Enrollment Information

 

Admission to our school is a three-step process.

1- Application

2- Lottery (if needed, as explained below)

3- Enrollment

 

1- Application:

Each student/family who wants to attend our school must first submit an application form. Applications are accepted either by application deadline, which is set by the school, or on a rolling basis. Please contact us for application deadline.

The application is fairly simple, requesting basic biographical information (name, age, etc.), contact information, and other important facts (e.g., school currently attended). Application form does not include any information about academic background, special needs of applicants. Families can fill out the application online or request it from the school by simply calling the school.

Once you submit your application you will hear from the school either via phone or mail about next steps. The school will communicate to you one of the following:

-You will wait until application deadline and will let you know whether the school will have a lottery or not

-You have been accepted and may begin the next step, which is enrollment

-The school is full and you will be placed on a waiting list

 

2- Lottery:

If the number of applications exceeds the spaces available for students, a random lottery will be held. The lottery will be open to the public. It will be conducted before a notary public, and a representative from our sponsor will be invited. The lottery process will also be videotaped and archived. We have sibling preference, which allows families to keep together.

Lottery is held by grade levels. Separate waiting lists are maintained for each grade level in the event that vacancies occur. The random lottery process used for student admission will serve to place students in preferential order on the waiting lists, too. Whenever a vacancy occurs, either prior to the start of a particular school year or during the course of that school year, the school will contact the parent or guardian of the student next on the appropriate waiting list. Reasonable and multiple attempts will be made to contact the family of the student on the waiting list to receive confirmation of whether the student is still interested in enrolling at our school before proceeding to the next name on the list.

Immediately after the lottery, Horizon Science Academies will inform all parents about the lottery results. Those whose names have been selected will receive a congratulation letter. The rest of the applicants will receive letters informing them that they will be on the waiting list and what their number on the waiting list is.

If the number of applications does NOT exceed the spaces available for students, all applicants will be accepted automatically. We will then begin accepting students on a first come first basis until all the spots are filled. In the case of not holding a lottery, we will again communicate to the applicants that the school did not have to hold a lottery and all applicants have automatically been accepted.

Once enrolled at our school, students will not go through a lottery process again. However, each year they will have to complete re-enrollment forms indicating their intention to stay at the school for the next school year.

 

3- Enrollment:

Once applicants are accepted, the next and last step is enrollment. Enrollment will require filling out the enrollment package, which is lengthier than the application form, submitting birth certificate, proof of residency, shot records, report cards from the previous schools, release forms, IEP documents if they exist, emergency contact information, a home language survey, and lunch application along with other forms. We will provide you the enrollment package upon acceptance.

Parents will be given a specific and a reasonable timeline to complete the enrollment. If parents do not complete the enrollment within the given timeline, they will be considered not interested in attending our school and we will move on to other applicants. Therefore, it is important that families complete their enrollment within the given timeline.

Below are a few items that are related to admission but are not used as a condition for acceptance or enrollment:

 

Consumable Material Fee: We charge a minimal fee to parents for consumable materials per child. Please contact us to learn about the amount of the fee as it may change from year to year. However, such fee is waived for eligible parents if they request a waiver in writing. The fee is not a deterrent of admission or attendance at all. Parent may pay the fee as they enroll or until the end of September of each school year.

 

Diagnostic Assessment: Upon enrollment, students are required to take diagnostic tests in mathematics and reading. Diagnostic test results will help us understand each student’s needs in order to co-create a personalized education plan for their future academic success. Diagnostics assessments are not to determine whether an applicant will be accepted to our school or not. Therefore, they are given after the application and enrollment.

 

Parent/Student Interview: Upon enrollment, we may request an in-person interview with students and parents. The interview is to ensure that the schools’ mission, vision, and expectations are clearly communicated and your individual questions are answered concerning various school programs and events. During the interview we will get to know your child and you as a parent better so we can personalize our education to your child’s needs as much as possible. You will receive our Student Handbook, which clearly explains all the details of the school’s academic and non-academic policies either during the interview or before the school year begins.

 

Commitment Letter: As part of our high expectations from parents and students you will be asked to sign a letter of acknowledgement/commitment, indicating your understanding and commitment to our program and expectations, and collaboration with the school.

 

*Please note that sometimes, in order to expedite the admission process, we may combine some of these steps together. For instance; parents may fill out the enrollment forms, take the diagnostics assessment, and conduct the interview on the same day. Even if you handle all of the steps in one day, the order would not change.

Our school does not discriminate in the admission of students to the school based on race, creed, color, handicapping condition or sex. Upon admission of any handicapped student, we comply with all federal and state laws regarding the education of handicapped students. We do NOT limit admission to students based on intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, or athletic ability.

S20- Enrollment and Residency Policy

Although the School has a statewide open enrollment policy permitting enrollment from any school or district in the State of Ohio, it is still necessary to establish a student’s school district of residence before they can be enrolled in the School.  The school district in which a parent or child resides is the location the parent or student has established as the primary residence and where substantial family activity takes place. Residence is a place where important family activity takes place during the significant part of each day; a place where the family eats, sleeps, works, relaxes and plays. It must be a place, in short, which can be called “home”. One cannot establish a residence merely by purchasing/leasing a house or an apartment or even by furnishing such a house or apartment so that it is suitable for the owner’s use. No single factor is determinative; residency will be established by the totality of the circumstances. The following documents can be used to establish proof of residency for verification of a child’s ability to enroll in the School. These items must be current, be in the parent’s name, and include a street address. The School shall require only one form of proof of residency for enrollment.  A post office box address cannot be used to validate residency records:

• Deed or current real property tax bill
• Lease agreement
• Mortgage statement
• Utility statement or receipt of utility installation issued within ninety (90) days of the date of enrollment
• Bank statement
• Current homeowner’s or renter’s insurance declaration
• Paycheck or paystub issued to the parent or student within ninety (90) days of the date of enrollment that includes the address of the parent’s or student’s primary residence
• Any other official document issued to the parent or student that includes the address of the parent’s or student’s primary residence that does not conflict with the guidelines issued by the Superintendent of Public Instruction
• Enrollment is defined as the day all paperwork is completed for the child’s entry into school not the first day of school.

 

All custody or court orders pertaining to the family or student must be turned in when asked, or at admission. If our School and the student’s home district (district of residency) disagree about residency, this policy shall prevail. In such a case, parents may be asked to provide additional information in order to resolve the dispute; however, the school is not obligated to ask for additional information based on other public schools’ policies.

 

Parents may contact [email protected] should they have any concerns or complaints about enrolling their child/ren to our school.