Will ranking Peralta #1 give up our enrollment spot at Chabot?
Chabot Elementary is our neighborhood school and we understand it is a great option, although it is one of the larger OUSD elementary schools. We live equidistance from both Peralta and Chabot, and I want to understand what would happen if we ranked the smaller school -- Peralta Elementary -- as #1 and then Chabot as #2. Would we be giving up a more or less guaranteed spot at Chabot by ranking it second?
Dec 1, 2023
Parent Replies
No, the only way that you might have a spot at Chabot and not get it is if you are matched at Peralta. The way it works is that when they pull your name they will try and place you at your top choice first. Then, they will try and place you at your second and (on down the list if need be) until they have a spot for you. For example, when we went through it our neighborhood school was our number 3 choice. We were waitlisted at #1 and 2 and placed at our neighborhood school to begin with. During the summer, we were offered a spot at our #2. We then released our #3 neighborhood spot and took our second choice. We continued to be waitlisted at #1 until the window closed (3 weeks into the school year) and they were no longer places students at new schools. Hope that's clear!
Not sure what you mean by "give up a spot." It's not like college where you get multiple offers and you get to choose between them. If you rank Peralta as number one, you will either get in there, or you won't. If you don't get in there, they'll move down the list to your number 2 spot, and you'll either get in there, or you won't. Etc. You should decide which school you'd rather your child attend and put that as #1. Because of the neighborhood priority, if you list Chabot as #1 it is very likely you will get in there. But if you list Peralta as #1 you may get in there, so you should only list it as #1 if you would be happy to send your kid there because you don't get a do-over after the fact.
If you rank Peralta #1, and they assign you to Peralta, you will be put on the waiting lists for your other choices. If you want Chabot, you should rank it #1.
Just to clarify the previous comment--if you rank Peralta #1, and they assign you to Peralta, you will NOT be put on the waiting lists for your other choices. Everything ranked below the school you get assigned to is dropped. So yes, absolutely list the schools in your true order of preference. You don't lose anything by putting Chabot further down the list since you retain your neighborhood priority there regardless, and the "lotteries" for each school run independent of one another. In the first round you will likely get assigned to Chabot and then be placed on the waitlists for any schools you ranked higher than Chabot.