Chesapeake Public Charter School is a small school setting aimed at providing an alternative for parents seeking a smaller, more personalized learning environment for their child.  CPCS is a tuition-free, 11-month public school that is part of the St. Mary’s County Public School system.  Admission to CPCS is open to all students residing in St. Mary’s County in kindergarten through eighth grade.  Current teachers, parents and students will be on hand to answer questions and lead tours of the school.  Applications and admission information will be available that night as well as at the school and on the website.  All applications for the 2013-2014 school year lottery must be received no later than January, 31, 2013.  For more details, contact the school’s main office at 301-863-9585.
 

ADMISSION INFORMATION:
(Please read all info throughly)

Admission to Chesapeake Public Charter School (CPCS) shall be open to all students residing in St. Mary’s County eligible to attend the grades provided by the CPCS. In the event that there are spaces available, students who are not residents of St. Mary’s County may be admitted pursuant to applicable St. Mary’s County Public Schools (SMCPS) policies on tuition and admission of non-resident students.

Admission will not be denied to any student based on factors such as race, color, gender, socio-economic status, parental status, national origin, religion, limited English language proficiency, cognitive ability, or disability. CPCS shall actively recruit and encourage student applicants from a wide cross-section of the St. Mary’s County community with the aim of including, to the extent possible, a level of racial, ethnic, student ability, and socio-economic diversity that closely approximates that of the St. Mary’s County Public School system as a whole. To achieve this goal and to maximize the potential positive impact of CPCS on the enrollment conditions in county schools and, additionally, to have a beneficial financial effect on the schools whose enrollments are affected by CPCS, weighted lotteries and active recruitment will occur when necessary.

Application Procedure for New Students

Parents/guardians must submit or postmark an Application for Enrollment between January 4th and January 31st preceding the school year for which they are applying. Each of that adult’s natural children, stepchildren, legally adopted children, or legal foster children actually residing in their household shall be eligible for admission. Cousins, nieces, nephews, and unrelated children sharing the same address with the applicant are not eligible; the parent/guardian of these children should submit separate applications. A separate Application for Enrollment must be submitted for each eligible child a parent wishes to have considered for enrollment into CPCS. It is strongly recommended that interested families attend a CPCS informational session and tour of the school. There will be two of these sessions during the month of January. Dates and times will be included in the Application Packets and posted on the website. Any application postmarked after January 30th will not be entered into the lottery that school year. At the completion of the lottery, such applications will be placed on the General Waiting List in the order in which they were received. Only one application per child will be accepted.

Application for 2013 - 2014

Lottery (CPCS Lottery is in accordance with State and Federal lottery laws.)

If the number of children intending to enroll in CPCS exceeds the number of available spaces, students will be selected for admission by random lottery. Parents/guardians will complete a CPCS Application form for each child they wish to be considered for the Lottery. The Lottery will take place on the second Wednesday of February by the CPCS Governing Board. All applications from each family will be placed into one envelope and sealed. All envelopes will be placed into a bin. Envelopes will be randomly drawn and numbered by the order in which they were drawn. The process will continue until all envelopes have been drawn and numbered.

Spaces will be offered to families in the order of names drawn. Starting with family number one, if there is a space available in the grade level(s) needed for that/those child/children, they will be placed accordingly. Once a family name is drawn and there is space available for at least one child, the entire family is deemed to have been admitted to CPCS. If there are no available slot(s) in the grade level needed, the student(s) will be placed either on the General Waiting List or the Sibling Waiting List.

If a family name is drawn and there are no available slots for any family members, those children will all be placed on the General Waiting List. If a slot becomes available for any member of the family, the remaining siblings are then moved to the Sibling Waiting List.

If a family has more than one child and there is a slot for one and not the others, the remaining children will be placed on the Sibling Waiting List and will take preference over the General Waiting List.

Children of SMCPS employees teaching at CPCS shall be exempted from any lottery while that employee is assigned to CPCS.

**The General Waiting list will be cleared for each new enrollment period.**

Acceptance and Enrollment of New Students

Parents of newly accepted students will be sent notices at the end of March. Parents/guardians must inform CPCS of final decision to attend CPCS by officially enrolling their child/ren at CPCS. To officially enroll, parents/guardians must submit a Declaration of Intent Form and all necessary SMCPS enrollment forms (see Enrollment Packet) by the end of May of the year of the draw. There will be one evening of extended hours for accepting enrollment forms at CPCS. See Enrollment Packet for date and time. If the above-mentioned forms are not completed and submitted and the child/children are not officially enrolled by the end of the first full week of March, they will be relinquishing the slot for that school year. That slot will then be filled by the next eligible student on the Sibling Waiting List. If there are no students on the Sibling Waiting List, the spot will be filled by the next eligible student on the General Waiting List. If the family would like to attend CPCS in subsequent years, they must begin the admission process over again, starting with completing an application and going through the lottery for available spaces.

Students Currently Attending CPCS

Kindergarten Siblings of Current Students

Parents/Guardians of current CPCS students must fill out a Declaration of Intent Form for each student who will be entering kindergarten in the upcoming school year. This form(s) must be submitted no later than the second Friday of January for the next school year. If a Declaration of Intent Form is not received by the second Friday in January, the parent/guardian is relinquishing the sibling preference slot for the upcoming school year. They would then need to reapply and go through the lottery to be eligible to attend CPCS. If the grade level is full when the sibling is drawn at the subsequent lottery, the sibling will be placed on the Sibling Waiting List until space becomes available or until they age out.

Sibling Preference of Current Students

At Chesapeake Public Charter School, we understand the importance of families and having siblings attend the same school. We also recognize the convenience for parents/guardians to have all of their children in the same school. Therefore, we give siblings preference in the enrollment process.

A sibling is defined as any natural child, adopted child, stepchild, or legal foster child actually residing in the household of the parent/guardian who has completed the application for CPCS. Cousins, nieces, nephews, and unrelated children sharing the same address with the applicant are not considered siblings.

In order for siblings to be considered for Sibling Preference, parents/guardians must complete and submit a Declaration of Intent form for each child they wish to enroll in the school. If a separate application is not received for each sibling, the sibling will not qualify for Sibling Preference.

During the lottery, families will be randomly drawn and all children from that family will be placed in the appropriate grade - space permitting. If the grade level is full, the sibling(s) will be placed on the Sibling Waiting List until space becomes available or until they age out. The names on the Sibling Waiting List will take preference for admission over the names on the General Waiting List. Sibling Preference is dependent on available space and does not guarantee enrollment for each sibling. Each year, a Declaration of Intent will need to be submitted for each child attending CPCS by the second Friday in January. If a Declaration of Intent Form is not received by the second Friday in January, the parent/guardian is relinquishing the sibling preference slot for the upcoming school year. They would then need to reapply and go through the lottery to be eligible to attend CPCS.

Sibling Waiting List

Parents will be notified by telephone call of admission from the Sibling Waiting List as soon as a space is available. Parents will then have one week from the date of the offer to notify CPCS of the decision to enroll the sibling by submitting a Declaration of Intent Form and all necessary SMCPS forms (see Enrollment Packet) that are required to officially enroll their child. If the above-mentioned forms are not completed and submitted within one week, the parent/guardian will be relinquishing the slot for that school year and would have to go back to the General Lottery in subsequent years. If the grade level is full when the sibling is drawn at the subsequent lottery, the sibling will be placed on the Sibling Waiting List until space becomes available or until they age out.

General Waiting List

Parents will be notified by telephone call of admission from the General Waiting List as soon as a space is available. Parents will then have one week from the date of the offer to notify CPCS of the decision to enroll the student by submitting a Declaration of Intent Form and all necessary SMCPS forms (see Enrollment Packet) that are required to officially enroll their child. If the above mentioned forms are not completed and submitted within one week, the parent/guardian will be relinquishing the slot for that school year and would have to go back to the General Lottery in subsequent years.

**The General Waiting list will be cleared for each new enrollment period!**

Chesapeake Public Charter School is committed to diversity and equality. Therefore, CPCS admits students and conducts all educational programs, activities, and employment practices without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.