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The variety of college students waitlisted every spring at Denver public colleges continues to say no.
Information exhibits about 2,900 college students had been on waitlists after Spherical 1 of Denver Public Colleges’ faculty alternative course of this previous spring, although it’s vital to notice {that a} single pupil might be on a number of waitlists. That quantity is down from about 5,000 college students in 2019, a 41% lower.
General enrollment in Denver Public Colleges shrank from about 92,200 college students in kindergarten by twelfth grade in 2019 to about 88,200 college students in 2024, a 4% lower.
Denver Public Colleges officers stated they don’t have a proof for the shrinking waitlists. When the identical development confirmed up final 12 months, officers stated it could possibly be a symptom of declining enrollment or an indication that extra households are comfortable at their assigned neighborhood colleges.
Faculty alternative is enshrined in Colorado regulation. It means any pupil can apply to attend any public faculty. Denver Public Colleges makes it straightforward — and typically all however obligatory — for households to take part by having a single on-line software on which they’ll record as much as 12 faculty decisions. The applying window, generally generally known as Spherical 1, will open on Jan. 15.
Whether or not college students get accepted to a specific faculty relies on whether or not the college has open seats and the way it prioritizes its admissions. Nearly all colleges use a lottery, however they may give choice to siblings of already enrolled college students or the youngsters of lecturers, for instance.
For the 2024-25 faculty 12 months, college students at 10 Denver colleges that can shut or partially shut on the finish of this faculty 12 months will get precedence to enroll at any faculty they select.
College students who don’t get accepted to a specific faculty are placed on a waitlist. If a pupil is accepted to the third faculty on their record, they are going to be waitlisted at their first and second decisions.
Many faculty waitlists are shrinking. Notable traits embrace:
- Northfield Excessive Faculty had the longest waitlist after Spherical 1 in 2024 with 254 incoming ninth graders ready for a seat. Northfield’s waitlist grew 15% from 2019 to 2024.
- No incoming ninth graders had been waitlisted in 2024 at East Excessive, the district’s largest faculty. In 2019, there have been 112 incoming freshmen on East’s waitlist.
- Six of the ten colleges with the longest waitlists in 2024 had been district-run colleges. The opposite 4 had been constitution colleges, that are publicly funded however independently run.
- By Chalkbeat’s rely, the waitlists at 73 Denver colleges had been shorter in 2024 than they had been in 2019. The colleges the place waitlists shrank included McAuliffe Worldwide Faculty, Slavens Okay-8 Faculty, and Steele Elementary Faculty.
- By our rely, the waitlists at 38 Denver colleges had been longer in 2024 than they had been in 2019. The colleges the place waitlists grew included Merrill Center Faculty, Morey Center Faculty, and South Excessive Faculty.
- The waitlists in any respect different colleges both stayed the identical — practically all of them at zero college students in each 2024 and 2019 — or there wasn’t comparable information over time.
The searchable database under exhibits what number of college students in kindergarten, sixth, and ninth grades had been on every faculty’s waitlist after Spherical 1 of faculty alternative in 2024. The waitlists change over the spring and summer time as households transfer or change their minds.
A notice about Denver Faculty of the Arts: It’s the one faculty in Denver that requires an audition to get in. It runs its personal waitlist separate from the district course of. Though its waitlist exhibits up as zero within the searchable desk, district officers have stated the college rejects lots of of candidates every year.
Melanie Asmar is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Colorado. Contact Melanie at masmar@chalkbeat.org.