Playing Pinellas’ school choice lottery: tips and a helpful chart

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Most students will get what they ask for when applying to get into a Pinellas County school choice program this month. In fact, the great majority will.Get more news about 彩票API,you can vist loto98.com

But many will be denied.

Around this time last year, 8,251 students entering elementary, middle or high school submitted applications. They applied for magnet programs, fundamental schools and high school academies that focus on specific careers.

But when the lottery results came out in February, only 6,179 of those students got an invitation to the program they listed as their first choice, leaving one in four disappointed.While many families end up perfectly happy with a school that wasn’t their first choice, the prospect of losing out on an option you really wanted comes with some anxiety.

There are ways to improve your chances in the school choice lottery — first by navigating the system correctly, then by being strategic in your approach. And if you’re going to get strategic, it helps to know which programs are the most popular with Pinellas families.

Our accompanying chart can help (Scroll down to see it).

It tells you how many students applied to each program over the last two years and how many ranked each program their No. 1 choice. The chart also details how many students were invited to each program and how many accepted those invitations. The Pinellas County school district provided the numbers.Applying. For a student to get into a program for the 2020-21 school year, an application must be submitted between Jan. 8-17 using the Student Reservation System. Applicants can rank up to five programs in order of preference. If a program gets more applicants than it has seats available, a computer lottery is used to select which students receive invitations. The lottery considers all first choices first, followed by second choices, then third choices until all seats are filled.

Following up. The school district doesn’t automatically call, email or send individual letters to alert families about whether they got into a choice program. It’s up to you to return to the Student Reservation System between Feb. 10-21 to see if your student received any invitations or landed on any waiting lists. Families must accept an invitation before 5 p.m. Feb. 21, and are advised to print or email a confirmation.

If you subscribe, the district will send you email reminders about when the application and acceptance periods start and end. Click here to start.

Double checking. Each year, many students apply to programs for which they are ineligible. Check the program requirements or call the school before applying. Otherwise you could waste one of your choices on a program for which your student doesn’t qualify. To find out whether a program has entrance criteria, check the District Application Programs guide for programs with an asterisk next to the name. For more detail on what’s required, consult the procedures manual for District Application Programs.