Lottery Policy

The Hoboken Charter School has established the following policy regarding student admissions:

On a predetermined day in March, a public lottery will be held to determine admission to the school for siblings of enrolled students, Hoboken residents, and out-of-district residents. 

 Lotteries will be held for those grades in which there are more applicants than available spaces. 

 Admission to Kindergarten is based on the student reaching the age of five in the school by November 30.  Placement in all other grades is contingent on the successful completion of the prior academic year.  Once a student has been admitted to a grade, it will be up to the child’s teachers and the school’s administrators in consultation with the student’s parents to determine if an alternative grade placement is appropriate. 

 In the case where a student is accelerated or retained in a class that already has 20 students enrolled, their slot in the original class will not be filled.  For example, in the case where a student is accelerated from Kindergarten to First Grade and becomes the 21^st student in the First Grade class, the Kindergarten class would become capped at 19.  This is done so as not to exceed the total enrollment defined in the school’s charter.

 The school establishes the following ordering of admission priority that applies to waitlists and the reserve pool (defined below):

 1.        Hoboken Resident Siblings

2.        Out-of-District Siblings

3.        Hoboken residents

4.        Out-of-District residents

The school establishes the following four waitlists (listed in the order of admissions priority):

1.        The Hoboken Resident Sibling Waitlist

2.        The Out-of-District Sibling Waitlist

3.        The Hoboken Resident Waitlist

4.        The Out-of-District Waitlist

During a given academic year (September – June) or during the summer months (July and August) prior to the start of that academic year, when a space becomes available the waitlists established at the lottery held in the spring prior to the academic year in question will be used to determine admission to the school.  If a family, for whatever reason, chooses not to accept the space, they will be moved to the bottom of their respective waitlist or withdrawn from the waitlist altogether should they so chose.

All applications received prior to the established cut-off date and all families who have applied for admission in previous years and hold spaces on an active waitlist will be eligible for participation in the admission lottery.  At the lottery, only new spaces and those spaces for which a family has submitted a letter of intent to not return will be lotteried. 

Applications received after the Spring lottery will be held in a reserve pool.  A reserve pool will be established for each of the four waitlists.  Should a space become available anytime after the Spring lottery, but before the following Spring lottery for a class with one or more empty waitlists, a new public lottery will be held for the space using applications from the appropriate reserve pool. 

 The following list outlines the priority order for admission with regard to waitlists and the reserve pool:

 1.         Hoboken Resident Sibling Waitlist

2.         Single Hoboken Resident Sibling in the Hoboken Resident Sibling reserve pool

3.         Multiple Hoboken Resident sibling applicants in reserve pool (new lottery required)

4.         Out-of-District Sibling Waitlist

5.         Single Out-of-District Sibling in the Out-of-District Sibling reserve pool

6.         Multiple Out-of-District sibling applicants in reserve pool (new lottery required)

7.         Hoboken Resident Waitlist

8.         Single Hoboken resident in the Hoboken Resident reserve pool

9.         Multiple Hoboken resident applicants in the Hoboken Resident reserve pool (new lottery required)

10.      Out-of-District Resident Waitlist

11.      Single Out-of-District resident in the Out-of-District reserve pool

12.      Multiple Out-of-District resident applicants in the Out-of-District reserve pool (new lottery required)

Lottery Procedures:

§         All applications received prior to the established cut-off date and all families who have applied for admission in previous years and hold spaces on an active waitlist will be eligible for participation in the admission lottery. 

§         Prior to the lottery, applicants will be assigned numbers.  Families who have more than one child seeking admission to the school will be given one family number. 

§         If the total number of siblings seeking admission to a grade does not exceed the number of available spaces, then applicants (including out-of-district applicants) who have siblings enrolled in the school will be assigned a space in the appropriate grade prior to the lottery. In the event that there are no open spaces in the grade, or if the total number of siblings seeking admission to the grade exceeds the number of available spaces in that grade, admission and ordering on the Sibling Waitlists (Hoboken residents and Out-of-District residents) will be determined by lottery. 

§         Spaces available in any grade will be filled from the Sibling waitlists before students on the Hoboken and Out-of-District waitlists are offered spaces. 

§         At the lottery, prior to the drawing of lottery number spaces will be pre-assigned for those grades and applicant pools where there are fewer applicants than available spaces.

§         Each lottery card will be placed in a sealed plastic bag with a label with the appropriate lottery number.  When pulled, these labels will be posted on the appropriate grade level lists

§         Prior to the assignment of open spaces in any classes, all numbers will be pulled from a common hopper and rank orderings for siblings (Hoboken and Out-of-District residents), Hoboken residents, and Out-of-District residents will be established.  Spaces will be assigned starting with the kindergarten class and will then move up through the remaining grades.

§         These rank orderings will be used to assign students to available spaces in classes or, if there are no available spaces, to the respective waitlist in the order that the number was pulled from the hopper. 

§         In the case where two or more siblings (with no siblings enrolled in the school) are applying for admission, and one sibling is admitted to a class, the placeholder card on the master-ranking list for the other sibling(s) will be marked “Sibling,” but will remain on the respective Hoboken or Out-of-District waitlist(s).  When the family completes and submits a letter of intent for the accepted sibling, the sibling(s) on the respective Hoboken or Out-of-District waitlist(s) will be moved to the appropriate sibling waitlist(s).

§         After the lottery has concluded, all families present whose children received spaces will be given the opportunity to sign a letter of intent guaranteeing their space in the school. 

§         Those families not present will be informed of the results and will be sent letters of intent.  Families will have two weeks from the date of the Spring lottery to return their letters of intent.  Families who do not return the letter of intent by the end of this two-week period will be dropped from the school’s rolls and the space will be filled from one of the four standing waitlists

In the case, where a space becomes available during the academic year (September – June) or during the summer months (July and August) prior to the start of that academic year and the space (following the priority ranking listed above) should go to an individual in one of the reserve pools with multiple applicants, a lottery following the procedures stated above will be held.