Admissions and Enrollment Policies
Purpose: This policy is in place to address the process for handling admissions at School. The goal of this admissions policy is to declare the process and methods that will be used to admit students in a fair and consistent way that does not offer priority to any student except those specifically noted as required by North Carolina law.
School is a nonprofit, tuition-free charter school authorized by the state of North Carolina. As a charter school, School will be open to all students who would otherwise qualify for enrollment in North Carolina Public Schools. The school will not discriminate against any student on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability. The open application for enrollment period will begin on November 15th and end on January 31st. The lottery will occur on the first Monday of February at 12:00 on the school campus. You do not need to be present in order to be selected the school will notify all parents who applied via SMS and Email within the next 24 hour period.
No criteria for admission will be used except the completed application. The application may be completed online through our website unless a family is unable to access the site. In that case, we will provide a paper application to parents when requested. The application will include the student’s name, parent/guardian names, current address of student, phone number of parent/guardian, email of parent/guardian, county of residence, current grade level, their grade level for the coming year, student’s date of birth, current school, the name of any siblings already enrolled at the school, declaration of the student’s residence in the state of North Carolina, confirmation of access to email, parent email address and an indication as to how the family would like their children entered into the lottery.
Grade Level for the Lottery Application
Parents will be asked to confirm both their student’s current grade as well as the grade for the coming year. Parents may not choose which grade they would like their child enrolled in for the coming year, they must enter the actual current grade and the next year’s grade as confirmation. Parents wishing to have their child considered for retention must still submit their student for the subsequent grade level and then if admitted the student will be evaluated by the Director and child’s teacher before a retention decision is made. If the student’s current school recommends a student for retention and has it documented in the student’s file, the student will be moved to the appropriate grade if they have been admitted to school and will retain enrollment status with School. If the student is on the waitlist at the time the retention decision is made, they will be moved to the correct grade level and placed on the waitlist of their new grade based on the number they were pulled during the lottery.
Single or Family Application
Each family will be offered the choice to either enter all of their children into the lottery with one surname or enter each child separately in the lottery. When a family application (all siblings on one application) is pulled during the lottery, all of the students listed on the application will be pulled at the same time. If there are spots available in the appropriate grade levels, the children will be admitted. If there are not spots available, they will be placed on the wait list for those grades at that time.
Returning Students
Current students at School will not be required to re-enroll. They will be asked to sign a letter of intent for the coming year during January to allow the school to plan appropriately for the lottery.
Enrollment Priority
The following groups will have enrollment priority at School for subsequent school years in the order that follows as space permits in each grade:
- Children of full time employees and board members (may not exceed 15% of total school population)
- Siblings of current students (as determined by Charter School law G.S. 115C-238.29F(g)(5a)
- Students who are economically disadvantaged
- Students who are currently enrolled in a NC Charter School
Multiple Birth Siblings
If multiple birth siblings apply to the school, their surname will be entered once to represent all of the multiple birth siblings. If the multiple birth siblings are pulled in the lottery when there is still at least one spot remaining in their grade level, all multiple birth siblings shall be admitted. If their application is pulled after the spots are all filled, they will be added to the wait list in the order they are listed on their application.
Other Siblings
If siblings apply for admission through the lottery, the School will enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the siblings applying at the same time. If that surname of the siblings is selected, then all of the siblings shall be admitted to the extent that space is available and does not exceed the grade level capacity. It is our intent to provide Lottery Procedures that benefit families but are fair and consistent for all of our applicants.
Prior to the general enrollment lottery, the school will conduct the weighted lottery. If there are more students that have applied than there are spots available, a grade level wait list will be started and students not receiving spots will be added to the wait list in the order in which they are pulled.
Lottery Results
The school will post the results of the lottery on the website within 5 business days of the lottery. Parents will be notified of the lottery results via email within 24 hours of the lottery. If a student has been admitted to the school, the parent/guardian of the student will be contacted via email unless they indicated on their application that they did not have access to email. If the parent is unable to receive an email, an acceptance letter will be mailed to the child’s residence.
The results and the waitlist will be updated monthly to allow parents to determine their current place on the waitlist.
Enrollment
Students admitted before April 15 will have 10 calendar days from the date their acceptance email was sent to accept or decline enrollment and 5 days from the time of the acceptance email to turn in enrollment paperwork. If a student is admitted after May 15, they will have 5 days to accept or decline enrollment at the school and 7 days to return the enrollment paperwork. If a student is admitted after July 15, they will have 48 hours to accept or decline enrollment at the school and 3 days to return the enrollment paperwork. If the school does not receive an enrollment confirmation and the paperwork back in the specified time period, the Director may decline enrollment to the student and offer the spot to the next student on the waitlist. If enrollment is declined and then a parent later decides they would like to send their student, after all, they will be asked to submit a new application and they will be placed on the waitlist in the next available spot.
As spots at the school become available, the parent/guardian of the student will be contacted via email. If the parent does not have access to email and has specified that on their application, the school will mail a letter of acceptance to the child’s residence.
School’s Right to Refuse Enrollment
School reserves the right to refuse to enroll any student currently under a term of expulsion or suspension by his or her school until that term is over.
School reserves the right to refuse to enroll a student if a parent willingly and knowingly provided incorrect information on the enrollment application.
If a student has accepted enrollment at the school, but does not appear at the school in the first 2 days of school, the school will make reasonable attempts to contact the parents. If there is no response from the parent by the 3rd day of school, the school reserves the right to remove the student from their enrollment roster and offer the next student on the wait list the spot
Lottery Policy
Applications for the lottery are available online from November 15th to January 31st each year. Paper applications are available at the Front Office. Applications received after January 31st will go to the waitlist should applications exceed seats.
Applicants must re-apply each year. Lottery numbers do not carry over from year to year.
Accepted students DO NOT need to reapply each year.
Weighted Lottery
In the school’s annual open application period, the school will advertise in its policies and procedures, the various enrollment preferences allowed by current state law, and the school’s indigenous enrollment and lottery policy, with a specific mention of weighted lottery and how economically disadvantaged students will be provided an increased chance of admission.
The additional “weight” for economically disadvantaged students will be calculated each year to maximize the probability that 75 percent of students through the lottery will be economically disadvantaged; provided, however, that the weight for economically disadvantaged students will be a minimum of 1.25 and a maximum of 2.0 each year of the charter term that the weighted lottery is used. The school will continue to use a weighted lottery and the target for students admitted through the lottery at least until the school year following a year in which 75 percent or more of the students at the school are economically disadvantaged, or until no weight is necessary to maximize the probability that most students newly admitted through the lottery are economically disadvantaged.
“Economically disadvantaged” shall mean students who qualify for free or reduced lunch, whose families live below the poverty line, or whose families qualify for one or more of the following federal benefits: SNAP, TANF, WIC, Medicaid, or PINS. New student applicants may voluntarily indicate “economically disadvantaged” status on the admissions application for purposes of the weighted lottery and such status will be verified as a part of the registration process. Indicating “economically disadvantaged” is optional and choosing not to indicate “economically disadvantaged” will not alter chances in the general lottery. The weighted lottery verification form will state “No specific information from your weighted lottery application will be obtained beyond eligibility status, and the information will not be retained.” If a family is selected for enrollment through the weighted lottery, they must provide supporting documentation of eligibility. If a family is unable to provide the supporting documentation necessary to qualify for the economic diversity preference, the family should be contacted to offer assistance. If the family is still unable to provide the documentation, the application should be returned to the general waiting list. If an applicant qualifies for the weighted lottery, but is not chosen, the application should be placed in the general enrollment application pool.
Admission Standards
- Ridgeview Charter School is a public school and requires no application fee or tuition.
- In order to be eligible for admission, students are required to reside in the State of North Carolina at the time of the application.
- Under North Carolina General Statute (GS115C-391), Pocosin Innovative Charter may refuse admission to any student who has been expelled or suspended from a public school, until the period of suspension or expulsion has expired.
- RCS does not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, or ancestry.
Lottery Procedures
RCSs lottery will be posted on the school’s website by January 15th. Results will be sent to parents by email if an address was supplied, or by postal service.
The RCS lottery is open to the general public, but attendance is not required for acceptance.
The lottery procedure must ensure that each eligible applicant, who submitted an application prior to the lottery application deadline, will have an equal opportunity to be randomly selected. It must also continue until all eligible applicants have been selected and placed on a final list.
The lottery will be run by a computer program written specifically for RCS.
When the lottery is run, it will assign a random number to every single applicant. The applicants are then either placed or waitlisted according to space availability in each grade level.
Priority Enrollment (As allowed by GS 115C-218.45)
1- Children of the school’s current full time employees and board members: Eligible children will be given enrollment priority at PICS (up to 15% of the student population).
2- Siblings of currently enrolled students: Eligible siblings of currently enrolled students who are enrolled in the charter school at the time of the lottery will receive enrollment priority. Lottery procedures for siblings include:
- If siblings apply for admission to a charter school and a lottery is needed under subsection (h) of this section, the charter school may enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the siblings applying at the same time. If that surname of the siblings is selected, then all of the siblings shall be admitted to the extent that space is available and does not exceed the grade-level capacity.
- If multiple birth siblings apply for admission to a charter school and a lottery is needed under subsection (h) of this section, the charter school shall enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the multiple birth siblings applying at the same time. If that surname of the multiple birth siblings is selected, then all of the multiple birth siblings shall be admitted.
3- Siblings of RCS graduates: Enrollment priority for siblings of students that have completed the highest grade level offered by the school and who were enrolled in at least four grade levels, or if less than four grades are offered, in the maximum number of grades offered by the school.
4- Students who are economically disadvantaged per the weighted lottery process explained above.
All applicants will receive notification by March 15th by email (if provided) or postal mail of acceptance or waiting list number.
Post Application Period Applications
The school will decide each year whether or not to accept applications after the deadline. This information will be posted via the school website.
If accepted, any applications received after the stated deadline will be added to the end of the waiting list in the order that they are received. Order of receipt will be determined by the time stamp on the email or online entry, and the time of day that standard mail is delivered on that day. If multiple late entries are received simultaneously (exact same timestamp or mail delivery day), they will be listed in alphabetical order of their middle name (or first if no middle is given).