Independence Charter Lottery Tonight

**Eastcoast** · 03-10-2011, 12:40 PM

Anyone out there going to brave the storm to see if they secured a spot?

**jillys** · 03-11-2011, 09:28 AM

My husband went, but unfortunately missed most of the names for the enhanced program (the one we applied for) and they told him that we need to wait to be notified. Based on our recent viewing of Waiting for Superman, he expected to hear cheering and see tears, but apparently there was none of that. Action News, however, was there.

**Eastcoast** · 03-11-2011, 10:06 AM

Yeah, channel 6 was there, the atmosphere was pretty reserved, not quite grim but quiet.

We were looking at the immersion program but were not picked or within the first 25 wait listed so Independence is out for us.

If I remember the numbers correctly there were over 900 applications for the entire school with something like 425 applications (from within Philadelphia) for the kindergarten slots. There were 11 slots in the enhanced program and 20 or so in the immersion program, there were three twins picked so that filled 6 slots as sibling preference means automatic acceptance at the K level. Please keep in mind that the numbers I'm throwing out here are ballpark and should not be taken as gospel.

Good luck to everyone with the school search.

**jillys** · 03-11-2011, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Eastcoast

Yeah, channel 6 was there, the atmosphere was pretty reserved, not quite grim but quiet.

We were looking at the immersion program but were not picked or within the first 25 wait listed so Independence is out for us.

If I remember the numbers correctly there were over 900 applications for the entire school with something like 425 applications (from within Philadelphia) for the kindergarten slots. There were 11 slots in the enhanced program and 20 or so in the immersion program, there were three twins picked so that filled 6 slots as sibling preference means automatic acceptance at the K level. Please keep in mind that the numbers I'm throwing out here are ballpark and should not be taken as gospel.

Good luck to everyone with the school search.

We had heard that the school had more applications for the enhanced program than the immersion program this year and figure that with sibling preference it's highly unlikely we'll be offered a spot. I think we still have two more lotteries to go--looks like it's probably either Stanton or CCCS for us.

**kindredgroove** · 03-12-2011, 02:43 PM

What is the enhanced program?

**jillys** · 03-12-2011, 09:19 PM

Originally Posted by kindredgroove

What is the enhanced program?

The enhanced program includes Spanish instruction, but classes are primarily taught in English. The immersion program is taught primarily in Spanish.

**Eastcoast** · 03-13-2011, 07:12 PM

Enhanced: 10% spanish, 90% english

Immersion: 90% spanish, 10% english

**L3N** · 03-13-2011, 10:25 PM

I went. Did not get a spot in K. The numbers quoted are more or less on the money. The gathering was dead quiet. I don't think anyone in attendance earned a spot, or if they did, they did a good job at hiding it. Nothing like "Superman" or this woman's experience from a prior year.

**girlfiend** · 03-14-2011, 04:29 PM

I had low expectations, so I skipped the lottery. Anyone know how quickly the waiting list postcards come out?

**Dolemite** · 03-14-2011, 04:44 PM

It seems like ICS changed the application process this year (or maybe I didn't notice it last year) but what do people think of the just the application process? Did it seem like too many hoops to jump through?

**kindredgroove** · 03-14-2011, 07:48 PM

How did they change the process? What exactly is the process?

**girlfiend** · 03-14-2011, 09:49 PM

hoops? All I did was fill out the application and take it to the school on a Saturday morning with the same documents I needed to register my son at our local public school. I handed them the folder, they made copies, I self-addressed a postcard and I was done. The process at the local public school took longer because I had more paperwork to fill out.

When I was waiting to turn in my application at ICS I was chatting with a woman who came in at the same time as I did. She lives across the street from the Penn Alexander school. Her husband was supposed to get up at 4.30 to get in line. He overslept, went over at 5, and he was number 56. On the one hand, that sucks- to live across the street and need to find a school for one year. On the other hand, he got there at 5 and he was #56? The media made it seem like people were waiting in line for Dead tickets.

**Eastcoast** · 03-14-2011, 11:55 PM

Originally Posted by Dolemite

It seems like ICS changed the application process this year (or maybe I didn't notice it last year) but what do people think of the just the application process? Did it seem like too many hoops to jump through?

No worse than a transaction at the dmv with the potential of saving upwards of 16k a year. Soooooo not so bad.

**L3N** · 03-15-2011, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by girlfiend

Anyone know how quickly the waiting list postcards come out?

I think that they said that they would be mailed the end of this week.

The hoops weren't bad, though they had many small windows of time where you could drop off the application.

**Dolemite** · 03-15-2011, 08:26 PM

I'm not sure what they told you but I saw posted outside the office the waiting list sorted by grade and program.

**jillys** · 03-15-2011, 09:14 PM

The application was fine, but I wonder what the rationale was for changing the drawing from December to March? Not that it really matters to me.

**Dolemite** · 03-16-2011, 10:06 AM

Originally Posted by jillys

The application was fine, but I wonder what the rationale was for changing the drawing from December to March? Not that it really matters to me.

Perhaps because they made the numerous small windows to drop off the applications they wanted to make additional times available.

**dr_gingivitis** · 03-18-2011, 03:55 PM

We were 155 on the wait list. I'm optimistic.

**Eastcoast** · 03-18-2011, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by dr_gingivitis

We were 155 on the wait list. I'm optimistic.

HA!

Perhaps you need to take a plot line from Scooby Doo and convince everyone that ICS is haunted!

**girlfiend** · 03-18-2011, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by dr_gingivitis

We were 155 on the wait list. I'm optimistic.

were you at the lottery, or did you get your postcard? They said we could email to find out, but they have removed all email addresses from their website- if they were ever there to begin with. I submitted an email through the contact form but I'm guessing it ended up in their SPAM folder.