501 ADMISSIONS AND LOTTERY POLICY
I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to clarify the admissions and lottery process at Stonebridge World School.
II. DEFINITIONS
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- Limits: All students are required to present documentation that verifies a pupil falls within the school’s age requirement. Documentation may include a passport, a hospital birth record or physician’s certificate, a baptismal or religious certificate, an adoption record, health records, immunization records, immigration records, previously verified school records, early childhood screening records, Minnesota Immunization Information Connection records, or an affidavit from a parent.
- Applications: Stonebridge shall enroll an eligible pupil who submits a timely application unless the number of applicants exceeds the capacity of the program, class, or grade level. In such cases, selection shall be by lottery. Once a student who resides in Minnesota is enrolled in the school in kindergarten through grade 12, or in the school’s free preschool or prekindergarten program under section 124E.06, subdivision 3, paragraph (b), the student is considered enrolled in the school until the student formally withdraws or is expelled under the Pupil Fair Dismissal Act in sections 121A.40 to 121A.56.
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III. ADMISSIONS AND LOTTERY PROCEDURES:
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- Admission for Applications Received During Open Enrollment: All applications received during the open enrollment period are automatically admitted (i.e., offered a seat) unless more applications are received than the available capacity established by the Board for the applicable grade(s). If more applications are received than the available seats established by the School Board for the applicable grade(s), all submitted applications for such grade(s) will be placed in the lottery.
a. Enrollment for Minnesota resident pupils will be given enrollment preference. Pupils from out of state must apply to enroll annually.
b. A Pre-K pupil shall not be admitted unless the pupil is at least 4 years of age on September 1.
c. A Kindergarten pupil shall not be admitted unless the pupil is five years of age on September 1 of the calendar year in which the school year for which the pupil seeks admission commences.
d. A First-Grade pupil shall not be admitted unless the pupil is six years of age on September 1 of the calendar year in which the school year for which the pupil seeks admission commences, or they have already completed kindergarten.
e. Siblings of currently admitted students or foster child of that pupil’s parents have preference.
f. Enrollment preference will be given to Stonebridge World School Staff for their child(ren), including a foster child, who must be an individual employed at the school whose employment is stipulated in advance at least 480 hours in a school calendar year.
- Admission for Applications Received During Open Enrollment: All applications received during the open enrollment period are automatically admitted (i.e., offered a seat) unless more applications are received than the available capacity established by the Board for the applicable grade(s). If more applications are received than the available seats established by the School Board for the applicable grade(s), all submitted applications for such grade(s) will be placed in the lottery.
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- General Lottery: If the number of applications received during the open enrollment period exceeds the available capacity established by the School Board for any grade (and after siblings of enrolled students and foster children of that pupil’s parents who submitted timely applications are already admitted, and after all children of staff employed at the school who submitted a timely application are already admitted), the school conducts a general lottery. All applications for each such grade(s) (excluding applications from siblings of already enrolled students or foster children of that pupil’s parents and excluding applications from children of staff employed at the school) received before the expiration of the open enrollment period are included in the general lottery. Students are admitted to the school in the order in which they are drawn in the lottery, as long as there is available capacity as determined by the School Board for the applicable grade(s). If all available capacity in any grade is filled, the lottery continues and establishes the general waiting list for each such grade in the order drawn, until all applications are drawn. If a student is admitted through the general lottery and that student has one or more siblings in other grades also subject to a lottery, those siblings are automatically admitted once the student becomes an enrolled student.
a. The lottery date is the first Tuesday in February.
b. Applications received after the open enrollment period expires are automatically admitted as long as there are available seats as established by the School Board in the applicable grade, in the order received. If, or once, there are no available seats in any grade, applications are added to the applicable waiting list for each such grade, in the order received.
c. The school conducts all lotteries through a method of random selection.
d. The waiting list will expire at the end of the current school year and begin again in January for the next year.
e. The School Board will determine the number of grade-level lots available and the annual open enrollment period before the lottery date.
- General Lottery: If the number of applications received during the open enrollment period exceeds the available capacity established by the School Board for any grade (and after siblings of enrolled students and foster children of that pupil’s parents who submitted timely applications are already admitted, and after all children of staff employed at the school who submitted a timely application are already admitted), the school conducts a general lottery. All applications for each such grade(s) (excluding applications from siblings of already enrolled students or foster children of that pupil’s parents and excluding applications from children of staff employed at the school) received before the expiration of the open enrollment period are included in the general lottery. Students are admitted to the school in the order in which they are drawn in the lottery, as long as there is available capacity as determined by the School Board for the applicable grade(s). If all available capacity in any grade is filled, the lottery continues and establishes the general waiting list for each such grade in the order drawn, until all applications are drawn. If a student is admitted through the general lottery and that student has one or more siblings in other grades also subject to a lottery, those siblings are automatically admitted once the student becomes an enrolled student.
Approved: 8/16/2017
Revised: 1/17/2019, 3/28/2023. 11/25/2025
