The San Francisco Unified School District uses an assignment system that aims to give families their highest ranked list choice and to fairly enroll students in public schools. This year 90 per-cent of applicants got one of their choices.
What happens if a school has 40 openings and 200 applicants? The assignment process uses a series of preferences, called tiebreakers, and random numbers to assign students to the limited number of openings.
Students not assigned to any one of their choices because of space limitations are assigned to a school with openings closest to the student’s home.
Lauren Kohler, Executive Director of the Enrollment Center at the San Francisco Unified School District, told KALW:
“Every year we hear from families who were assigned to a school further down their list who ended up loving that school when they went to the school and talked to the teachers and met the principal and met the other kids.”
There's instructions in the letter about next steps and it’s really critical to note that April 5th is the last day to accept or decline an assignment.
If a family applied to a San Francisco public school but did not receive a letter or if anybody has any type of questions, any concerns or needs help navigating the rest of the process, they can call the SFUSD Enrollment Center at 415 241 6085 or go to SFUSD .EDU
For further information - related article in The Nation
