Admissions Policies

Overview

For an application please visit the school office. It is located at: 4207 Spring Gardens Road La Mesa, or call (619) 668-213.

Liberty Charter School will actively recruit a diverse student population from the district in which it is located and surrounding areas who understand and value the school's mission and are committed to the school's instructional and operational philosophy. Admission to the school shall be open to any resident of the State of California. Prospective students and their parents or guardians will be briefed regarding the school's instructional and operational philosophy and will be given a copy or summary of the school's student-related policies.

Should the school over subscribe in any given grade level a lottery system will be employed in order to most fairly assess students allowed to enroll. A lottery system is a random selection process by which applicants for admission to a public charter school are admitted to the charter school. Specifically, family names will be entered into the lottery and randomly chosen until enrollment is full. A waiting list will be established at which point incoming students will be admitted on a "first come"; basis established by the specific order in which names were chosen.

It is the policy of Liberty Charter School to be nonsectarian in its programs, curriculum, admission policies, employment practices, and all other operations. It shall not charge tuition, and shall not discriminate againstany pupil on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, sex, religion, race or disability. Admissions requirements will in no way discriminate based on race, religion, gender or sex. Instruction will be non-sectarian in nature and no tuition will be charged for instructional services or programs/materials provided.

Detailed Admissions Policies

Student Enrollment

Liberty Charter High School ("LCHS") is a tuition-free public school. LCHS is open to all students in California. LCHS has established procedures to ensure that potential students and their families are fully informed of the school's mission, design, and expectations. Once informed, students and their families can choose if LCHS is best for them. Once a student is enrolled in LCHS, he/she will not be required to re-enroll for subsequent school years.

Enrollment Procedure

Each year LCHS will establish and open enrollment window period of time in which the school will accept applications for the coming school year. This enrollment window period shall be set by LCHS governing board prior to January 1 of each year.

Enrollment packets shall be available at the LCHS office all year round. However, only those packets that are completed (including all required medical records) and received during the enrollment window period will be considered for enrollment in the subsequent school year. Applications received by LCHS after the close of the enrollment window period will not be considered for admission and will be returned to the applicant.

Student Eligibility:

A student is eligible for admission to LCHS if he or she is a resident of California. However, should a lottery be necessary, certain student will receive preference in the admissions procedures as required by the Charter Schools Act and as stated in LCHS's charter.

Selection Procedures:

At the close of the enrollment window period, all enrollment packets shall be reviewed to determine if they meet the admissions requirements described above. A qualified applicant will have completed LCHSadmission procedures, including all forms in the admissions packet and will have supplied all information required by the admissions packet.

If the number of qualified applications exceeds capacity at any grade level, LCHS shall apply the first level preference to qualified applicants (please see hierarchy of preferences listed below). LCHS shall make offers of admission and request a written confirmation of acceptance within five (5) days of receipt of a letter of acceptance. If the application of a preference exceeds the school's capacity within a single grade level, LCHSwill conduct a public random drawing within that preference. If space is still available after the application of the first level preference, the LCHS shall apply the next level of preference. If the application of a preference exceeds the School's capacity within a single grade level, the school will conduct a public random drawing within that preference. This process will be applied beginning with kindergarten and then each successive grade level until LCHS is at capacity.

All qualified student who are not admitted will be assigned a number (by random lottery) and may be offered admission throughout the year as vacancies become available. LCHS reserves the right to determine its capacity at each grade level and to reserve spaces within a grade level for, among other things, students that may not be promoted to the next grade level or for students who may be returning in a subsequent year.

If during any open enrollment window period, insufficient enrollment packets are received during the enrollment window period, offers of admission shall be made from the qualified applicants on a first come, first served basis and then another enrollment window period shall be advertised and established. Any student on the waiting list who did not receive an offer of admission during the year will be required to submit an additional enrollmentpacket in a subsequent year in order to considered for enrollment in that year.

Hierarchy of Preferences in Admission for Qualified Applicants:

1. Currently enrolled students;

2. Siblings of currently enrolled students;

3. Children from last year's waiting list who have submitted a current enrollment packet;

4. Children of former LCHS families within the 3 years;

5. Children of current employees working at LCHS;

6. Children residing within the district's boundaries;

7. All other children.

Public Random Drawing (lottery):

If required, the public random drawing shall be conducted by LCHS at a public meeting that meets all the notice requirements of the Ralph M. Brown Act(California Government Code 54950 et seq.) for a regular meeting of LCHS's board of directors. Information regarding the procedures used to conduct the drawing as well as the events triggering the drawing shall be available upon request. However, non-public information regarding a student or his or her family shall not be disclosed.