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.
The Open Enrollment Process
(Dates for 2010 will be announced in late 2009 and posted at schools and on the district website.)
Parent Information Meeting: An information meeting will be held in February 2010 on a weekday evening at the CUSD Education Center.
Information Materials and Applications: Available at the meeting, as well as at all school offices and the CUSD Education Center during the week of the Parent Information Meeting in February 2010.
Visitation Days: Families are invited to visit schools with openings by making an appointment with the school principal on one of two days set aside for visits during the week of the Parent Information Meeting in February 2010.
Application Period: Applications must be submitted between 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., in person, either at the school you wish your child to attend or at the CUSD Education Center in San Juan Capistrano, during the week following the Parent Information Meeting in February 2010.
Notifications to applicants are made approximately one month after applications are submitted.
2009-10 Open Enrollment
- 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 and brochures will be available at all Capistrano Unified School District schools and the District office beginning February 9, 2009.
- Open Enrollment applications may be submitted beginning February 17, 2009 through February 20, 2009. Parents will be notified in writing beginning April 3, 2009 regarding the status of their on-time application.
- Wait lists will be generated for schools in the limited space and one-to-one transfer categories only. Students placed on a wait list should register at their home school for 2009/10.
- Open Enrollment students who request a transfer back to their home school after May 31, 2009 will not be guaranteed a place in their home school. Placement at the home school will be considered on a space-available basis by grade level after September 21, 2009.
- Applications submitted after June 30, 2009 will not be considered until after September 21, 2009.
- 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.
- Click Here to view the 2009-10 categorization of schools by openings. (Updated June 1, 2009)
