Enrollment

The Grove School (TGS) is a free and public charter school.  Enrollment is open to any student who is applying for any grade level between grades 7 and 12.  Please read the instructions about the enrollment process carefully and keep track of the key dates.  

Summary of Process

Under California state law, enrollment to The Grove School is governed by a Public Random Drawing (PRD). In early Spring, The Grove School conducts its PRD for admission to the school for the following academic year. In order to be part of the PRD, a family must complete a lottery packet. For the 2020-2021 school year, this packet must be completed and turned into the office by March 5, 2020, before 5 pm. Each completed application will be assigned a number, and during the PRD, numbers will be drawn at random.

Typically, The Grove School receives applications in excess of the number of spaces available. Those students who do not get picked in the PRD for the spaces available will be placed on a waiting list. Students on the waiting list may be invited to join The Grove School at any point during the school year, if space becomes available. If the student is not admitted by the time of the PRD for the following school year, they must re-submit an application to be considered for admittance. Students on the waiting list for any given school year do not have priority admission for the following school year.

Applications and Submission Dates

Parents have to submit an Enrollment Interest Form. Every family that submitted an Interest Enrollment Form will receive a letter with detailed instructions from the Grove School at the end of January 2020. Parents will be able to pick up lottery packets starting February 10, 2020. All packets need to be returned by March 5, 2020 before 5 pm. Families that have not submitted a completed lottery packet by March 5, 2020 will not enter the lottery.

The lottery will take place in the Barton Schoolhouse on March 25, 2020 at 7 pm. The schoolhouse is located at 1775 Orange Street, Redlands.  This address is between Iowa and Nevada Streets and in Heritage Park – navigation often has difficulty with the address, so proceed through links, if possible. Parents and students are welcome and encouraged to attend the lottery, but attendance not mandatory.

If you are unable to attend the lottery you will receive a letter informing you of your student’s enrollment or placement on the official waiting list for the 2020-2021 school year.

Please do not call the school regarding the results of the lottery.  Information will not be verified over the phone.  All correspondence regarding lottery results will be done in writing.

Enrollment by Public Random Drawing

Official enrollment policies (page 95 of the Grove School Charter): The Charter School shall require students who wish to attend the Charter School to complete an application. Applications will be accepted during a publicly advertised open enrollment period each year for enrollment in the following school year. Following the open enrollment period each year, applications shall be counted to determine whether any grade level has received more applications than availability. In the event that this happens, the Charter School will hold a public random drawing (or “lottery”) to determine admission for the impacted grade level, with the exception of existing students, who are guaranteed admission in the following school year.

TGS has established an annual recruiting and admissions cycle, which shall include reasonable time for all of the following: 1) outreach, 2) voluntary orientation and informational briefings for parents and students, 3) admissions application period, 4) an admissions lottery if necessary, and 5) enrollment. The Charter School will fill vacancies or openings that become available after this process through the use of a wait list established from the admissions lottery, as described below. In the event that the number of students seeking admission exceeds the Charter School’s maximum enrollment, admission preferences in the lottery shall be given to the following students in the following order:

1. Children of TGS faculty* who are residents of the District
2. Children of TGS faculty* who are not residents of the District
3. Siblings of students admitted to or attending TGS who are residents of the District
4. Siblings of students admitted to or attending TGS who are not residents of the District
5. Students who are currently enrolled in Mission Elementary School and students who
   reside in the Mission Elementary School attendance area (for purposes of the SB 740
   Charter School Facility Grant Program)
6. Students with upper elementary (grades 4-6) transcripts from a Montessori school who are residents of the District. The Montessori school must be accredited and have a demonstrated affiliation with national Montessori bodies including, but not limited to, Association Montessori Internationale (“AMI”), the American Montessori Society(“AMS”), and Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (“MACTE”).
7. Students with upper elementary (grades 4-6) transcripts from a Montessori school who are not residents of the District. The Montessori school must be accredited and have a demonstrated affiliation with national Montessori bodies including, but not limited to, AMI and AMS, or whose teachers have an AMI, AMS, or diploma from a MACTE accredited school.
8. Residents of the District
9. All other applicants

The Charter School and the District agree to adhere to the requirements related to admission preferences as set forth in Education Code Section 47605(d)(2)(B)(i)-(iv).

Typically, TGS receives applications in excess of the number of spaces available. In early Spring, TGS conducts its lottery for admission to the Charter School for the following academic year. To be part of the lottery, a family must complete an application. The application must be completed and turned into TGS no later than 5:00 p.m. by the deadline set in March of the current academic year. Each completed application will be assigned a number.

The Board of Directors will take all necessary efforts to ensure lottery procedures are fairly executed.

Before the public lottery, each completed lottery packet is checked for completeness and to place the student in the correct preference. Placement is independently verified by two office staff members. The student names are entered into a spreadsheet in preference order and by grade level; this spreadsheet is then sent to the accountant, who does an additional check for siblings and employee preferences. The accountant then alphabetizes the list under each preference and assigns each student in each grade level a number, and prints cards for each student with number
and name.

The lottery is conducted in public. Anyone from the community may attend the lottery. The lottery process is explained before drawing begins, and any questions are answered both before and after the drawing. The numbered list of names of students who have entered the lottery is also available for inspection.

The accountant uses numbered chips that correspond to the numbers assigned to each student to draw names. Within each grade level, students will be drawn from pools beginning with all applicants who qualify for the first preference category, and shall continue with that preference category until all vacancies within that grade level have been filled. Chips are placed in an opaque container in front of attendees in order of grade level and preference. The container is shaken, and the chips are drawn by another person designated by the Head of School and displayed clearly to the lottery attendees while the accountant reads the name associated with that number. The person drawing the chips has no personal stake in the lottery.

The corresponding name card is taped to a numbered board in draw order, and a handwritten list is also kept of the lottery draw. If there are more students in a grade level than there are spaces available, the drawing continues and students are placed on a wait list in draw order, until all lottery entrants for that grade level have been placed on the wait list.

After the lottery, photographs are taken of the list of names on the board, and compared to and kept with the handwritten list. These records are scanned and shared between the accountant and the lottery office staff, and kept in the accountant’s files and high school office files for the fiscal year.

Students who are selected for enrollment in the lottery are informed by letter within three days of the lottery. Students who are on the wait list are also informed within three days, as described below, and given their position on the list.
If a student is pulled from the waiting list, families are notified of their student’s available place at Grove twice via telephone and twice via email over the course of three days. If no response is received, we send a letter notifying the family. After one week, if no response if received from that family, we move to the next name on the list.

Public random drawing rules, deadlines, dates and times will be communicated in the application form and on the Charter School’s website. Public notice for the date and time of the public random drawing will also be posted once the application deadline has passed. The Charter School will also inform all applicants and interested parties of the rules to be followed during the public random drawing process via mail or email at least two weeks prior to the lottery date.

Upon admission to the Charter School, prospective students and their parents/guardians must agree to the following:

• To participate in an informational orientation meeting regarding the Charter School at which time its educational mission and student and parental duties and responsibilities will be discussed.
• All required application materials must be returned to the Charter School in a timely manner.
• The student must take responsibility for his or her education and be an independent and self-motivated learner while at school.
• The student must uphold the conditions detailed in the Student Handbook and as set forth in the voluntary informational orientation meeting.
• Both student and parent/guardian must complete a written contract with the Charter
  School and agree to follow its rules and be committed