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DOWNCOUNTY CONSORTIUM » SCHOOL CHOICE PROCESS » SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT PROCESS
As adopted by the Board of Education, June 2003:
1. In Grade 8, students choose a high school they would like to attend that contains a Grades 10-12 academy program in which they are interested. After admission to a high school, students will identify an academy program within the school that they are interested in attending in Grades 10-12.
2. Students are guaranteed assignment to their base area high school if it is either the first or second choice indicated on their initial Student Preference Form.
3. At two points during Grade 9 (before winter break and in March), students will confirm or may change their selection of a Grades 10-12 academy to attend, either in the high school they have been attending for Grade 9 or at another high school. If they are choosing to be assigned to another high school, a "change of choice" assignment application is processed. Once the choice process is fully phased in, this process also applies to changes in the high school assignment desired for Grade 11 and Grade 12.
4. High school capacities and projected student enrollments are used to control student assignment to prevent schools from becoming disproportionately overutilized. Also, the capacity of each high school's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Center will be determined in proportion to each school's total capacity.
5. Demographic controls are applied to the student assignment process, as needed. Assignment decisions are guided by the principle that comparable demographics at the five high schools will provide educational benefits to all students. The demographic factors that will be considered for control include student gender and student "ever" Free and Reduced-price Meals System (FARMS) status. Periodic reviews by the superintendent will be done to assess the comparability of the demographic profiles among the five high schools.
6. Once choice is fully phased in, younger siblings of students enrolled in a consortium high school are guaranteed attendance at the same high school as their older sibling if that is their choice. During the four-year phase-in period of the choice process, beginning with the 2004-2005 school year, a preference will be given to a student with an older sibling in a requested school.
7. Siblings who enter the choice process at the same time will be provided the option to "link" their school choices. Students who request a sibling link will be guaranteed assignment to the same high school.
8. Students who attend a Downcounty Consortium middle school are eligible to attend the Leadership Training Institute (LTI) at John F. Kennedy High School and the Communication Arts Program (CAP) at Montgomery Blair High School. LTI and CAP begin in Grade 9 and are available by application only, while all other academy programs have no special testing or admission requirements and begin in Grade 10.
9. The Montgomery Blair High School Math/Science/Computer Science magnet and the Albert Einstein High School Visual Arts Center are countywide programs with admission available by application only. Students from the Downcounty Consortium may apply to these programs, but must meet the admission requirements to be accepted. These programs begin in Grade 9.
10. Students applying to the Math/Science/Computer Science magnet, CAP, LTI, and Visual Arts Center programs in the Downcounty Consortium high schools, as well as the International Baccalaureate program at Richard Montgomery High School and the Global Ecology program at Poolesville High School, from Downcounty Consortium middle schools need to complete a choice form in case they are not admitted to these programs.
11. Students who reside outside the Downcounty Consortium, but attend a consortium middle school, may participate in high school choice, following the same process as students residing in the consortium. These students also are assured that they may attend a consortium high school. However, for these students, there is no guarantee of admittance to a specific high school, because they do not reside within a base area of one of the high schools. Student choice request forms for out-of-consortium students are processed in the second round of the student assignment process, after students residing in the consortium have been provided with their high school assignments.
12. Students who reside outside the Downcounty Consortium and who do not attend a Downcounty Consortium middle school may apply for transfer into the Downcounty Consortium through the existing student transfer process. Students admitted to the consortium then choose a high school they wish to attend. They may be admitted to their high school of choice on a space available basis.
13. Appeals of student high school assignment decisions are handled on two levels. The first level of appeal is administered through the Consortium office. The second level of appeal is administered through the Office of the Chief Operating Officer.
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