Admission Policy and Lottery Procedure

I. General Information

Admission to The Mountain Community School is open to all students eligible under the guidelines established in 115C-238.29F(g). Any child who is qualified under the laws of this State for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to this charter school, provided age and grade requirements are met. Students entering kindergarten must turn five years of age on or before August 31st of the school year.

Admission shall be not be determined according to the school attendance area in which a student resides. The Mountain Community School shall not discriminate against any student on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability, nor shall admission of students be determined on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion, or ancestry. Every effort will be made to recruit students from all sections of the community to ensure proportionate representation of all segments of the population.

Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the Board of Directors of the Mountain Community School may refuse to admit any student who is suspended or expelled from a public school under G.S. 115C-391 until the period of suspension or expulsion has expired.

In the event that the student applications exceed available spaces, The Mountain Community School is dedicated to providing a fair and unbiased system for assigning student admissions to the school. The process will be public, and assure that no bias or preferences be allowed to influence the selection.

II. Available Openings

In accordance with state law, G.S.115C-238.29F(g), children of the school's principal, teachers, and teaching assistants may be granted priority for available openings, as may siblings of currently enrolled students. For enrollment in the second and succeeding years of operation, available openings will be determined in the following manner each spring:

1. Currently enrolled students will be given first priority for openings the following year.
2. Second priority will be given to the children of eligible school employees, as designated above.
3. Third priority will be given to siblings of currently enrolled students.*

In all cases, parents will be asked to sign a form committing to attendance for the upcoming school year. After openings have been assigned to current students, eligible employees, and siblings of current students, the remaining spaces will be made available to the public all other applicants as provided herein.

*In the event that there are more siblings than openings in any given grade, a separate, priority, lottery will be held to determine enrollment for that grade.

III. Spring Enrollment Period

The Open Enrollment Period is the time during which applications will be accepted for student admission for the following school year. The beginning and ending dates of the Open Enrollment Period will be determined at the first regular meeting of the Board of Directors each January. Generally, it will occur in the spring of each year lasting approximately six weeks. Applications will be made available at the school and several other locations throughout the community, and the public will be notified of these locations. At the end of the Open Enrollment Period, if the number of applicants is equal to or less than the number of openings available, then all applicants will be enrolled. If there are more applicants than openings in any grade level, a public lottery will be held for all affected grades. Notice of the time, place and location of the lottery must be sent by regular mail to the parent or guardian of each applicant at least ten (10) days prior to the lottery. The lottery process will also determine each year's initial waiting list.

The parents or guardians of the children chosen by lottery for admission to the school will be notified by mail of the results of the lottery (referred to herein as "notice of acceptance"). The parent or guardian of each child chosen for admission must contact the school administration or board and confirm their child's enrollment in the school in writing within fourteen (14) days of their receipt of notice of acceptance. Failure to acknowledge acceptance and confirm enrollment will result in loss of admission and the child's name will be placed at the end of the waiting list for the appropriate grade level. All parent and guardians will be notified of these requirements in the notice of acceptance.

Parents or guardians of the children placed on the waiting list will also be notified by mail of their number on the waiting list. In the event that a child withdraws their application after the lottery or withdraws from the school at anytime, the child with the first name on the waiting list for that grade will be contacted by mail of their acceptance to the school.

In accordance with North Carolina law, all applicants, even those who have held a place on the waiting list throughout the previous year, must be placed in the lottery. To be included in the spring lottery, a separate application will need to submitted for each child on the current year's waiting list, even if an application for the current year has already been filed.

IV. Lottery Procedure

1. The lottery will take place at a public meeting of the TMCS Board of Directors.
2. Applications will be sorted by grade level and checked for accuracy.
3. A card will be made to correspond with each application with the child's name and grade level for the upcoming school year. Each card will be placed in an unmarked envelope and labeled in the right hand corner with the child's grade level.
4. The sealed envelopes will then be pooled by grade level and placed in a larger sealed envelope with the total number of applicants for that grade level marked on the outside.
5. The kindergarten envelopes will be placed in a large clear container. A Board officer or designee will draw an envelope and read the name inside. The name will be recorded on a ledger as number one. The number will also be recorded on the corresponding application and the card that was drawn. This process will continue until all the envelopes have been drawn.
6. The same process will be repeated for each grade level.
7. The applications, cards and roster will then be compared for accuracy of recording.

V. Ongoing Enrollment

Since families express an interest in enrolling their children at TMCS at times other than during the spring enrollment period, the Board of Directors has determined the following procedure for accepting names throughout the year.

1. Parents or guardians interested in enrolling their child at any time of the year will be asked to submit an application for each child. To be included in the spring lottery, a separate application will need to submitted, even if an application for the current year has already been filed.
2. At the first regular meeting of the TMCS Board of Directors in September, and January, or at other times as need is determined by the Board, the names of new applicants will be sorted by grade, as described in the lottery procedure above. The lottery procedure will be followed, and names will be added to the waiting list for each grade in the order in which they are drawn. Beginning with the second year of operation, available openings will be prioritized as indicated in section II, above. All TMCS Board Meetings are open to the public, so interested parties are welcome to attend and witness the lottery.
3. When openings become available throughout the year, they will be offered to applicants in accordance with their position on the waiting list.
4. This waiting list for the current year becomes null and void on the day following the spring lottery for the following school year (see section III, above). Beginning the day following the spring lottery, no new students will be accepted for the current year.

VI. Completion of Enrollment Procedure

For both new and returning students, the enrollment process is not complete until the student has attended and been served by TMCS at the outset of each new academic year. In choosing TMCS for their child, families are expected to adhere to the calendar determined annually by the Principal and the Board of Directors, and to bring their child to school on the days school is in session (see Attendance Policy and TMCS Partnership Agreement). However, the Board recognizes that individual circumstances may arise that make accommodation to the calendar difficult or impossible for some families.

Attendance at the beginning of the school year is extremely important. The curriculum utilized by the school, the Core Knowledge Sequence, is based on an ordered sequence and acquired knowledge. Missing any part of this sequence may interfere with the educational progress we hope to achieve with each child. In addition, like all other public schools in North Carolina, funding for the entire year is determined by enrollment in the early days of the school year. Our annual budget is based on the assumption of full enrollment from the first day of school. Parents will be informed of this policy in writing prior to the start of each school year.

1. All students must attend school on the first day. Students must be in attendance for at least half a day (three hours) I order to be counted present.
2. Students who do not attend school on the first day will risk losing their space at the school. If a student does not attend school on the first day, and the Principal has not been notified in advance in writing, he/she shall have the discretion to reassign that space to the next student on the waiting list. School officials will make every attempt to reach a family whose child is absent.
1. When an absence is anticipated, whether excused* or unexcused, prior notification of the Principal is required. This notification must be in writing.
2. If the absence is not anticipated, families should contact the school immediately to prevent reassignment of their child's space.
3. If a student has missed more than the first five full days of school for an excused** absence without prior written notification of the Principal, the Principal will be instructed by the Board of Directors to automatically reassign that student's space to the next student on the waiting list, and the student will lose their space at the school.
4. If a student has missed more than the first five full days of school for an unexcused absence, with or without prior notification of the Principal, the Principal will be instructed by the Board of Directors to automatically reassign that student's space to the next student on the waiting list, and the student will lose their space at the school.
5. Even if the student has attended on the first day, they cannot be included in the school's head count if they subsequently miss 10 or more consecutive days in the first 20 days of school, unless these absences are excused*. This is in accordance with the guidelines of the Student Information Management System administered by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. In other words, the state interprets such unexcused absences as if the student is no longer enrolled in the school.

**Excused Absences:

1. Illness or injury
2. Quarantine
3. Death in the immediate family
4. Medical or dental appointments
5. Court or administrative proceedings
6. Religious holidays or observances
7. Valid educational opportunity with approval prior to the absence

An additional note- The NCDPI has made it clear that #7 is not an acceptable excused absence until after the child has attended school and been enrolled.

The Mountain Community School will soon be accepting student applications for the 2013/2014 school year.  Open Enrollment will run March 1st through April 12th, 2013, 3:30pm.  You can also pick-up an application in the school office. Applications will also be mailed or faxed upon request. Please Note **The school will not mail/fax or receive any applications prior to March 1st**

Interested parents or community members are invited to attend TMCS’s Open House on March 21st, between the hours of 4:00-6:00 pm. For more information check out our web site at:  www. tmcschool.org or call the school at 828-696-8480.

2013 Enrollment Information

2013 Enrollment Application