Enrolling in Oakland Schools
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Enrolling in Oakland Schools
Sept 2008
We are planning to enroll our son in kindergarten Fall 2009.
How does the process work with OUSD? Do we call to arrange
tours, and/or are there open houses publicized somewhere? We
are lukewarm on our neighborhood school and interested in
exploring other options.
Thanks.
It can change from year to year, but last year in late
November/early December the ''Options'' process started with an
information fair at the Coliseum. The schools then have various
tours, open houses, and parent information meetings. In mid
January the options forms are due, and among most people I know
it seemed irrelevant what you put down -- you still got your
neighborhood school. If you weren't happy with that, last year
the most important thing was to get your appeal in as quickly as
possible. The only thing that mattered for your appeal (apart
from what school you were appealing to) was the time and date
stamp on your form. Take it down in person to the OUSD office
their first day open after you receive your assignment. We did
that without knowing how important it was and got a spot in May
at one of the highest-scoring elementary schools. If you have
the cojones to wait until the last weeks of summer or even the
first week of school, it seems that you can eventually get a spot
almost anywhere. Peralta was supposedly so oversubscribed early
on that even siblings weren't getting spots, but I know someone
who was in no special priority group who got offered a spot in
late August.
Good luck -- you'll need it
We went through the OUSD kindergarten enrollment process last
year and I can honestly say it was the most stressful 4 months of
my life. We weren't thrilled with our neighborhood school,
although it is a fine school (one of the 'Hills' schools), it
just never felt like a good fit for us. So, I went to a LOT of
open houses and talked to a lot of parents and did a lot of
research on BPN and greatschools.net. Many of the open houses
happened as early as October and November, so get started on your
research ASAP! I suggest making a point to meet the principals of
the schools you're interested in, they are so instrumental in
creating the learning environment your child will be in. By
December, when the Enrollment window opened, I had a list of
schools I liked. You can pick up an enrollment application at
your neighborhood school or the district office. You can turn
your application in at your neighborhood school, or take it
directly to the district office (which I recommend) during the
enrollment window (the enrollment info should be on the OUSD
website in the next few weeks). The enrollment application gives
you six choices. If your first choice is your neighborhood
school, you're essentially guaranteed a spot (although they say
some of the over-enrolled schools have to occasionally turn away
neighborhood kids). If your first choice is not your neighborhood
school, you're entered into a lottery for any available spots at
that school. If there aren't any spots in your first choice
school, you're then put in the lottery for your second choice
school, and so on and so forth, I guess they have a
'sophisticated computer program' that runs all the lotteries. I
don't know many people who got anything other than their
neighborhood school during the first round of assignments
(although we DID get our first choice school, which is not our
neighborhood school...but I think we were in a lucky minority).
If you aren't happy with your initial assignment, you can appeal
your placement after the first round of assigned kids register at
the schools they were assigned to. I know several families who
got into their first choice schools on appeal this past year, so
it seems like an increasingly successful process. I was very
apprehensive about the process last year, but looking back, it
actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as I anticipated. Almost
everyone I know ended up in a school they are happy with. Some of
the sweetest schools I saw don't seem to be on the average
Oakland parent's radar...I was really impressed with Sequoia,
Cleveland and Glenview in particular (and in fact we ended up at
one of those three, quite happily). So I guess my final piece of
advice would be to be open to schools other than the few
'desirable' schools that everyone seems to be competing to get
into. I found wonderful things happening at every school I
visited. Oh...and be nice to the people who work at the OUSD
District Office. They deal with a LOT of cranky parents, so a
smile and a genuine 'thank you' can go a long way toward
advancing your agenda when you're dealing with them.
Happy OUSD Parent
The kindergarten selection process for Oakland was extremely
painful. There is something to be said about going to a private
school just to be outside of the lottery process and to have
some level of certainty about school policies, budgets and
programs. If you need certainty and can't take a lot of
stress, go private. For the OUSD appeals process, show up as
early as you can and understand how the waiting list will be
created. You'll probably get your assignment letter on a
Saturday, so arrive at the assignment office early on Monday.
Apparently parents showed up at the assignment office as early
as 3am this year to get the first spot on the list. Have
perserverance, be brave, and best of luck on getting your top
choice the first time around.
anon
In a nutshell,I'm sure the OUSD process will be similar to last
year. Around December, there will be an OPTIONS Fair, I'd check
the website frequently at: ousd.k.12.ca.us, to make sure you
don't miss it.Then call the schools you are interested in
enrolling your child to see when they are offering tours for
Prospective Kindgerateners for parents.These usually fill fast
depending on the school.These tours seem to run from January to
June.Around a month after the Options fair, the paperwork is
due to the school district, to begin assigning the children to
the school of preference, around April/May,the school which the
child is assigned to will notify parents to pick up enrollment
packets for the child.This paperwork/forms should be completed
and returned to the school preferably by June/July. Good luck!
Denise
June 2007
We own property in Oakland, but live elsewhere because of work
commutes. We'd like to send our kids to the Oakland public
school near the home we own, but have heard that the requirement
for enrollment in OUSD is residency, not property ownership. If
true, I find this unfair - our property taxes are supporting
the school, after all. Has anyone dealt with this issue before,
or challenged/brought it up with the district? Or simply ignored
the policy and enrolled their child anyway? Any advice would be
greatly appreciated! Thanks.
pondering possibilities
The requirement is residency-- if you are renting the property in
Oakland out, then
the people who are renting are the residents, and their money is
ostensibly being
used to pay the property taxes. They are the ones who have rights to
attend the
school in the district.
You have several options:
-Move back into the district.
-Apply for an intradistrict transfer. These do exist, and can be
obtained, especially by a motivated parent (of a student who will NOT
cause trouble and,although no one
wants to say so, raise school testing scores)
-Lie and get into the school district on false pretenses.
If you take this last route, know that there are people on the PTA who
will take it as
their personal mission to have you removed from the school, and that if
your
student were to ever get in trouble, the principal would be justified
in expelling
them from the district. The Berkeley School Board is right now looking
into
intensifying its system of identifying 'out-of-district' students. It
is not clear what
the outcome will be, but other school districts are certainly watching
closely.
Since at least one parent will be needed to transport this child to and
from school
twice a day (since school busses will NOT take a child to a house
out-of-district
without the school's knowledge), I would seriously think about moving
back to your
property. That way you bet the benefit of your 'property taxes' and
won't be making
the system even more 'unfair'.
seasoned teacher
Well I think it depends on what school you are talking about. As
you may have heard, some people that own and live in houses near
some schools did not get into their neighborhood schools. If it
is any other school, I doubt anyone will care. As for your
question about the residency vs. property ownership requirement,
if you think about it, it is pretty obvious why the requirement
is residency-- renters are allowed to go to school too, the rent
you charge presumably takes into account the property tax you
pay, etc. That said, one of Oakland's school problems is
underenrollment, so if you are trying to get into a
not-so-popular elementary school or a jr. high or high school,
you could probably get a legal interdistrict transfer or just put
down the address of your rentral property and not worry about it.
anon
Yes, the rules are that you must live in the community to be
able to enroll your child in the public school. You do have
choices:
1. You can apply for an out-of-district enrollment. There is a
family in my child's school from Hayward, so it's possible. It
may not be available for a high-status school, but for many
other schools in Oakland.
2. You can illegally enroll. You run a risk that your child
will be discovered (even mid-year) and have a disrupted school
year. You will have to worry about parents who will report you
(like me) if we find out. Are we doing something mean to your
innocent child? I think it's the parents making the choice to
expose their child to the risk. I'm also tired of the
rationalizing that rules are for other people (whose kids are
less precious?).
3. Send your child to a less desirable school in Oakland -- no
one will question your residency, if you're not trying to
scheme into a high-demand school.
4. Use your status as a property owner to lobby to change the
rules to something more to your liking.
good luck
Sept 2006
I am looking for info on applying for public school in Oakland
for Kindergarten 2007-2008 year. What is the process. How do
you request a particular school. Any insights/suggestions
about how to get the school you want. How did the new process
work this year? Thanks
jfu
Re: Oakland Unified entering K process: (I am mom of girl who
entered K at Kaiser this year, 2006-2007, from an appeal)
Anxiety producing, but not as bad as it could be. Call the
district office and make sure you are aware of the timetable,
deadlines etc. Get as much info as possible about the schools
you may be interested in. Lots of schools are in transition
right now, so don't rule out your neighborhood school (You
don't say where that is). From my experience principals have
been great regarding visits, etc. Pace yourself as visits are
exhausting.
The process itself: To be honest, I can't remember how it
started--a call to the district? I think I got our ''Choice''
packet at the elementary school fair in January (call district
for date). Talked to lots of principals there, including the
one from our neighborhood school. Sent my choice in right
away. Heard back roughly the time that OUSD said they would
reply, and was assigned to neighborhood school (which I had not
put down as one of my 7 choices). NO one I know got their
choice of school the first time around (if their neighborhood
school was not among the choices). If you do not get one of
your choices, you can appeal, but you can then only choose one
school where you will be placed on a waiting list. So as soon
as you know you need to appeal you should 1) call the district
office and talk with Noah Bookman (I might have that spelled
wrong) and see which schools have long waiting lists (eg, some
schools like Chabot were overenrolled with neighborhood kids
and siblings) and 2) call the principals directly to get what
info you can out of them re waiting lists. (This was my
strategy anyway--I did not want to waste my choice on a school
where I would be 20th on the waiting list). I sent my appeal
in right away, and was called by Kaiser just days later.
If you don't get your appeal, you will be put on a waiting list
at that school. Then over the next couple weeks the schools
call down the waiting list as they see how their classes are
filling out.
Happy Kaiser Mom
Aug 2005
We are considering a move to the bay area and would likely end up
moving around December or January. One of the places we are most
seriously considering is the Montclair area of Oakland. From
what I gather you have a peference for your neighborhood school,
but then empty spots are filled via transfer. If we move
mid-year are we going to have trouble getting into the
neighborhood school? One of our key criteria for choosing a
house is the school zone, so I'd like to be sure we can get our
kids in it. (Our son will be in first grade this year). We are
also looking at Berkeley and Alameda, any thoughts on mid-year
moves to those districts would also be appreciated. Thanks.
Andrew
Hi there-- we live in Montclair, and LOVE it! The school
district is seriously talking about changing things with regard
to enrollment for fall of 2006 (these changes are due to take
effect starting October of 2005-- just 2 months away). You can
read about it on the OUSD website, or contact Noah Bookman at
the OUSD . I think he could give you some
really valuable information for your particular situation.
fellow parent
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