The district’s Open Enrollment program offers parents the opportunity to apply to the school that they would like their child to attend.
Since the program began 16 years ago, more than 90 percent of our parents annually choose to have their child remain at their home school, which is the local school serving their child’s attendance area. For a variety of personal or educational reasons, however, some parents prefer to have their child attend another school within the district. Our program provides parents with this option on a space-available basis. Detailed information describing each school and its academic offerings is available on their websites.
Parents of high-school student athletes are urged to learn more about CIF sports eligibility requirements prior to pursuing the Open Enrollment process, so that there will be no misunderstanding regarding sports participation rules. Transportation to any school other than the home school is the responsibility of parents.
For more information, call our Open Enrollment Hotline at (949) 234-9335.
2010/11 Open Enrollment Guidelines and Timeline
Open Enrollment Board Policy 5119 was revised by the Board of Trustees at their December 15, 2009 meeting. Please read the Board Policy in its entirety before requesting your school of choice for the 2010/11 school year. The link to the revised board policy is located in the right-hand column of this page. The most significant changes to the board policy are:
- Students approved for open enrollment placement in 2010/11 will be required to attend their school of choice for one full year. Students may reapply for Open Enrollment placement at their school of residence after attending their school of choice at least one full year.
- Beginning with the 2010/11 school year, wait lists for Open Enrollment requests will not be maintained. Please see the fourth paragraph under Placement Procedures in the Board Policy for additional information. All decisions are final. There is no appeal process for Open Enrollment denials.
- State law requires the Open Enrollment selection process to be random and unbiased. In the event there are more Open Enrollment requests than there are openings in a particular school, a lottery procedure for placement will be implemented.
- The initial Open Enrollment agreement is in effect for the duration of a child’s years at the requested school. You do not need to reapply annually.
- The Open Enrollment agreement is school specific. Students transitioning to a middle or high school, other than their home school, will need to reapply.
- Open Enrollment applications will be available at all Capistrano Unified School District schools, the District office and on our website beginning February 1, 2010.
- Families are invited to visit schools with openings during the month of February. Please contact your school of choice to schedule an appointment.
- Open Enrollment applications must be submitted beginning February 1, 2010 through February 26, 2010. Parents will be notified in writing beginning April 9, 2010 regarding the status of their on-time application.
- In order to ensure the timely response of all requests, the status of Open Enrollment applications will not be provided over the telephone or in person.
- We understand your request is important; however, staff will be finalizing enrollment projections and staffing allocations for each of our 55 school sites during the month of August and first week of September. They will be unavailable to respond to individual requests for information during this time period.
