Cherry Chase Elementary School

Procedures for Balancing Enrollment

In certain years, it is possible that enrollment at Cherry Chase is at or near capacity in one or more grade levels.  When this happens, we want to make you aware of the District procedures that we are required to follow when registrations exceed the mandated caps of 24 in K-3rd and 32 in 4th–5th. These procedures ensure that newly enrolled students will have a seat in a Sunnyvale School District school as close as possible to their place of residence.  

 

Our procedures for balancing enrollment at all grades are outlined in the Family Handbook. Relevant excerpts are cited below. Please understand that enrollment can change almost daily over the summer and at the start of the school year, so we appreciate your patience and flexibility with this process. Enrollment priority for the following school year begins with the February registration, so students who enroll for the current year after pre-registration has started will be blended into the priority list when allocating spaces for the following year.

 

All students who enroll at Cherry Chase are seated in classrooms here for the first few days of school. On the fourth day of the school year, we will dis-enroll any students who have not yet shown up and who have not contacted the school with a valid reason for absence, in accordance with the Attendance Policy listed below.

 

By the 20th day of the school year, we need to be within the class sizes mentioned above. To do so, we may need to move some students from one classroom to another at Cherry Chase within the same grade, reconfigure classes (i.e., create a combination class after the year has started), or move some students to another school within the school district. We work hard to minimize these changes and the impact on students, so please be patient with us during this process. 

1. We are unable to reserve classroom space. Students who were previously registered but missed the first three days of school will be considered no-shows and dis-enrolled on the fourth day of school. Parents will need to register again. Placement at the home school is not guaranteed.
2. Students who are ill on the first day of school must have a doctor’s note excusing their absence. A parent/guardian must call the school on the first day of school if their student is too ill to attend. In order to protect your student from a “no-show” disenrollment and losing their classroom placement, please call every day, and bring in a doctor’s note as well as a parent’s note by the third day of school. 

 

 

1. At the beginning of the year, all students are tentatively placed in their home school until final enrollment numbers have been established. Principals and district office administrators then determine which schools are over and under-enrolled in an effort to meet class size limits. After a registration packet is accepted as complete, seating is prioritized by the date and time registration was accepted. If a grade level exceeds a school’s class size limit, students will be placed out in registration order; last registered, first moved.
2. This movement usually occurs between two to four weeks after school has started.
3. Administrative placement is considered temporary until a space becomes available and the student can be returned to their home school. However, a student may apply for an Intradistrict transfer to remain at their overloaded school for the remainder of the current school year.
4. Bus transportation will be provided from the resident school to the assigned school while on administrative placement. If a transfer is requested and approved, busing will only continue to be provided if there is space on the bus; otherwise, parents are responsible for transportation.
5. Students who have been administratively placed at another school will be returned to their home school in the same order they were placed out, e.g. first student out, first returned, etc.
6. An exception to returning a student out of turn would only be for extraordinary reasons to be determined and approved by the Manager of Student Information.
7. If a space becomes available, a student will be returned to their home school. If parents wish their student to complete the school year at the assigned school, they may apply for an Intradistrict Transfer. If an Intradistrict Transfer is denied, a student will be returned to their home school within 5 school days.
8. Intradistrict Transfers are not automatically granted, but evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
9. Transfers are approved or denied by the Manager of Student Information based on space, principal recommendation, and the student’s history of attendance, academics, and behavior while at their assigned school. Once the student is recalled to their home school, only an approved Intradistrict Transfer, which is for the current school year, will allow the student to finish the year at the assigned school. At the end of the current school year, the transfer will expire and the student will be reenrolled at their home school for the next school year.
10. Depending on available space, students who have been administratively placed may apply to stay through Open Enrollment if they wish to remain for more than one year.