Douglas Co School of Choice | Can You Pick Your School in South Denver?
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Moving to Douglas County, Colorado with kids? Colorado has some funky processes for school. Here, we have school of choice, which on the surface sounds like you can just pick any school for your kids to attend. But it's certainly not that simple. And you may be wondering- why does Co have school of choice? In this video, we break down Douglas County School District open enrollment and explain what families should know before choosing a neighborhood, buying a home, or relocating to Colorado. If you are researching Douglas County schools, trying to understand DCSD open enrollment, or comparing communities like Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Parker, or Castle Pines, this video will help make the process much easier to understand. Questions this video will answer for you: Can you choose any school in Douglas County, Colorado? How does Douglas County School Choice work? How do I apply for School Choice in Douglas County? When does Douglas County open enrollment begin? Can my child attend a school outside our neighborhood boundary? What is the difference between a neighborhood school and a choice school? How does the Douglas County school waitlist work? What determines a student’s place on the waitlist? Do siblings receive priority during School Choice? Do current students receive priority for the following school year? What happens if my child does not get into our first-choice school? Can I select backup schools on the application? Does choosing a backup school affect our first-choice waitlist position? Can we accept one school while remaining waitlisted at another? How many Douglas County schools can we apply to? When will families receive School Choice results? Is transportation provided for School Choice students? Do you need to reapply for School Choice every year? Can a School Choice placement be revoked? What should families know before choosing a school in South Denver?
Moving to Douglas County, Colorado with kids? Colorado has some funky processes for school. Here, we have school of choice, which on the surface sounds like you can just pick any school for your kids to attend. But it's certainly not that simple. And you may be wondering- why does Co have school of choice? In this video, we break down Douglas County School District open enrollment and explain what families should know before choosing a neighborhood, buying a home, or relocating to Colorado. If you are researching Douglas County schools, trying to understand DCSD open enrollment, or comparing communities like Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Parker, or Castle Pines, this video will help make the process much easier to understand. Questions this video will answer for you: Can you choose any school in Douglas County, Colorado? How does Douglas County School Choice work? How do I apply for School Choice in Douglas County? When does Douglas County open enrollment begin? Can my child attend a school outside our neighborhood boundary? What is the difference between a neighborhood school and a choice school? How does the Douglas County school waitlist work? What determines a student’s place on the waitlist? Do siblings receive priority during School Choice? Do current students receive priority for the following school year? What happens if my child does not get into our first-choice school? Can I select backup schools on the application? Does choosing a backup school affect our first-choice waitlist position? Can we accept one school while remaining waitlisted at another? How many Douglas County schools can we apply to? When will families receive School Choice results? Is transportation provided for School Choice students? Do you need to reapply for School Choice every year? Can a School Choice placement be revoked? What should families know before choosing a school in South Denver? -
Moving to Douglas County Colorado With Kids
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If you're moving to Colorado from out of
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state, it's likely that you've heard
0:03
about our school of choice open
0:04
enrollment systems and thought, "Wow,
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they sure make it really confusing." But
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today, we are here to help you clear it
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up.
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That's right, because it is pretty
0:12
confusing. And today, we're going over
0:13
the Douglas County School District
0:16
specific piece of open enrollment. So,
0:18
by the end of this video, you'll
0:20
understand how to enroll your kids in
0:22
school anywhere from early childhood
0:24
education all the way to high school.
0:26
Whether you're choicing in from out of
0:28
the district or you're navigating
0:29
picking the right charter school and
0:31
you're ranking your schools, you will
0:33
understand all of that by the end of
0:35
today. And although schools isn't what
0:37
we're always specifically experts in,
0:39
what we're really specifically experts
0:41
in is real estate. We know so much about
0:44
it because we're always helping folks
0:45
just like you move here to Colorado and
0:48
navigate these kinds of things every
0:49
day. And hey, I know a lot of you real
0:52
estate YouTubers say that. They say,
0:54
"We're helping folks like you everyday
0:56
do this." We really are. You can check
0:58
it out. It's public record. Hop on
0:59
booms.com and see what we do.
1:01
And in addition to that, we're also
1:02
parents of Douglas County School
1:04
District kids. So, we've been through
1:06
this enrollment pro process and we're
1:08
doing it every year. Well, you don't
1:10
have to do it every year, but we've done
1:11
it. We're doing it with multiple kids,
1:13
so we do have a nuanced understanding of
1:15
how it works, and we help people
1:16
navigate this all the time. We are Jake
1:18
and Megan Fredle, your full-time real
1:21
estate agents, part-time tour guides to
1:23
everything southern Denver living. And
1:25
whether you're moving in 9 days or 900
1:27
days, we're here to help you find the
1:29
perfect neighborhood around the Denver
1:30
metropolitan area and help you find the
1:32
perfect home. Yes. And I know you're
1:34
going to have more questions about
1:35
Douglas County or other school systems.
1:38
So, reach out to us. All of our
1:39
information is in the description below.
1:41
But today, let's dive into Douglas
1:43
County open enrollment. If you're
Douglas County Schools and Assigned Schools
1:45
already living in the Douglas County
1:46
School District or you're right about to
1:48
move into the Douglas County School
1:49
District, then here's how the flow of
1:51
picking your school and enrolling and it
1:53
will go. So, you're going to first hop
1:55
online and you're going to figure out
1:56
what your address specific school is
1:58
because that is the school that you're
2:00
automatically going to get into. If
2:01
you're happy with that school, then you
2:03
don't have to do anything.
2:04
Well, you have to do something, right?
2:06
So, you do have to go online and
2:08
register your kid into the into your
2:11
address specific school. you'll
2:13
automatically be granted access to that
2:15
school because that's how it works. Uh,
2:17
and you'll need your child's birth
2:19
certificate, your adult ID, your uh,
2:23
address verification, which can be a
2:25
deed, a lease, or a recent power bill,
2:29
and then immunization records. And not a
2:32
specific, you know, recommendation on
2:34
vaccinations here, but just so you know,
2:36
it's pretty easy to work with Douglas
2:37
County if you have exemptions from some
2:39
of those vaccinations for kids. But if
2:42
you aren't happy with that address
2:43
assigned specific school for any reason,
2:46
then what you can do is the open
2:47
enrollment process. So what you're going
2:50
to do is you're going to hop online and
2:52
you're going to start by picking the
2:53
schools that you're interested in going
2:54
to.
DCSD Open Enrollment Step by Step
2:55
Okay. So step one, go ahead and create
2:57
an account on the Douglas County School
2:58
District website and then you're going
3:00
to add your student and then you can
3:01
select up to four schools uh of of your
3:05
preference in the school. And you don't
3:07
have to rank them. you're just accepting
3:08
and saying these are the four schools
3:10
we're interested in. That can be any
3:12
combination of regular public schools or
3:15
charter schools in this list. There's
3:17
only one charter school, which is
3:18
American Academy, that doesn't use the
3:20
open enrollment program. You'll have to
3:22
do a separate application process with
3:25
them, but everything else you can choose
3:27
from here. Um, and so when you choose
3:30
those, you'll be notified sort of one at
3:32
a time which ones you've been accepted
3:34
to. So if you get one and you say okay
3:37
you you can say yes to this school and
3:39
then let's say you get another school
3:40
and you're like okay we prefer that
3:42
school you can say yes to this school
3:44
which then declines this school and then
3:46
you have two more schools in waiting and
3:49
as you you know each one as they notify
3:52
you if you accept that school it it
3:55
takes the place cuz you can't be
3:56
enrolled at more than one school.
3:58
Right? So accepting one of those schools
4:01
will only if you've gotten into two, it
4:03
will only decline one that you've gotten
4:04
into but not chosen. However, if you
4:07
still have those two that you're waiting
4:08
to hear from, it does not automatically
4:11
decline those two. These two are still
4:13
in the waiting. And so you might be
4:14
either waiting to hear from them and if
DCSD Waitlists, Round 1 and Round 2
4:16
you get accepted then you can choose to
4:18
pick that school or you might hear from
4:21
them that you're weight listed. And
4:23
weight listing in the Douglas County
4:25
School District differs from some other
4:26
districts like the Denver Public School
4:28
District. you're on a wait list and you
4:30
know what number you're on. I actually
4:32
think their system's a little more
4:33
confusing because that number is really
4:35
hard to understand and it can change. In
4:38
Douglas County, it might feel like
4:39
you're a little bit more in the dark,
4:41
but there's not really any clarity to
4:42
the other way either. You don't have a
4:44
number on the wait list for the Douglas
4:46
County School District open enrollment,
4:48
but you are on the wait list. And so
4:50
you're just simply waiting to figure out
4:51
if you do get accepted by the time round
4:54
one is up because there are two rounds
4:57
of applications. In that first round,
4:59
the all of the applications are going to
5:01
be due by a certain date. You're going
5:03
to want to go hop on the website to
5:04
figure it is for the specific year
5:06
you're enrolling in because there is a
5:07
little bit of variation. But for that
5:09
first round, as long as you've gotten
5:10
your application in by the deadline,
5:12
then all of the applications are
5:14
reviewed together. After round one is
5:17
finished, round two opens up. This might
5:20
be for people who didn't make it into
5:21
round one or who didn't get their
5:23
accepted school being the one they
5:25
wanted and they want to try again in
5:27
round two. The way that round two
5:29
differs a bit is that it is first come,
5:31
first serve. So, it does matter how
5:33
early on in the process you get your
5:35
application submitted,
5:36
right? So round two is basically like
5:38
maybe something changed for you and your
5:40
family from round one, you moved into
5:41
the district late and you missed round
5:43
one, anything like that. Um, but you can
5:46
hang out on wait lists for your
5:48
preferred schools and have another
5:50
school accepted for as long as you want
5:52
until the school district until the
5:54
school year starts. By the end of round
IEPs and Douglas County School Choice
5:56
two, your kid is enrolled in a school.
5:58
Hopefully, it's one of the ones that you
5:59
really wanted and you get to attend your
6:02
school. But that's not all of it. There
6:04
are so many unique situations and
6:07
circumstances that are going to make
6:08
things a little bit different for you.
6:10
Especially, let's talk a little bit
6:11
about special circumstances like IEPs,
6:14
early childhood education, and of
6:16
course, charter schools. So, starting
6:18
off with IEPs, if your kid does have an
6:21
individualized education plan, what does
6:23
this process look like for them? Are
6:25
they just able to open enroll anywhere?
6:27
And what's different? Okay. So, if
6:29
you're working with an individualized
6:30
education plan, if you already have that
6:32
one, you're going to turn it in with
6:33
your application when you create your
6:35
student and you're you're selecting
6:37
these multiple schools. Um, the Douglas
6:39
County website says something like
6:42
you'll choose you'll you'll like work
6:44
with your school to figure out if their
6:46
programming works with your kid after
6:48
the enrollment process is completed,
6:51
which is it's not doesn't work like
6:53
that. I mean, it does work like that.
6:55
But what I would encourage you to do is
6:57
we have found that the Douglas County
6:59
School District is incredibly
7:01
accommodating and it's really easy to
7:03
get access to administrations of every
7:05
individual school in order to have
7:08
really big conversations about what's
7:11
happening with your kiddo uh in advance.
7:13
Cuz what you don't want to do is kind of
7:15
blindly apply for a school and then
7:17
figure out if it's going to work. What
7:19
you want to do is have an understanding
7:20
of like which school is best for you.
7:22
Whether that's one of the charter
7:23
schools, whether that's your local
7:24
public school, um we have found that the
7:27
local public school has amazing
7:29
accommodations for our special kiddo.
7:32
And they have been super easy to work
7:34
with and discover the school and take
7:36
tours of the school and kind of help us
7:38
figure out what's going to be best for
7:40
our kiddo. So don't wait until after the
7:42
enrollment processes started. Start
7:44
reaching out to schools and they're
7:46
incredibly accommodating. And then I
7:48
think on paper after that application
7:50
process is complete, you're going to get
7:52
your official stamp of approval at the
7:54
end. But I agree, I think it makes sense
7:56
to start doing your homework and asking
7:58
those questions upfront.
8:00
If you don't already have an IEP, then
8:03
you're going to start with something
8:04
called child find, depending on the age
8:06
of your student. So, if your student is
8:09
not kindergarten age yet, uh the school
8:11
district is open from for kids uh as
8:13
young as 2 years old to do the child
8:15
find, which is a sort of evaluation tool
8:18
if you have thoughts that like maybe
8:20
your kiddo has some extra needs. Um and
8:23
and they'll help you evaluate and kind
8:25
of start directing you and helping you
8:27
through the school district. If you do
8:29
have some ideas and you have some
8:30
paperwork, maybe you have a diagnosis of
8:32
some kind, you can work with the
8:34
district to get a 504 exemption, which
8:36
just gives you access to extra tools,
8:39
extra services through the community and
8:42
some extra accommodations uh for that
8:44
your kiddo might need uh throughout the
8:46
school day.
Colorado Universal Pre-K and Early Education
8:47
And so early childhood education, how
8:49
exactly does this all fit in?
8:51
So, it's a little different, right? So
8:52
you're going to apply through a
8:54
different it's it's on the same website
8:56
but it's a different enrollment program.
8:59
Um so two things. So ECE is early
9:01
childhood education 3year-olds. ECE 4 is
9:04
for foury olds. So uh if there's two
9:08
kind of systems you have to work with
9:09
here. There's the early childhood
9:12
education enrollment program and there's
9:14
universal prek dollars which is a statef
9:17
funed program that helps pay for prek.
9:20
uh if you if your child has a disability
9:23
or if you have low income, you are
9:25
eligible for UPK dollars starting at
9:28
three years old. If not, you're not
9:30
eligible until 4 years old for those UPK
9:33
dollars. So, if you're eligible for UPK
9:37
dollars, whether that's three or four,
9:38
in that case, you start with Universal
9:41
PreK website and you enroll your child
9:44
into a school that way. Once Universal
9:47
PreK puts you into a school, the school
9:50
will then reach out with you for next
9:52
steps. If you're not yet eligible for
9:56
UPK, uh then you're going to go through
9:58
the process. Either way, uh you're going
10:01
to with UPK or the regular enrollment
10:04
process, you're going to choose a number
10:05
of schools of your preference. You're
10:07
going to get chosen into one of them.
10:10
Um, it's important to note that with the
10:13
early childhood education programs,
10:15
you're not necessarily guaranteed a spot
10:17
at your local school. These spots do
10:20
fill up. We had to send our kiddo to a
10:23
school down the road that was a little
10:24
further. Not a big deal, but it wasn't
10:26
our closest school, so beware of that.
10:28
Make sure you're on it. There is a round
10:30
one and a round two. So, it mimics the
10:33
regular process for K through 12, but
10:36
it's just a slightly different
10:37
enrollment process. Hm. And when we're
10:39
talking about UPK dollars, those are
10:42
going to fund 15 hours of your child's
10:44
education. And you know, we were not
10:47
necessarily thinking we'd end up at a
10:49
private school, but what we found with
10:50
the public school choices is that those
10:53
hours were really undeal for us. Um, I
10:56
think they're great for getting kids
10:58
involved, but to actually be a daycare
11:01
supplement for people who are working,
11:03
it was not very effective because most
11:05
of those hours are about like 8:40 to
11:07
11:20 or, you know, 9:30 to noon. Those
11:12
didn't actually help us get any work
11:13
done. Um, for us, we elected to go to a
11:16
private school where we were still able
11:18
to use the UPK dollars um, for 15 hours
11:22
a week, but we were able to disperse
11:23
them to make a little bit more sense for
11:25
our lives. So, their programs they had
11:27
from 9:30 to 230, which actually allowed
11:30
us to do more than like go home and
11:32
unload the dishwasher. Um, and so that
11:34
obviously doesn't get you 5 days a week
11:36
with UPK dollars. But anything that you
11:38
want to pay for in addition to those
11:40
days, so ours is 3 930 to 230 days a
11:43
week. If we wanted all five, you could
11:46
add those in and you' just be paying for
11:47
those days out of pocket.
11:49
And there's tons of good private options
11:51
that uh you definitely want to apply for
11:54
in advance because these spots fill up
11:56
quickly. So you're going to be looking,
11:58
you know, probably 9 months in advance.
12:00
you want to start talking to schools and
12:02
trying to get on weight lists for these
12:03
things.
12:04
Yeah. Oh my gosh. It's a little bit like
12:05
daycare how when you get pregnant,
12:07
people start telling you you got to get
12:09
on those daycare weight lists. Um you
12:10
want to be thinking about this stuff in
12:12
advance because you don't in addition to
12:14
thinking about which program has hours
12:16
that might be the most beneficial to
12:18
you. There are other reasons you might
12:19
be want to considering what school you
12:21
choose for your early childhood
12:23
education because of where they set you
12:25
up to go to school next.
Douglas County Charter Schools
12:27
That's right. And I would say this is
12:28
most impactful if you have your eyes on
12:30
a charter school for your kindergartener
12:33
or beyond. Um these charter schools kind
12:37
of have a ranking of of like a hierarchy
12:39
of of who gets accepted in the school.
12:41
There's kind of the general you know
12:43
population uh not quite lottery system
12:46
but an acceptance system but you do get
12:48
preference if you have siblings to the
12:50
school already or if you already have
12:53
your kid enrolled in early childhood
12:55
education. So there's, for example,
12:57
there's a school called DCS Monasuri.
13:00
It's the K through8 school in Castle
13:02
Pines. It's a really cool charter school
13:04
specialized for some things that we were
13:06
really interested in. And we found out a
13:09
little too late that if we had had our
13:10
kiddo in early childhood education
13:12
programs there, we would have had a much
13:15
better shot of getting our kiddo into
13:17
there for kindergarten and we missed it.
13:19
So it's definitely something you want to
13:20
look out for. As if there's not enough
13:22
things that you're already thinking
13:24
about, enough on your plate as a parent,
13:26
let's add this hunt.
13:27
Yeah, so true. And unfortunately, some
13:30
families really do have to go through
13:31
the extra effort to be thinking about
13:33
these things with charter schools.
13:34
Yeah, there are some people who really
13:36
charter schools are a great fit for. And
13:38
so, if you don't know what a charter
13:39
school is yet, they are a public school.
13:41
They're part of the public school
13:42
district, but they have a little bit
13:44
more play with their curriculum. And so,
13:46
because of that, for some people, they
13:48
are just a better fit for them. And when
13:50
you apply for a charter school, the nice
13:52
thing about Douglas County is most,
13:54
well, I guess all except for one of the
13:56
charter schools in Douglas County do go
13:59
through this open enrollment portal. The
14:01
one that doesn't is that American
14:02
Academy.
14:03
American Academy is the only one. You'll
14:05
go through their process and you'll
14:07
still like go through the you'll go
14:09
through two processes simultaneously
14:11
because if you don't get into American
14:12
Academy, you want to be on uh rolling
14:14
with those. But you'll do their process
14:16
separately in conjunction with this. And
14:19
the biggest thing I think the last thing
14:20
I I want to hammer on for these charter
14:22
schools is that especially in Douglas
14:24
County, they are very sought after and
14:26
you are not guaranteed a spot in them.
14:28
So this is something you really like,
14:30
you know, do your research on which
14:32
charter schools are right for you. If
14:34
you are looking at getting out of the
14:36
regular typical public schools, make
14:39
sure you're applying to those. Um, and
14:41
make sure you're staying on the wait
14:42
list. But, uh, yeah, public schools have
14:45
been great for us, you know. So for we
14:47
the the public schools, our local school
14:49
is amazing. So don't worry too much
DCSD Open Enrollment FAQs
14:52
about it.
14:55
So now we're going to use the last few
14:56
minutes of this video to do some
14:57
frequently asked questions by our
15:00
clients who are moving into the Douglas
15:02
County School District. So uh Megan, how
15:05
do folks know once they've been accepted
15:06
to a school? So, if you are in your
15:09
round one applications, remember how we
15:11
said where you're going to go on, you're
15:12
going to create an account, you're going
15:14
to add your student, you're going to hop
15:15
onto that account, and that portal will
15:17
let you know if you've been admitted to
15:19
different schools. But if you're in
15:21
round two of the application system,
15:23
they're going to send you an email, and
15:25
you're going to want to reply to that
15:26
email, and that's how you're going to
15:28
secure your spot in round two. So, what
15:30
happens if you are attending your
15:32
address specific school? you know, the
15:34
one that you're automatically enrolled
15:35
in with the neighborhood that you go to.
15:37
But then, let's say in the middle of the
15:39
school year, you move. And so, you're
15:41
technically supposed to go to a
15:42
different school, but you want to stick
15:43
with the school you were already in. How
15:45
does that work?
15:46
So, the school district doesn't want you
15:48
transferring schools in the middle of
15:50
the school year. So, they're going to
15:51
have you stay at the school you've been
15:53
attending. And then if you want to keep
15:55
going there for the next school year,
15:57
you're going to fill out an intent to
15:59
remain form and you can keep your kid
16:01
going to that same school. Now, if you
16:04
don't want to keep going to that same
16:05
school, then you're just going to
16:06
register into the new school or complete
School Transportation and Returning Home
16:09
the school of choice process if you want
16:11
to explore a different school.
16:13
So, if you are going to a school that's
16:14
outside of your address specific school
16:16
and you're in a different neighborhood,
16:18
then how does transportation work for
16:20
that? it doesn't. So if you are
16:22
guaranteed transportation, if you're
16:24
going to the school that is associated
16:26
with your address, if not the
16:28
responsibility is going to call fall on
16:30
the parents. Which leads us to another
16:32
important question. What if you were
16:35
attending an open enrollment sort of
16:36
school that's outside of your address
16:38
specific and you get tired of all that
16:40
driving in Highlands Ranch traffic every
16:43
morning and you want to go return to
16:44
your school. What do you do?
16:46
That's a pretty simple one. So again,
16:47
you're going to stay in the school
16:48
you're in for the rest of the school
16:49
year, but for that as soon as you decide
16:52
it for that next year, you're going to
16:53
file an intent to return form. And this
16:56
automatically gets you right back into
Elementary to Middle School Choice
16:58
the school that is your address specific
17:00
school.
17:01
Megan, what happens if you are enrolled
17:04
in an outof area elementary school and
17:06
it's time to transfer into middle
17:08
school?
17:09
Well, it depends where you want your
17:10
kiddo to go. If you're at an outof
17:13
address elementary school and you want
17:15
them to now return to your neighborhood
17:17
middle school, you're not going to do
17:19
anything because you're automatically
17:20
going to be enrolled for middle school
17:22
at your neighborhood middle school. But
17:24
if maybe your friends have formed some
17:26
really good friendships with that
17:27
elementary school and you want them to
17:29
go to the same middle school that the
17:30
other kids are going to, or there's any
17:32
other reason that you want to go to any
17:34
other school, you're going to open
17:35
enroll just like you would in any case
17:37
that you want to choose your school.
17:38
Now, here's one strange exception. Some
17:41
schools in Douglas County are
17:43
kindergarten through 6th grade. Most of
17:46
them are kindergarten through fifth
17:47
grade. And so a middle school is either
17:50
678 or 78. So, if you're at one of those
17:54
K through six schools and you want to
17:56
switch into a, you know, if your local
18:00
school was maybe 6, seven, eight, and
18:01
you want to get back on track or
18:03
something, then you might have to open
18:05
enroll or fill out an intent to return
18:08
to get out of your area back into your
18:10
area in that strange funny not too
Middle School to High School Enrollment
18:13
common situation. Does it work the same
18:16
way if you're going from middle school
18:17
to high school?
18:18
Interestingly, it does not. So, if you
18:21
are going to a school that's outside of
18:24
your neighborhood school and you're so
18:25
you're open enrolled in a middle school,
18:28
the automatic track for that is that
18:30
you're going to be automatically going
18:32
to that middle school's feeder high
18:34
school. So, that would be like if you
18:36
already lived in that neighborhood,
18:38
where would that high school be? That's
18:41
I think kind of designed to keep the
18:43
older kids with the friends that they've
18:45
established. That's just my guess is,
18:47
you know, maybe it's a little harder to
18:48
make friends, new friends from middle to
18:51
high school. But if you do, for whatever
18:53
reason want to return back to your home
18:56
high school, that address specific high
18:59
school, you can do that. In that case,
Moving to Douglas County Midyear
19:00
you're just going to and file that
19:02
intent to return form. So, what if you
19:05
move here into the Douglas County School
19:07
District right in the middle of the
19:08
year? So, you've missed all of these
19:10
normal enrollment processes. What do you
19:13
do?
19:13
You're going to be okay. Uh, so you're
19:15
guaranteed a spot at your local school.
19:17
So if you want to go to the school that
19:20
is assigned to your address, you just
19:21
fill out a form and enroll into that
19:24
school. If you want to check out other
19:25
schools, you're going to fill out a
19:27
school of choice form and open enroll
19:29
into those other schools. You'll be
Choosing Where to Live in Douglas County
19:31
approved if there is space as soon as
19:33
possible. So it sounds like you don't
19:35
have to choose the right neighborhood
19:37
for you based on where you want your
19:38
kids to go to school in Douglas County.
19:40
So how should folks pick the right place
19:42
for them? Yeah, that's the beauty of it.
19:44
You can start by talking with Jake and I
19:47
because we are full-time real estate
19:48
agents that have been working in this
19:50
area locally for over 20 years
19:53
full-time. And so with that, we can
19:55
really dive in with you and figure out
19:56
what is most important and help you find
19:58
your right place. And if you want more
20:00
information, you can always hop on more
20:02
stuff on our channel.
20:03
Make sure you subscribe for uh alerts on
20:06
new videos and follow us on YouTube. Get
20:10
in touch with us. We'd love to schedule
20:11
a call to help you find your perfect
20:13
place.
-
Q: How do I know if my child has been accepted into a school?
A: If you applied during round one, you can check your account portal on the Douglas County School District website to see if you have been admitted. If you applied during round two, the school will send you an email, and you must reply to that email to secure your spot [15:04].
Q: What happens if we move out of our neighborhood in the middle of the school year, but want to stay at our current address-specific school?
A: The school district prefers you don't transfer mid-year, so your child will stay at their current school. To keep your child at that school for the following year, you just need to fill out an "intent to remain" form [15:30].
Q: Is transportation provided if my child attends a school outside of our neighborhood?
A: No. The school district only guarantees transportation to your address-specific neighborhood school. If you choose an out-of-area school through open enrollment, transportation becomes the parents' responsibility [16:16].
Q: How do we transfer back to our neighborhood school if we no longer want to commute to an open-enrollment school?
A: Your child will finish the current school year at their open-enrollment school. For the following year, you simply file an "intent to return" form, which will automatically enroll your child back into your address-specific school [16:36].
Q: How does the transition from an open-enrolled elementary school to middle school work?
A: If you want your child to go to your home neighborhood middle school, you don't need to do anything—they are automatically enrolled there. If you want them to attend the middle school that their out-of-area elementary school feeds into, you must go through the standard open enrollment process [17:02].
