All Redwood City School District (RCSD) schools provide students with a rigorous academic program based on a common instructional framework, but each school has its own unique emphasis, classroom approach and personality. The RCSD offers families a mix of neighborhood schools and schools of choice to meet the needs of our students.
Neighborhood schools have residential boundaries and students are generally assigned to schools based on where they live. Many neighborhood schools also have a specific program focus. John Gill School, for example, is a neighborhood school that offers a focus on the performing arts. In order to attend a neighborhood school based on their residence area, students must fill out an enrollment form, but no application is necessary. Students are guaranteed placement in their neighborhood school if space is available at the time they enroll. If the neighborhood school does not have space at the time of enrollment, students are assigned to another school. If students want to attend a neighborhood school outside of their residence area, they must fill out a Schools of Choice/Transfer Application and turn it in to their school office or the District Office by 4 p.m. on January 9, 2013.
The Schools of Choice Open Enrollment period will begin on Monday, October 15, 2012 and end on Wednesday, January 9, 2013. Please note this is a change from previous years, when the Schools of Choice Open Enrollment was during February. Read more about this change.
In order to attend a neighborhood school based on their residence area, students must fill out a student registration form, but no application is necessary.
*Priority Order for Attending Your Neighborhood-Assigned School:
1.Students are guaranteed placement in their neighborhood school if space is available at the time they register.
2.Students are enrolled in the order in which they register.
3.If the neighborhood school does not have space at the time of enrollment, students are assigned to another school.
In addition, RCSD offers four Schools of Choice that do not have neighborhood boundaries. These include:
Adelante Spanish Immersion School
Mckinley Institute of Technology (MIT)
North Star Academy (must complete testing and application) North Star FAQ
Orion School
All students who want to attend one of the four schools of choice must fill out a Schools of Choice/Transfer Application. All students within the district are eligible to apply to attend one of the four schools of choice. Admission to North Star also requires filling out a special application. Both North Star and Adelante have admission criteria.
*Priority Order for Enrollment in Adelante, MIT, Orion and School transfers :
All students whose applications are received by January 9, 2013 will be placed according to the priority below:
1.Siblings of students who already attend the school and who will attend the school in the same academic year.
2.Students currently on a waiting list for the school who are enrolled in Program Improvement (PI) schools, and are applying to attend a non-PI school.
3.Students applying for the first time who are enrolled in PI schools.
4.Students currently on a waiting list for the school who are enrolled in schools NOT in PI.
5.All other students enrolled in schools NOT in PI who are requesting intra-district transfers (within RCSD boundaries).
6.Students requesting an inter-district (outside RCSD boundaries) transfer. (Transfers are based on District approval.)
Applications within each group will be randomly sorted by computer at the end of the application period, and each applicant will be assigned an eligibility number within that group based on the random computer sort. Priorities only apply to applications submitted by the January 9 deadline. Applications received after January 9, 2013 will be placed after all the applications received by the deadline, in order of the date received. Once a student is on the waiting list, they do not need to re-apply in future years.
*Priority Order for Enrollment in North Star Academy:
The priority order is slightly different for North Star Academy. Every eligible student is automatically entered in the lottery and assigned to one of the groups described below. During the lottery, a district representative will fill available spots by pulling names for each grade level in the following order:
1. Qualified students currently attending schools identified as Program Improvement schools under requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act. (By law, students attending these schools must be provided an option to transfer to another school when spots are available.)
2. Qualified siblings of 3rd-7th grade students who already attend North Star Academy and who currently reside in the RCSD.
3. Qualified students whose parent/guardian is assigned to North Star Academy as his/her primary place of employment.
4. Qualified students who currently reside in the RCSD and attend non-Program Improvement district schools.
5. Other qualified students who live within the RCSD boundary, but do not currently attend RCSD schools, including students currently attending private schools, home schooled students, and students who have transferred to public schools in other districts.
*Twins will be placed together, according to the priority above. Twins who are assigned a random eligibility number will be placed according to the number of the twin with the highest place on the waiting list. *The district cannot guarantee that siblings at different grade levels will be placed at the same school. Each sibling application is considered separately.
