The following policy was extracted from a large PDF file published by the district ( school policies section "Students"):

5117.2

Students

Application and Admission to Magnet Schools

A. Purposes of Magnet Schools:

The chief purposes of the magnet schools are to assist in managing enrollment and racial
balance through educational choice, offering innovative programming through curricula
themes and/or alternate strategies to meeting district educational standards. Magnet
schools will be evaluated regularly to determine their effectiveness in addressing stated
purposes. Schools that do not meet these purposes will be designated for corrective action.

 B. Definitions:

1. District-wide Magnet Schools. These schools serve students from throughout the
district and do not have an assigned attendance area.

2. Zoned Magnet Schools. These schools serve students from throughout the district and
have an assigned attendance area. Students residing in these areas attend the magnet
schools without applying via the lottery process.

3. Preferred Attendance Area. Preferred attendance areas include streets so designated by
the Board of Education to manage enrollment. Students residing in these areas are
assigned to a non magnet school. They must apply to the magnet schools via the lottery
process and are given priority status. They are invited to the magnet schools in
accordance with their lottery numbers. Once magnet school seats are exhausted, these
students must enroll in their assigned non magnet schools.

4. Targeted Recruitment. At times, students residing in attendance areas associated with
non magnet schools expected to be over enrolled may be given targeted recruitment
status. These students will be granted priority status in the admission process to the
magnet schools and will be selected in accordance with their lottery numbers.
 
C. Application and Admission:
 
1. In order that all magnet schools are consistent in application and admission procedures,
the application procedures:

2. Information will be posted and distributed to inform families of magnet school
opportunities, application procedures, and deadlines.

3. Application to magnet schools is open to special education students on the same basis as
other students in the Stamford Public Schools.

4. Magnet schools will not screen applicants or determine admissions by the use of special
admissions test, auditions, or requirements to submit portfolios or collections of past
work; or by reference to test scores, academic records, attendance or discipline records,
or by use of teacher recommendations parent letters, or interviews of applicants.

5. Admissions to magnet schools shall be controlled to ensure that magnets are racially
integrated and promote the district's +/-10% integration standard at each of the public
schools.

 

D. Priority Admission Procedures:


1. Sibling Status:

Younger siblings of enrolled magnet school students will be granted priority admission
to the magnets attended by their siblings. Such status requires that the magnet school
applicant a) have a sibling who is enrolled in the magnet school to which the applicant
seeks admission, and b) who will continue to be enrolled in the magnet school for at
least one school year when the applicant will be enrolled. For this purpose, 'siblings'
are defined as children who live in the same household with a common parent. Older
siblings may be admitted to the magnet school as classroom space allows.

2. Preferred Attendance Area Status:

Elementary students who live in close proximity to magnet schools at the elementary
level will be granted preferred attendance area status to their area magnet as
classroom space allows.

3. Targeted Recruitment Status:

Target recruiting will be used at times for the purpose of managing enrollment and
promoting the +/-10% integration standard at all schools.

E. Order of Admission:

In keeping with the purposes of magnet schools, students will be admitted in the following
order:

1. Students residing in the attendance area of a zoned magnet school
2. Students with siblings attending a magnet school
3. Students residing in the preferred attendance area of a magnet school
4. Students assigned to a school targeted for recruitment to a magnet school
5. All other applicants

F. Continued Enrollment in Magnet Schools:

1. Once admitted to a magnet school, students are expected to remain in that school at least
until completion of their first school year. They are entitled to remain in the school
without reapplying until they complete the highest grade in the school.

2. Students who are assigned to a magnet school based on their residence in an attendance
area and relocate to a new residence in another attendance area during the school year
will be allowed to complete the school year at the magnet school, as long as there is no
violation of contract limits on class size or the stated purposes for magnet schools.
These students may apply through the lottery to continue in the magnet school in the
following school year.


 
G. General Expectations of Magnet Schools:

1. Students in magnet schools shall be subject to the same discipline policies and practices
as all students in the Stamford Public Schools.

2. Magnet school students shall be eligible to participate in all extracurricular activities
offered by the school they attend without special wait periods or requirements.

3. Transportation of magnet school students will be provided under the same rules that
apply to students in other schools.


Adopted: STAMFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS

October 26, 1993 Stamford, Connecticut

 

Readopted:

June 27, 2000


Amended:

November 28, 2006