Metro Schools & SET Academy Admissions Policy
Eligibility: Metro Schools allows children residing in a Minnesota school district to attend for their appropriate grade level. Metro does not exclude nor discriminate based on national origin, race, ethnicity, income, religion, creed, disability, gender sexual orientation, or any other protected class. Metro shall make reasonable accommodations for students with limited English proficiency, special needs, and disabilities.
Enrollment Preference: Metro gives preference to siblings of enrolled pupils and to foster children of the pupil’s parents. Metro also gives preference to the children of staff before accepting other pupils by lot.
(1) Annual Procedure of Board:
a. Establishes by October 1st the open enrollment period applicable to the following school year’s admissions.
b. Publishes by October 1st:
i. Metro’s enrollment application applicable to the following school year, and ii. This Admissions and Lottery Policy.
c. Establishes and publishes by February 1st the Available Capacity by Grade form applicable to the following school year. The available capacity by grade will be established as a set number for each grade.
(2) Notice to Parents of Currently Enrolled Students and Staff Employed at the School: Prior to the beginning of the open enrollment period, the school provides notice of the open enrollment period to parents of currently enrolled students and staff so that siblings of currently enrolled students and children of staff may submit a timely application.
(3) Application Processing: One application must be submitted for each student (including siblings from multiple births.). Each enrollment application received is date-stamped for record-keeping. There is no application or waiting list carries over from year to year. Applicants must submit a new application during each open enrollment period (once a year).
(4) Admission for Applications Received During Open Enrollment: All applications received during the open enrollment period are automatically admitted) unless more applications are received than the available capacity established by the Board for the applicable grade(s). In this situation, siblings of currently enrolled students and children of staff employed at the school are admitted and all other submitted applications for such grade(s) are placed in the lottery.
(5) General Lottery: If the number of applications received during the open enrollment period exceeds available capacity established by the Board for any grade (and after siblings of enrolled students who submitted timely applications are already admitted, and after all children of staff employed at the school who submitted a timely application are already admitted), the school conducts a general lottery. All applications for each such grade(s) (excluding applications from siblings of already enrolled students and excluding applications from children of staff employed at the school) received before the expiration of the open enrollment period are included in the general lottery. Students are admitted to the school in the order in which they are drawn in the lottery, as long as there is available capacity as determined by the Board for the applicable grade(s). If all available capacity in any grade is filled, the lottery continues and establishes the general waiting list for each such grade in the order drawn, until all applications are drawn. If a student is admitted through the general lottery and that student has one or more siblings in other grades also subject to a lottery, those siblings are automatically admitted once the student becomes an enrolled student.
(6) Admission for Applications Received Outside of Open Enrollment:
a. A student who submits an application outside of the open enrollment period is automatically admitted as long as there is available capacity in the applicable grade as established by the Board in the order received. If, or once, there is no available capacity in any grade, applications are added to the applicable waiting list for each such grade, in the order received. Applications by siblings of current students and children of staff employed at the school are admitted. The parents/guardians of a student seeking admission pursuant to this provision will be strongly encouraged to meet with the school’s Academic Director before admission to discuss enrollment expectations, transportation needs, the child’s start date, and siblings who may be on the waiting list or want to be added to it.
b. Parent/guardian notification of an enrollment opening (for a student on the lottery waitlist or a lateral entry) will be by letter. Procedures and timing for response to the offer of enrollment will be provided in the letter. Students who decline will be removed from the waiting list. A failure to respond to the offer of enrollment within the time period stated in the offer letter constitutes a decline and the student will be removed from the waiting list. It is the responsibility of parents/guardians of students on waitlists to keep Metro informed of current contact information. Once the decision has been made to enroll, the parents/guardians must provide the current report card or transcript from the student’s previous school, and inform staff if the student is receiving services on a 504 plan or receiving special education services.
(7) Metro conducts all lotteries through a method of computerized random selection.
(8) Metro shall not distribute any services or goods of value to students, parents, or guardians as an inducement, term, or condition of enrolling a student in a charter school.