Before school opened, SDA admitted 178 freshmen who were initially  put on the wait list. Also, after parents complained about their children not being accepted, the district decided to look  at changing the way students are admitted, including doing away with the lottery. The district is forming a task force to seek input from the community and examine potential high school enrollment options.

Principal Tim Hornig said that the task force will look at “the viability of the lottery system, boundary schools, and any combination of the two that would be legal.”

“I don’t think that it means that it’s going to be changed. It’s  just that as we continually evolve we should look at the systems we have in place,” Hornig said.

There are currently 503 freshmen at SDA, though originally the number was going to substantially less. The increase in the freshmen class is not expected to impact the school, as the school is prepared and able to accommodate for the larger class size, Hornig said.

After two years without the lottery, it was used once again this past spring as middle school students selected their high schools.  This  raised the ire of a group of parents who lived close to the school and felt that it was unfair that their children, who had been cut, were now unable to attend and had to travel across town to attend LCC.

The usual admission process begins in spring when students consider what schools they would like to attend and then make their selections, Hornig said. Depending on how many students apply, SDA either admits all the students, or conducts a lottery and generates a wait list out of the remaining students, he said. After the selection window closes, the district analyzes how many students the schools have capacity for, and considers whether they can accommodate the extra pupils, he said.

“Our district looks at all kind of data… and then tells us how many we have room for,” Hornig said. Often they are able to admit everyone who wants to attend, which was the case this year. “In spring before summer we like to let those individuals on the wait list know that they’ve been accepted; this year it was later than usual,” said Hornig.

Tensions ran high this year, as a group of families were upset that their children had initially been put on the wait list. “Parents are concerned that their kids aren’t getting their first choice, that they live so close in a sense that it’s like ‘hey, I’m going to drive right by this school on the way to LCC,’ while in fact you might know people who drive down the street from La Costa Canyon to go here,” Hornig said.

The district will be examining the selection process to see if it needs any changes, but with the current model, it is illegal to give preference based on any factors, such as proximity to the school, Hornig said. To give this advantage would require switching over to the more traditional model of boundary schools, which would take away the ability to choose the academy based on school preference, he said.

“The statute’s pretty clear. If you go the way we go, you’ve got to throw out all the boundaries,” Hornig said. “It’s a tough reality but that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The district is listening to parent concerns, and this school year a task force of parents, students, and staff members will be formed to examine the high school enrollment process and how it has changed now that the academies have grown more popular.

“The statute’s pretty clear. If you go the way we go, you’ve got to throw out all the boundaries,” Hornig said. “It’s a tough reality but that’s what you’ve got to do.”

The district is listening to parent concerns, and this school year a task force of parents, students, and staff members will be formed to examine the high school enrollment process and how it has changed now that the academies have grown more popular.