GoMamaGuide to LAUSD: Elementary Edition has arrived!

Posted on October 23, 2017 by gomama

Hey folks,

I’ve been promising to write this guidebook literally for years, and now, HERE IT IS!

Packed with information yet delivered in easily understood bite-sized pieces. Get the Big Guide to LAUSD. Covers every region within LAUSD: North, South, East and West!

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**Just Released! Biggest Guide Yet!

GoMamaGuide to LAUSD – Elementary Edition
LA Public Schools Demystified
By Tanya Anton

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* Offers a thorough understanding of ALL your LAUSD public school options
* Outlines how (and when) to tackle each type of application process
* Magnets and “The Point System” demystified
* How Charters work and who is eligible
* Dual Language Immersions, GATE, Open Enrollment, and other options

* Permitting in and out of District
* How to tour: what to look for in a school and more…

* Learn how to expertly navigate schools in LAUSD!

.* Covers how to navigate all of LAUSD!

Includes:
* Complete List of all LAUSD Public Elementary Schools (broken down by category and region)
* Handy month-by-month Application Timeline
* Evaluating Your Priorities Exercise
* Bonus Materials, Charts and Resources

* Nearly 70 pages!
* All this for only $30 –about what you’d spend on a pilates class!
* No need to leave home — Guidebook shipped to your door!
Note: Individual schools are not ranked or profiled. For individual assistance, and to find the best fit schools for your child, please consider booking a consultation with me.

View Table of Contents

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Changes in Open Enrollment: Now Thru May 22

Posted on May 5, 2015 by gomama

LAUSD’s Open Enrollment applications are now being accepted for the 2015-16 school year and there are a number of big changes this year!

•They’ve gone online!

•They’ve centralized the lottery!

•Siblings get priority!

•Apply any time between May 4-22. Deadline May 22, 2015!

•You will hear initial application results by June 9th.

Every year LAUSD faces handfuls of seats at under-enrolled schools that are available for those who want them and apply for them. Easier than a work or childcare permit, Open Enrollment seats are up for grabs and once admitted into a school through this type of transfer, your child can stay until they complete the final year it offers. No annual renewal, no proof of residency/employment/licensed childcare paperwork to agonize over, and no lengthy application or approval process.

From the site:
“The District’s state-mandated open enrollment policy enables students anywhere in LAUSD to apply to any regular, grade-appropriate Los Angeles public school with designated open enrollment seats. While the number of total seats for next year is still being determined, it is anticipated that approximately 6,200 seats will be available at about 200 schools, based on the staff’s knowledge of new housing and other demographic trends in the local attendance area.”

Quick links:
online application: apply.lausd.net
more info: home.lausd.net/apps/news/article/462889
the list of OE schools: 2015 OE List (alphabetical)

To get started, you’ll have to log in or create a new parent registration with LAUSD. (Hint: it’s the same portal where your eChoices/Magnet application history is, if you did that this fall.) Once you set that up you’ll be able to register your children and check their status for eChoices/Magnets, Open Enrollment, Schools for Advanced Study/SAS, Zones of Choice, and other permit requests, as well as be able to accept or decline potential offers online.

If you’ve never done this before, let me walk you through it.

1. Create an LAUSD account at apply.lausd.net. Click on the link to “Create a New Parent Account.” You’ll enter your email which will also become your username.

2. Check your email for the confirmation email from ApplyforSchools@lausd.net. You’ll have to click on the link they send you to agree to terms and activate your new account.

3. Create a password and fill out your Parent Profile.

4. Then add each of your children with the info they request.

5. Once all that’s set up, you can apply for Open Enrollment for each child right there from the drop down menu – which also includes late Magnet-Space Available and Incoming Inter-District Permits (from another District into LAUSD) application links. Each sibling needs a separate application. The site will automatically filter for grade-appropriate options.

6. The online Open Enrollment application lets you select up to 5 school choices, however keep proximity in mind when selecting schools as no transportation is provided. Deadline to apply is Friday, May 22, 2015.

Notable Changes:
Instead of lotteries being held on hundreds of separate campuses, the District will now centralize the Open Enrollment application process into one online lottery. Results are random, non-biased, and will go out via email (and be posted on your online portal) by June 9th. If there are more applications than seats available at a particular school, remaining students will be sequenced into a waitlist in the order they are drawn. If more seats are available than applications, any remaining seats will stay open and available until the process closes on September 3, 2015.

***Note: If your child receives more than one offer of enrollment, please notify the schools you are declining so they can offer the spot to the next student on the waitlist.

If one sibling is drawn, all other siblings who applied to the same school will automatically be granted a transfer.

After initial offers are made on June 9th, any additional offers on remaining seats will be made in order of the waitlist until all seats are filled or the program closes on September 3rd, 2015.

Open Enrollment transfers are good with no annual renewal needed and no fear of being booted off the island until the completion of the last grade offered, typically 5th, 8th or 12th grade. However, you will need to reapply for the next tier (from elementary to middle, or middle to high school) as there are no feeder pattern guarantees with Open Enrollment.

Open Enrollment options are for LAUSD neighborhood schools with available seats. You will never find magnets or charters on that list.

Here’s that link again: apply.lausd.net

Hope you found this helpful. As always, should you need additional personalized assistance, please consider a phone or in-person consultation with me. Best of luck and happy school hunting!

LAUSD Open Enrollment for 2014 Now Thru May 23!

Posted on May 9, 2014 by gomama

The LAUSD Open Enrollment application period for Fall 2014 has officially opened. Deadline to apply is Friday, May 23, 2014.

Open Enrollment info

If you’re hanging on wait lists and still looking for school options for the fall, this is a good list to peruse.

Every year LAUSD offers up a list of schools to anyone who would like to apply for them through a process called Open Enrollment (OE). These are neighborhood schools with available seats that anyone can apply for. Once enrolled in a school via Open Enrollment, your child may attend that school until the last grade offered without having to re-apply every year. It’s an easy type of school transfer without going through a complicated permitting process.

You may apply to multiple Open Enrollment schools. If there are more seats than applicants, everyone who applied gets in. If there are more applicants than seats, a lottery will be held at the school site in the last week in May to determine offers of enrollment and the wait list sequence.

For a list of schools with Open Enrollment seats available, sorted by Educational Service Center/ESC area (East, West, North, South), see:

OE List 2014

The OE application

Good luck!

Open Enrollment Applications Accepted Now Through May 24th

Posted on May 15, 2013 by gomama

Every year LAUSD offers up a list of schools that have seats available to anyone who would like to apply for them through a process called Open Enrollment (OE). This is an easy way to transfer to another school without having to jump through all the hoops one typically does with the permitting process.

Every year the District determines which schools will have open seats and how many for the following fall, then posts the list in May on their website. Schools are listed under their Educational Service Center: North, South, East, or West.

During the application window, which opened this year on Mon, May 6th and closes on Fri, May 24th, you may go to as many of the OE schools listed and apply for a seat. Applications are available at each school site, and are a brief one-page transfer request.

At the end of the application period, if there are more seats than applicants, everyone who applied will be offered enrollment. If there are more applicants than seats, the school site will hold its own lottery to determine who gets offered enrollment and the sequence of their waitlist. You may apply to as many OE schools as you like. Once enrolled on an OE transfer, you do not need to reapply each year.

For more info, see

LAUSD OE info page:
http://tinyurl.com/lyg2aj3

2013-14 Open Enrollment List
http://tinyurl.com/k6qn8rq

Waitlisted

Posted on June 15, 2011 by gomama

by Tanya Anton | GoMamaGuide.com

Many clients have contacted me recently after finding out either their child was waitlisted at several places and they haven’t heard anything yet, or they got into two or more schools and can’t decide which way to go.

Being waitlisted is a sensitive topic. Nobody likes to hear they didn’t get into their first choice school. Some high-performing magnet and charter programs are so competitive to get into, hundreds or even thousands of children are waitlisted every year. So, what’s a parent to do?

First, it helps to understand the application/ lottery/ enrollment process so you know what you are dealing with. Savvy parents know that most folks apply to multiple schools but obviously can’t attend all those schools. Therefore, by their very nature, waitlists become bloated and not necessarily reflective of who would actually attend if given the slot. In other words, if I applied to schools A-E, got accepted and enrolled in school A, my spots on the B-C-D-E school waitlists would be technically vacant since I’ve already enrolled elsewhere. As people finalize their school decisions, other folks are silently moving up waitlists all over town, so you never truly know where you stand on a list.

Second, it helps to know the timeline so you can gauge where you are in it and what your possibilities are.The first round of Magnet notification letters go out in early April. Charters all do their lotteries independently, but typically their letters are sent out in the March-April window. (Earlier for middle and high school.) Permits and Open Enrollment results typically come out in June. After the first round of offers go out, schools will work their way down the waitlist through May and June in order to fill empty spots, but even then enrollment lists are not necessarily final yet, as families shift in their enrollment decisions. School offices close for the month of July, so this is a good time to vacate, have a cocktail, de-stress, as there’s absolutely nothing you can do this month until offices reopen sometime in August, when they’ll continue to work down the list to ensure all seats are filled. Hopefully you will know your school choice by then, but even as late as late-August or early-September, last-minute seats can be offered. Remember, Magnet schools have up until the 10th day of school to notify you if a spot opens up, and neighborhood schools have until Norm Day, usually the first week in October when they finalize their teacher-student ratios to the District, so really, waitlisted isn’t final until then.

Third, stay positive and be proactive. Don’t bug the staff as they are most likely overworked and underpaid, but you can call, say, in late June or mid-August, to see if getting your child in is a close possibility or not very likely. You can also let them know who you are and how very thrilled you would be to accept a spot at their school, should one open up.

And finally, always have a back-up plan. Perhaps that’s your home school which you’re automatically zoned for, or one with a large number of Open Enrollment seats where almost everyone who applies gets in. Perhaps it’s a new magnet program that was announced late and didn’t fill up, or you apply for a PERT – a Parent-Employment-Related Transfer to a school near your business address. Either way, looking back at it, kids always find a seat somewhere.

Confused about your public school options? Can’t decide or want me to go over your choices with you? I can help. Book a 30 or 55min phone consultation with me today.