In our September Chat & Sip, we invited WLAPOM member Anton (Rico Lah) to share his experiences with navigating Kindergarten placements through the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Here's what he said (in a nutshell):
NB. "Hacking LAUSD" (original PPT & PDF) by Rico Lah can be downloaded directly here:
1. Look up your local school and decide if you like it (or not).
If you're not happy with the school within your resident boundary; you have the option to apply for other schools within LAUSD:
Make an inventory of all public/private/charter elementary schools near you.
Use Google Maps to decide realistically which ones you'd drive to.
Remove schools which are not linked to LAUSD.
Cross check the list you have with https://schooldirectory.lausd.net/schooldirectory/
Tour and apply to ALL of the schools on your list.
2. Understand the types of LAUSD Schools:
Public schools (LAUSD)
Independent Charter Schools (LAUSD)
Affiliated Charter Schools (LAUSD)
Dual Language Schools (LAUSD)
School for Advanced Studies or ‘SAS’ (LAUSD)
Magnet Schools (LAUSD)
3, Understand the deadlines:
Open Houses (tours) are September to November for the next school year; miss it and it’s gone! There is no centralized website.
For Independent Charters, applications start in October through February. There is no centralized website!
4. General tips:
Building a spreadsheet is really helpful (see Antons magic spreadsheet on link below).
Advocate for your kids, nobody else will.
Fight hard. Don’t take NO for an answer.
If the local school says NO, find ways to escalate up to the District.
Don't forget that places can pop up at the last minute.
Don't panic.
Useful websites:
