Admissions and Enrollment Policy

Purpose: The purpose of this policy is to define the admissions process for Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy in a clear, fair, and consistent manner that does not offer priority to any student except for those specifically permitted under North Carolina law.

Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy is a nonprofit, tuition-free charter school authorized by the state of North Carolina. As a charter school, the school will be open to all students who would otherwise qualify for enrollment in North Carolina Public Schools. SCSA will not discriminate against any student on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability. The school’s open enrollment period opens on November 15th and ends on January 31. The lottery will be conducted on the first Monday of February. Applicants do not need to be present to be selected. The school will notify all parents who applied via SMS and Email within 48 hours of the lottery.

No criteria for admission will be used except the completed application. The application must be completed online through our website (or by paper request if needed). The application will ask for the student’s full name, parent/guardian(s) full name(s), student’s current address in North Carolina, parent/guardian’s phone number and email address, student’s county of residence, student’s current grade level and their grade level for the coming school year, student’s date of birth, the name(s) of any siblings currently enrolled at SCSA, a declaration confirming the student’s residence in the state of North Carolina, confirmation of access to email, and an indication as to how the family would like their children entered into the lottery.

Grade Level for the Lottery Application

Parents will be asked to confirm both their student’s current grade level and their grade for the upcoming school year. Parents may not choose which grade they would like their child enrolled in for the coming year. They must enter their student’s actual current grade and next year’s grade as confirmation.

Parents wishing to have their child considered for retention must still submit their student for the subsequent grade level. If the student is admitted, the Principal will evaluate the retention recommendation. If the student’s prior school has a documented retention recommendation and the student is admitted, SCSA will place the student in the appropriate grade level. If the student is on the wait list when a retention decision is made, they will be transferred to the correct grade level wait list in the same position number as drawn during the lottery.

Returning Students

Students currently enrolled at SCSA are considered returning students and are not required to reapply each year. However, they will be asked to sign a letter of intent in January for the coming year to allow the school to plan appropriately for the lottery.

Enrollment Priority and Weighted Lottery

Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy will follow all rules and regulations regarding enrollment priority as required by applicable North Carolina law.

The following groups will have enrollment priority at SCSA in the order that follows, as space permits in each grade:

1. Children of full-time employees and board members (may not exceed 15% of the total school population)
2. Siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the charter school in a previous year (as determined by Charter SCSA law G.S. 115C-218.45(f)(1))
3. Children whose families are considered Economically Disadvantaged
4. Children who are currently enrolled in an NC Charter School

Economically Disadvantaged Students: Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy will institute a priority lottery for remaining seats to ensure 25% of our students meet the “Economically Disadvantaged” (ED) criteria, defined by meeting national Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL) criteria.
With each lottery, the Head of SCSA will work to identify the number of FRL seats available per grade level to balance students admitted across grade levels, total seats available, school resources, and the planned annual target.
Families will have the opportunity to complete an optional form, separate from their lottery application, to provide family income information to determine their eligibility for the priority lottery. This supplemental form will ask applicants to consent to verification of their status as FRL eligible by Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy staff. It will state that no specific information beyond eligibility status will be obtained and that the information will not be retained.

Weighted Lottery Implementation

Conducting the weighted lottery before the general lottery. In this scenario, students who qualify for the weighted lottery are randomly chosen until the specified target percentage is filled. Then, the remaining students who qualify for the weighted lottery but were not selected are placed into the general lottery pool, and the remaining seats are filled through a general lottery. For example, a school setting a 25% weighted lottery threshold would draw students qualifying for the weighted lottery first to fill that designated 25%. Any student who qualifies for the weighted lottery who is not selected in the initial drawing is then placed into the general lottery.

Bundled Policy for Siblings

All children in a family are “bundled” together under one unique lottery registration number, but will only be registered to run in the lottery under the name and grade of the oldest child (“Primary Registrant”). If the “Primary Registrant” child is admitted, all siblings bundled on the registration form will be eligible for placement in their respective grade levels immediately, as long as there are seats available. If there are no openings, they will be placed on the preferred waitlist for the respective grade level. If the “Primary Registrant” is placed on the waitlist, the other siblings will also be placed on the waitlist for their respective grade levels. We intend to provide Lottery Procedures that benefit families but are fair and consistent for all of our applicants.

Multiple Birth Siblings

If multiple-birth siblings apply to the school, their shared surname will be entered into the lottery once to represent all siblings. If their entry is selected in the lottery while there is at least one available seat in their grade level, all multiple-birth siblings will be admitted. If their application is selected after all spots have been filled, they will be placed on the wait list in the order they are listed on their application.

Lottery Procedures

After the initial year, and before the general enrollment lottery, SCSA will conduct a sibling lottery if the number of sibling applicants exceeds the number of available seats. Sibling applicants will be randomly drawn, and if admitted, they will be removed from the general lottery pool for that grade. Any sibling-applicants not admitted will be placed on that grade’s wait-list in the order drawn. Once the sibling lottery has been completed (if necessary), the general lottery will begin.

After the completion of any sibling lottery, Southwest Charlotte STEM Academy will conduct the general lottery for all remaining applications submitted during the open enrollment period. The lottery will be grade-level specific, filling the highest grade level first, moving downward through each grade, and ending with kindergarten.
For each grade level, once all available seats are filled, remaining applicants will be placed on that grade’s wait-list in the order they were drawn in the lottery. The wait-list will be used to fill vacant positions as they become available, in the order of the list, if the school chooses to fill the vacant position.

Lottery Results

If a student has been admitted to the school, SCSA will notify the parent/guardian via email. If the parent/guardian indicated on the application that they do not have access to email, SCSA will mail an acceptance letter to the child’s residence address

Students Applying after the Open Enrollment Period

Any applicants who apply after the open enrollment period has closed will be admitted into their respective grade level only if space is available after all lottery applicants and wait-listed students have been placed. If no seats are available, they will be placed on the grade-level wait-list following the current wait-list, in the order the late applications are received.

Enrollment

For students admitted on or before May 15, the parent/guardian must accept or decline the offer within 10 calendar days of the offer notification, and must submit the required enrollment paperwork within 30 calendar days of that notification.
For students admitted after May 15 but on or before July 15, the parent/guardian must accept or decline the offer within 7 calendar days, and submit the required enrollment paperwork within 10 calendar days.
For students admitted after July 15, the parent/guardian must accept or decline the offer within 48 hours and submit the required enrollment paperwork within 5 calendar days.

If the school does not receive enrollment confirmation and/or the required paperwork within the specified time period, SCSA reserves the right to withdraw the offer and offer the seat to the next student on the wait-list. If a parent/guardian declines their enrollment offer and later decides to enroll their student, the family must submit a new application and will be placed at the next available spot on the wait-list.
As seats become available, SCSA will contact the parent/guardian of the next student on the waitlist via email. If the parent does not have access to email, as specified on their application, the school will mail a letter of acceptance to the child’s residence. A phone call will also be made to the parent notifying them of the student’s acceptance and applicable deadlines for returning their enrollment paperwork. Every effort will be made to communicate promptly with all accepted families.

School’s Right to Refuse Enrollment

SCSA reserves the right to refuse to enroll any student currently under a term of expulsion or suspension by his or her school until that term is over.

SCSA reserves the right to decline enrollment to any student whose parent/guardian knowingly and/or willfully provides false, misleading, or incorrect information on the enrollment application.

If a student accepts enrollment at SCSA but does not attend school within the first 2 days of SCSA’s start date, the school will make reasonable attempts to contact their parent/guardian. If there is no response from the parent/guardian by the 3rd day of school, SCSA reserves the right to withdraw the student from their enrollment roster and offer the seat to the next student on the wait list.

Enrollment Forms

Enrollment forms, which parents/guardians of admitted students must submit, will include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Proof of Current North Carolina Residency
2. Permission to request current school records
3. Up-to-date Immunization Records
4. Legal Birth Certificate

Handling of Errors

SCSA Errors

If any mistake is made by the School in administering the lottery (or if any discrepancy occurs in the lottery process as a result of the actions of the School), such mistake or discrepancy will not invalidate the lottery. The lottery results will stand with respect to all applicants who were admitted at the appropriate grade level through the lottery. The mistake or discrepancy will be corrected at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors (after recognition of the mistake).
If too many students were included in the lottery for a grade level or if a student name was duplicated in the lottery at a grade level, SCSA will remove the ineligible applicant(s) (or the duplicate with the lower priority placement number, as applicable) and any applicants with placement numbers behind the applicants who were removed will be advanced in order on the list.

If an applicant is mistakenly left out of the lottery, SCSA will determine the total number of students who were included. Each applicant left out in error will then be assigned a random lottery number from the full pool of applicants, and that number will determine their placement as if they had been drawn at that point in the lottery. Any applicants on the waitlist who fall behind the newly added applicants will be moved down accordingly. As noted above, the lottery results will stand for all applicants who were properly admitted at their respective grade levels.

Parent Errors

If a mistake is made by an applicant resulting in the applicant not being placed at the appropriate grade level in the lottery, the student will not be admitted via that lottery and must submit a new, corrected application, which will be subject to the process followed for students applying after the enrollment period.

Age Requirement

To attend kindergarten, students must be 5 on or before August 31 of the applicable school year.