a charter school in Gresham, and my son is accepted! Its amazing how competitive it can be. Especially with a lottery pick.

[ah]

It's the PPS charter schools who are letting people know right now; the neighborhood/magnet schools should be letting us know in the next couple of weeks. I'm so ready to know so I can plan our lives for fall and beyond!

[L]

Haven't heard from PPS Elementary neighborhood lottery - I thought it'd be any day, but now I know to just hang on for 2 more weeks!
We were planning to move to our top/only choice elementary in the fall, but if we don't get in now, we'll have to move there right around my due date for our 2nd child. Aaargh - it is what it is.

[Sheryl]

By my calendar, tomorrow, April 18, is the 6 week mark from the PPS ES and MS transfer application deadline.

Let's cross our fingers letters are mailed tommorrow and start hitting our mailboxes on Saturday.

I've actually been stressing about this jump from elementary to middle school for some time now, and all of the unknowns are killing me. I'm a planner, and that little letter I hope to get in the mail this weekend will allow me to start putting wheels in motion for next school year.

I just hope one of our three choices come through!

[Sheryl]

I didn't receive any mail at all Saturday; our friends up the block did, but no "Lottery Letter" from PPS. :(

Anyone receive any news? Any insight on when the letters will be mailed?

[Sheryl]

UPDATE: In regard to the timing of the mailing for ES and MS transfer letters, the PPS website now says:

"The elementary/middle school transfer cycle closed on March 7, 2008 @ 5:00 pm except for Pre-K. Lottery results will be mailed approximately six to eight weeks after March 7th."

Looks like we may have another 2-3 weeks to wait.

[Diana]

I just called the transfer and enrollment center for PPS this afternoon and she said they just got word that the letters will be mailed starting tomorrow(April 25th). It's so tough to wait, because the window of opportunity for the other schools (private or other) are narrowing. *sigh* Good luck!

[Sheryl]

Diana--thank you for the update. Why I didn't think to call PPS is beyond me--duh!

I am going to be gone tommorrow, but will leave strict instructions with our friends next door to raid my mailbox and call me with any news (or no news, for that matter!)

[Sheryl]

Good news! We did receive our lottery letter over the weekend, and my daughter was placed in the school that was listed as our first choice (our REAL first choice, YWA, was not logistically feasible for us, sadly, so we did not list it).

I do feel good about the choice we made, and am relieved that we don't have to spend the summer worrying that my daughter's name won't make it to the top of a waiting list. She's in, and we're both excited.

How did everyone else do?

[L]

We were wait-listed at our one and only choice listed for PPS - apparently this is a good thing, though I wish it were a definite in!

Does anyone know if you can find out what number on the wait-list you are?

And how to find out if (and how many of) the wait-listers are "moved on up" before Oct 1?

[melissa]

our letter just came this morning. i can't even explain how relieved i am that we got into one of our top choices.
phew!

[Sheryl]

To L:

My daughter was wait-listed back when she was moving from private K/1st grade into public second grade.

It was a nerve-wracking summer--we didn't find out for sure if she was "in" until the last week of summer.

I stayed in contact with the Enrollment and Transfer office, and if memory serves (this was 4 years ago), they were able to tell me my daughter's position on the wait list. I would suggest waiting to do this until a week or so after the response deadline that was our your lottery letter (the deadline they give for declining). I think that was May 9. Enough kids declining that school for that grade level could get you a spot or get you moved up on the waitlist.

In the meantime, start preparing for "Plan B". My Plan B was for my daughter to continue at her private school. They were great--they understood the situation and let me put off making any payments until the last possible second. It helped that they didn't have a wait list of their own. But do have alternatives in mind.

If May 9 comes and goes and you are still on on the wait list, when the principal is back at school in August, get in touch with him/her. I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect that if there are just 1-2 kids on a waitlist, and the school or grade isn't totally overcrowded, the principal can opt to open up a spot or two over-and-above their initial openings. That is the impression I got when I was in your position.

Best of luck!!

[MamaZuzi]

Yup we got our letter on Saturday as well. Our girl got into our first pick and can attend the same school as her brother - thank goodness. I don't know much about waitlisting but I do know that usually at least a few folks get in and I thought, for some reason, that you could/should check in with the principal from the school who is in charge of the wait list.

[hm]

MamaZuzi,

I thought that siblings always got into the same school. Has that changed?

[e.]

We got our letter this weekend and jumped for joy!

[Sheryl]

Sibs get a bit of extra "weight" or preference in the lottery, but its not a slam dunk.

[A]

Our daughter is number 5 on the waitlist at our first choice. I called the school this morning to find out. I also called the enrollment and transfer center, and they said they couldn't give the exact number as they wait to see who declines a spot at the school and who declines to stay on the waiting list before assigning specific numbers. I would recommend calling the school if you want to know where you stand as of today.

[L]

Thanks to Sheryl and A. I did call the school, and found out he's #1 on the waitlist - my endorphins were going crazy! Our Plan B is to move to the neighborhood this summer instead of this fall/winter - but we'll have a newborn in the middle of this summer, so I have really not been looking forward to the stress of trying to find a place and move too! My relief right now is immense - only 5 spots were given out, but if just 1 declines, we've got it. Thanks for your advice.

[MissK]

We applied to 3 schools and didn't get into any one of them and we aren't even on the waitlist for any of them. I was wondering if anyone else's letter said that "your child did not qualify for the lottery"? I thought that was an interesting choice of words considering that one isn't supposed to qualify for the PPS lottery. I heard some of the schools didn't get the budget they were hoping for and I wonder if that affected the lottery.

[MissK]

We applied to 3 schools and didn't get into any one of them and we aren't even on the waitlist for any of them. I was wondering if anyone else's letter said that "your child did not qualify for the lottery"? I thought that was an interesting choice of words considering that one isn't supposed to qualify for the PPS lottery. I heard some of the schools didn't get the budget they were hoping for and I wonder if that affected the lottery.

[melissa]

MissK,
I would definitely call PPS and ask exactly what that means. It might be helpful for you to know that our letter has a section with these columns: Choice / School / Program / Result. The Choice shows our order of preference, Program shows the grade level being entered & Result says simply "Approved" or "Not Approved."
Good Luck!

[mamad]

my daughter made it into her neighborhood school which is also a dual immersion language school. good school, too far away from where I work to be able to pick her up at 3pm. the after school care options are minimal. the quality of the care is subpar. my stomach hurts knowing my kindergartner is across town, 20-30 minute drive away (depending on traffic)When I asked about changing our placement they said no way. that's it. I was hoping to move her closer in to where I work but our reasons were not compelling enough. What to do about after school care for us working families?

[AmyS]

mamad: We am in the same boat. Thrilled that our daughter got into the Spanish Immersion program at Clarendon-Portsmouth but they have no aftercare and we need it two days a week. They are a SUN school but are switching agencies right now so no one has any idea what will be going on next year. To add to this, I have a 1.5yr-old who will also need care two days a week starting in September so coordinating this is going to be a headache, I fear!

I'm going to talk to the people in the office about what families do in similar situations and will be attending the PTA meeting next week to see if I can get any helpful info there.

Good luck to us all!

[Suzanne]

We did not get any of our choices, and we did not make the waitlist for any, either. Just a big ol' "NOT APPROVED" for each of the 3 choices. So discouraging. However, our little guy is thrilled to be staying for at least kindergarten at the private school where he's been for 2 preschool years (Tucker Maxon Oral School).

[Joan]

I have not yet tried the lottery since our son is not quite 3 years old. But I am thinking we will attempt to lottery in when he's Kindergarten age... So here's my question: For your three 'top slots' can you just name the SAME school in all three slots? Will that work -- will the computer continue to run your child through the same school three times? Or will you lose out on your 2nd and 3rd chances? Thanks for any advice.

[e.]

Joan,

Nope, you can only list each school once. If you go to the pps website (google "pps" and it will give you the link) you can find detailed information about the lottery process and the number of lottery applicants vs. the number of available spots for all of the schools.

[Anna]

Richmond recently requested permission to add 8 spots to the kindergarten class for next year but that request was denied. If you have a child on the Richmond kindergarten wait list (there are currently 9 children on the list), I would be interested in an e-mail exchange on the topic. I can be reached at ahroe@aol.com. If you know of someone with a child on the wait list and could forward this to them, that would be appreciated as well.

Thanks!