Enrollment
Delta Charter School – Enrollment Process
To comply with Louisiana law regarding charter school admissions, and applicable Court Orders in the school desegregation case, Smith v. Concordia Parish School Board, Delta Charter School has adopted the following Enrollment Process. The Enrollment Process will be effective beginning with the 2018-2019 admissions process and until further order of the Court.
Application Procedures
1. Students Eligible to Attend
As a Type 2 public charter school, Delta Charter School is open to any student residing within the State of Louisiana. Students must also meet minimum age requirements for enrollment. Louisiana Revised Statute §17.151.3(B)(1) requires that students who wish to enroll in kindergarten must turn five on or before September 30th of the year in which they wish to start kindergarten.
II. Open Enrollment Period
The Open Enrollment period begins in December of the preceding school year and is when parents/guardians can complete an application for each child who wishes to attend Delta Charter School. Delta will publicize information about the Open Enrollment period in various forums as ordered by the Court. Open Enrollment dates for each upcoming school year will be posted on the Delta Charter School website (https://www.deltacs.org/), and shall be included on all applications and in all notices and advertisements posted in newspapers or other media. The Open Enrollment period for applications for the 2018-2019 school year shall last for two months and shall run from May 16, 2018 to July 16, 2018. In future years, the Open Enrollment period shall last for three months and shall run from December 15 to March 15.
Applications received after the Open Enrollment period will not be eligible to enter the admissions lottery. Instead, these applicants will be placed on the waitlist after the applications received during the Open Enrollment period in the order in which they were received.
III. How to Apply
During the Open Enrollment period, parents/guardians complete applications for each student who they wish to attend Delta Charter School. Applications are available on the school website (https://www.deltacs.org/) and at the school office (300 Lynwood Drive, Ferriday, LA 71334). Delta shall request documents to verify residency in accordance with Louisiana law. Bulletin 126, Chapter 27, Section 2701.
Applications may be submitted in one of three ways: (1) in person at Delta Charter School’s main office, (2) through the school’s website (https://www.deltacs.org/), (3) via U.S. Mail, sent to: Delta Charter School, ATTN: Applications for Admission, 300 Lynwood Drive, Ferriday, LA 71334.
IV. Application Processing
Upon receipt, each application will be stamped with the date, time, and initials of the person that received it. Confirmation of receipt is sent to each applicant by email. If an email address is not provided then the applicant will be mailed confirmation. Such confirmation shall also include information specifying the lottery date.
Lottery and Enrollment Procedures
I. Enrollment Preferences
Delta Charter School has developed policies regarding enrollment preferences. In the lottery process, the highest enrollment preference will be given to black students. Lower enrollment preferences will be given to students who meet the following criteria in the order listed:
A. Children, grandchildren, or legal wards of employees of the school
B. Applicants who are siblings of students currently enrolled at Delta Charter School.
Sibling Preference Status: Siblings who are applying for the first time will receive preference only after one of the siblings has been accepted and the registration process completed.
Definition of Sibling: A sibling is defined as an individual having one or both parents in common or a step-sister or step-brother that resides under the same roof as the applicant. Documentation may be requested to confirm sibling preference. If the sibling withdraws from the school before the applicant is offered enrollment, preference status will be revoked.
Definition of children, grandchildren, legal wards: the applicant must be the natural or adoptive child or grandchild of an employee, or the employee must present documentation that he/she is the legal guardian of or legally responsible for the student.
II. Enrollment Limits
Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year and until further order of the Court, Delta Charter School’s enrollment is limited to a total of 350 students who reside in Concordia Parish (the “Concordia cap”) and 500 students overall (the “overall cap”). Given the Concordia cap, Delta Charter School may need to provide a preference for applicants who reside outside of Concordia Parish.
Delta will not deny admission to any black student applicant unless it would violate the Concordia cap or the overall cap to do so
III. Preparing for the Lottery
The admissions application contains a section entitled "Demographic Information" that seeks to gather information about the prospective student's racial background for the single purpose of assisting Delta in fulfilling its obligation under the desegregation and other relevant court orders and, thereby, supporting the efforts of surrounding Concordia Parish schools in complying with current desegregation orders. Applicants are asked to select one of the following categories: black or African American; white or Caucasian; Asian; American Indian; Alaskan Native; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; Two or More Races; or Hispanic or Latino.
Two file folders will be created; one labeled black applicants and another labeled other applicants. As specified on the application, any applicant who selects black or African American will be placed into the folder and the admissions lottery for black students. Any applicant who selects any other racial category will be placed into the folder and the admissions lottery for other students. Handwritten information that a parent may provide in addition to the requested race identification is to be disregarded as irrelevant to the admissions process. The application form shall contain a request for a prospective student’s demographic information in the form attached as Attachment 1 hereto.
Within each folder, subfolders will be created for black applicants with a preference and other applicants with a preference. Each application will be sorted into the appropriate folder, based solely on the factors of race and whether or not the applicant possesses an enrollment preference.
Prior to the admissions lottery, Delta will distribute forms to each parent of a current student to determine whether or not the student is expected to return to Delta the following school year. Delta will use this information to determine the number of available seats for the upcoming school year. Delta will reserve the seats of students in grades K-11 whose parents do not fill out the form.
III. Admissions Lottery
Parents and guardians of applicants will be allowed to attend the admissions lottery, which will be held at Delta Charter School. The 2018-2019 admissions lottery shall be held on July 19, 2018.
The lottery is conducted electronically using a computer program that randomly selects students for enrollment. Delta will conduct a lottery in the following order: (1) black students with a preference, (2) black students who do not qualify for a preference; (3) other students who qualify for a preference; and (4) other students who do not qualify for a preference. After the lottery every applicant will have a number.
Delta will maintain a list of black students by grade in their lottery ranked order, and a list of other students by grade in their lottery ranked order. All requests to enroll students outside of their lottery ranked order must be approved by the Court or Special Master until such time as the Special Master or the Court states that such approval is no longer necessary.
IV. Kindergarten
Delta’s kindergarten class may exceed the 30-student limit, but not exceed 36 students with no more than 15 other students admitted. Delta shall offer 1:1 admission to black students and other students up to 30 students. If fewer than 15 black kindergarteners enroll for the 2018-2019 school year, Delta will only offer admission to that number of other students to maintain the 1:1 ratio. In addition to the 1:1 enrollment, for the 2018-2019 school year, Delta shall also admit additional black students until they reach a class size of 36 students. Should the number of black applicants or other applicants exceed the number of seats available, Delta Charter School will conduct a lottery in accordance with the procedures described above. However, at no point, is a kindergartener to be enrolled in Delta Charter School if the result is that the class will have a ratio of less than 1 black student for every 1 other student, will have more than 15 other students, or will exceed thirty-six students.
Delta Charter School will seek approval from the Special Master or the Court prior to offering admission to any new kindergarten student until such time as the Special Master or the Court states that such approval is no longer necessary.
Parents/Guardians of black applicants awarded seats shall have two weeks from their acceptance date to complete a registration packet indicating their intent for their child to attend Delta Charter School, and including proof of Parish of Residence, and proof of age. Such acceptance letters and registration packets may be submitted online, in person at Delta’s main office, or via U.S. Mail, but must be received on or before the final acceptance deadline. The notice of acceptance will clearly state: the deadline for returning a registration packet, the documents that need to be submitted to Delta, and an explanation of how a family can submit the registration packet to Delta, including the school’s physical address, hours of operation, and email address.
Following the two-week acceptance period for black applicants, Delta will extend admission to other students consistent with the lottery results and as described above. At no point shall the number of seats offered to kindergarteners who are other exceed the number of black students who have accepted admission to Delta Charter School and completed the registration packet.
If there are more applications than open seats, Delta will maintain two kindergarten waitlists: one list of black applicants in the order that they were selected in the lottery, and one list of other applicants in the order that they were selected in the lottery. Each waitlist will include the student’s name, race/ethnicity, and parish of residence to permit monitoring of Delta’s compliance with the Concordia cap.
V. 1 st -12th Grades
For grades 1 to 12, Delta shall admit every black student who submits an application by the end of the Open Enrollment Period, but will not exceed the 350 Concordia cap or the 500 overall cap. After Delta determines the number of black enrollees in grades 1-12 and receives enrollment packets for these students indicating that the student has accepted a place in the school for the 2018-19 school year, Delta will determine if any seats remain for admission consistent with the Concordia cap and the overall cap. If seats remain and there are black students on the waitlist, Delta will first offer admission to those black students as outlined below. Delta may request permission from the Court or Special Master to fill open seats with other students from the waitlist on an individual basis; however, no new other students in grades 1 to 12 will be admitted unless Delta receives approval from the Special Master or Court after notice to the parties and an opportunity for them to be heard on the request.
Delta Charter School will seek approval from the Special Master or the Court prior to offering admission to any new student in grades 1-12, until such time as the Special Master or the Court states that such approval is no longer necessary. If the parties and the Special Master agree, Delta may admit such students and no further approval from this Court shall be required in order to do so.
To meet the Delta Charter School’s obligation to enroll a student body that will reflect the racial demographics of the Concordia Parish School District, such that the percentage of black students will be within 10% of the black student enrollment in the Concordia Parish School District, Delta will admit the black applicants first, in the order of their lottery ranking as described above.
VI. Waitlist Procedures
Any applicants in grades 1-12 who are not offered admission will be placed on a waitlist. Delta will maintain two waitlists for each grade: one list of black applicants in the order that they were selected in the lottery, and one list of other applicants in the order that they were selected in the lottery. Each waitlist will include the student’s name, race/ethnicity, grade, and parish of residence to monitor Delta’s compliance with the Concordia cap and other applicable Court Orders.
Students will only be admitted off the waitlist if the Special Master or Court has permitted Delta to do so. If Delta is permitted to take students off the waitlist, it will do so in their ranked waitlist order. In the event a position has been declined or otherwise becomes vacant, the position will first be offered to the black students on the waitlist of the relevant grade in the order placed on the list. In the event no black student from the relevant grade accepts or is on the list, the position may then be offered to the other students on the waitlist in the order placed on the list. The offer of enrollment to any student shall be conditioned upon approval of the Special Master or the Court.
If a parent declines a spot for his/her student, Delta will offer that spot to the parent of the next student on the waitlist for that race and grade, and so on in accordance with the requirements of BESE Bulletin 126, §2709.
Parents with children on the waitlist are encouraged to advise the school of any change in their contact information so that they may be reached if a spot opens for which their child is eligible. Parents are also asked to notify the school and decline the seat from the enrollment portal if they no longer wish to have their child included on the waitlist, so that the waitlist can be updated accordingly.
Delta Charter School’s waitlists do not roll over from year to year; parents with students on a waitlist for the current school year must complete a new application for the next school year in order to be eligible for enrollment for that school year.
It is not possible for Delta Charter School to determine any student’s chances of being offered a spot. Although the school typically has student withdrawals, it is difficult to predict how many or in which grades the seats will become available.