GENERAL INFORMATION
– The Initial Application Period opens on the first school day of the second semester each year.
– March 15th is the due date for applications to be included in the lottery.*
– Unless the number of timely applicants exceeds the number of seats in any particular grade, all eligible students with complete and valid applications received between the first school day of the second semester and March 15 will be permitted to enroll at YHALE.
– If the number of applications received exceeds the number of available seats for a grade, a lottery will be conducted to determine which applicants are offered a seat and which applicants will be placed on the waitlist.
– To be considered for the lottery, a student’s application must be received prior to the Application Period deadline (11:59 PM on March 15).
– All applications received after March 15 will be offered a seat on a first come first serve basis. If all seats within a grade are filled, applications received after March 15 will be added to the end of the appropriate grade waitlist in the order in which they are received.
– Applicants will be notified of their admissions status when and if it changes.
*If March 15th falls on a weekend or holiday, then the due date will be the next weekday.
APPLICATION SYSTEM
– YHALE utilizes Lotterease, a school application software, to accept and manage new student applications and the lottery each year.
– Lotterease securely maintains data and ensures the integrity of the lottery and any waitlists. When applying to YHALE, parents will create an account with Lotterease. Parents will have the ability to check the status of their application, determine waitlist position, and view application history at any time by logging in to their Lotterease account.
– If parents do not have internet access, they may call the school to inquire about such information.
LOTTERY
– If a lottery is necessary for any particular grade (if the number of applications exceeds the number of available seats within a grade), the lottery will take place online, via Zoom on March 20.* Parents may also come to the school at the time of the lottery if they do not have internet access.
– The lottery event is open to the public, and all qualifying applicants will be notified of the date and time of the lottery via email and web posting.
YHALE utilizes Lotterease to conduct an automated lottery.
– It is not necessary for an applicant or his/her parent/guardian to be present at the lottery for an applicant to participate in the lottery or to be offered a seat at YHALE.
– Lotterease will notify applicants the results of the lottery via email.
– Parents can also check their applicant’s status by logging into their Lotterease account for real time status.
– Parents may also call the school for their applicant’s status.
– Applicants have 5 days in which to accept or decline their offered seats (by March 25).*
* March 20th is the day the lottery is held every year. If March 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, then the lottery will be held on the next weekday.
* March 25th is the deadline to accept an offered seat at YHALE. If March 25th falls on a weekend or holiday, then the deadline will be the next weekday.
Lottery Preferences
In accordance with O.C.G.A. § 20-2-2066(a)(1)(A) and SCSC Rule 691-2-.05, YHALE will give an enrollment preference to the following categories of applicants and in the following order of priority, while the lottery is running:
– Preference for seats within kindergarten will be given, in order, to the following categories of students:
1. Children of Governing Board Members and Staff Members
2. Siblings of Returning Enrolled Students
– Preference for seats within all other grades will be given, in order, to the following categories of students:
1. Returning Currently Enrolled Students
2. Children of Governing Board Members and Staff Members
3. Siblings of Returning Enrolled Students
Returning currently enrolled students (Priority 1) will fill seats first for 1st grade through 6th grade. Returning students are guaranteed a seat in the next grade so long as they submit an Intent To Return Form by the due date determined each year by administration.
Once all returning students have claimed their seats, Priority 2 applicants will be placed in available seats. Then Priority 3 applicants will fill available seats. If there are more applicants than available seats by the time seating occurs for applicants in Priority 2 or Priority 3, then those applicants will be placed in a lottery within their respective Priority Group to determine which students will be offered a seat and which students will be placed on the waitlist. Then applicants in the subsequent priority level, in order of priority level, will be placed in a lottery within their priority group which will determine each applicant’s placement on the waitlist.
SEATS AVAILABLE FOR EACH CLASS
The number of seats available during the lottery will be based on the approved class size and number of classes offered for each grade. The approved cap on class size for kindergarten at YHALE is 20 students. The approved cap on class size for 1st grade through 6th grade at YHALE is 25.
WAITLIST PROCESS
– Applications received after the Application Period will be placed at the end of the waitlist for each grade that is generated by the lottery, in the order in which they were received.
– If a grade is not at capacity at the end of the lottery, additional, qualified applicants may be offered seats in the order their applications are received. Applicants in the 2nd grade through 5th grade need to pass the target language screening test before their application can be properly submitted.
– If additional seats become available after the lottery, the seats will be filled by the applicants from the waitlist, in numerical order determined by the lottery.
– If there is no waitlist for any particular grade, then seats that become available after the lottery will be offered to the earliest properly submitted application received after the lottery.
TARGET LANGUAGE PLACEMENT NOTIFICATION
Target Language Preference Survey
YHALE offers two target languages: Korean and Mandarin Chinese. A language preference survey will be included on the application form. Applicants will indicate their top language preference of the two offered languages or may indicate that they have no preference between the two languages. Target language preference on the survey does not have any impact whatsoever on the seats that are offered or the outcome of a lottery if one is necessary.
Target Language Acceptance Form
YHALE will notify applicants of their target language placement and will send a Language Acceptance Form via email. Applicants have 3 days to accept their target language.
On the Target Language Acceptance Form, a parent must choose one of the following:
1. Accept the target language placement.
2. Decline the target language placement, and request for their student to be placed at the end of the waitlist for his/her grade.
3. Decline the target language placement, and withdraw their application to YHALE.
**If an applicant does not respond to his/her target language placement, it will be assumed that the applicant accepts his/her placement.
If/when a seat becomes available after all applicants have accepted their target language placement, the seat (and its corresponding target language placement) will be offered to the next applicant on the waitlist, and a Target Language Acceptance Form will be sent to the applicant. This process continues until all seats have been filled.
Please note, there are no language-specific waitlists.