Next Steps in SFUSD Student Assignment: Wait Pools, Open Enrollment, and More!
Round 2 letters are scheduled to be mailed on June 12. If you get a school that works for your family, time to celebrate! If you were hoping for a different school assignment, you still have options.
May Placement (Round 2) Letters
If you submitted an application for the May Placement Period or “Round 2” of the assignment process, letters will be mailed on Friday, June 12. Results will also be available to view on your ParentVUE account starting at 5PM on June 12.
If your child is assigned to a new school, that will be listed in the letter. You will lose your spot at your previously offered school.
If you receive a new assignment in Round 2, you must accept your new offer by June 26, 2020.
Appeal decisions will also be mailed to families on June 12, for those who submitted a Hardship Appeal by April 17, 2020.
Wait pool
Regardless of whether or not you received a placement during the May placement period, you may choose to take part in the wait pool process. If you submit a wait pool application you may request placement at one school. Submit your application starting on June 15, 2020. This year, unlike past years, there is only one wait pool. You may submit an application or change your wait pool choice through August 12, 2020. Wait pool notifications will be made on a rolling basis from August 17 until September 4, 2020.
How do I submit a wait pool application?
There most likely will be options to submit the wait pool application online, by mail or in-person. Details of how the process will work will be communicated by the Educational Placement Center on June 12, 2020. Check here for the most up-to-date information.
What is a wait pool? How is it different from a waitlist?
A wait pool contains all of the students who have submitted a wait pool application for a specific SFUSD school by the applicable deadline, August 12, 2020. Unlike a waitlist, those who submit applications earlier are not “ahead” on the list. In the wait pool assignment runs, there are still priorities or “tie-breakers,” but the date when you put in your application is not one of them. The tie-breakers in the wait pool rounds are the same as in previous placement periods (e.g., for elementary school, students who are in the wait pool who have an older sibling at the school would be placed first out of the wait pool, then if seats are left, students who attended Pre-K or TK at the site and live in the attendance area, etc.)
How will I know if my child gets into our wait pool school? What happens next?
Once you turn in the wait pool application form all there is to do is wait!
Notification wait pool will be made starting August 17, 2020. This is also the first day of school for SFUSD. Notifications will likely be made by phone and will take place on a rolling basis. If a family in the wait pool is offered a spot and declines the offer, the next family drawn from the pool for that school/grade will be called.
If you receive your wait pool school:
If you accept the offer, your child will automatically be unenrolled from any school you registered at previously.
Your child must claim the spot and begin attending the new school within a short period of time (usually within a few days of notification).
Is there a way to know how many people are in the wait pool?
SFUSD will be posting wait pool numbers on their website (sfusd.edu) on July 2, and August 14. These numbers may help you by giving you a sense of how many other people are waiting for spots at any given school. The published numbers will not include information about how many siblings, attendance area residents, etc. are in the wait pool.
Can I cancel or change my wait pool request?
To cancel your wait pool request for whatever reason, please email the EPC by August 12, 2020, at enrollinschool@sfusd.edu.
What is Open Enrollment?
Schools with open seats in some or all grade-levels and no pending wait pool requests will be available for Open Enrollment beginning on July 6, 2020, through September 4, 2020. In light of COVID-19 and social distancing requirements, there will be a new process for Open Enrollment this year (in the past it was an in-person, first-come, first-served process). The details will be communicated by the Educational Placement Center by mid-June. Check here for more information and updates on Open Enrollment.
How will I know what schools have Open Enrollment spots available?
Families may consult the wait pool request list that will be published on July 2, 2020, to get a sense for which schools may have openings during Open Enrollment. They may also schedule an appointment to discuss available options with a counselor at the Educational Placement Center.
If I receive an assignment during Open Enrollment, may I still submit a request for another school?
Yes, you can! If you receive an assignment during the March or May Placement Period (Round 1 or Round 2), or by selecting a school by going to the Educational Placement Center during the Open Enrollment Period, you may still submit a wait pool request. You will keep the assignment you have unless you receive another assignment through the wait pool process.
Is it too late to apply for a medical or family hardship appeal?
No, if you have not applied previously you may submit a hardship appeal. The deadline is June 26, 2020.
Key Dates for the wait pool process
Letters mailed on with results of May placement June 12, 2020
Deadline to enroll in any new school assignment received during the May placement period: June 26, 2020
Deadline to submit a hardship appeal (if you have not previously submitted): June 26, 2020
Open enrollment period: July 6–September 4, 2020
Deadline to submit, change or cancel wait pool request: August 12, 2020
Calls made to families who take part in wait pool: starting August 17, 2020
If accept wait pool offer: attend the new school within 3 days.
Wait pool numbers will be posted online by SFUSD on July 2 and August 14.
We are here to help!
Tweet your short enrollment questions to @ppssf.
Ask a PPS-SF Parent Ambassador about a specific school by emailing ambassadors@ppssf.org.
Email info@ppssf.org for general questions.
Important Links:
Last Year’s Wait Pool Numbers (if you are curious…) July 2019, August 2019