FAQs: Lottery and Enrollment

The Riveredge School began with a lottery in late spring of 2019 to fill seats in grades kindergarten through fourth grade.  Now, in the winter of 2023, ROLES is in the midst of its 4th full year of existence with kindergarten through 5th grade classes.  None of these years have been typical school years through the COVID-19 pandemic when it comes to enrollment!  Families are still just learning of our new outdoor, nature-based charter school.

In general, most schools experience a few changes in enrollment due to families relocating or seeking a different educational plan for their children over the course of the summer and throughout the school year.  

In our school, when a student leaves ROLES or decides not to enroll, it opens up a seat at that grade level.  This is when the first person on the waiting list is contacted and offered the opportunity to fill the available seat.  

Here are situations in which students would be removed from the waiting list.  

1 – The family is contacted, offered an available seat, and does not respond by the given deadline.

2 – The family is contacted, offered an available seat, and expresses that they are no longer interested in enrolling at that time.  

3 – The family contacts ROLES and asks to be removed from the waiting list.

4 – The family is contacted and accepts the seat, enrolling in ROLES.  Sometimes this involves the student transferring from their current attending school.  

If your family feels strongly that ROLES is the right fit for your family, then remaining on the waitlist until you are contacted is a failsafe option.  

Please refer to the school’s Enrollment and Lottery Process 2023 for more information.  

Many families faced this difficult scenario for the 2021-22 school year after the lottery due to our limited available seats at each grade level.  New applicants were placed on the waitlists at their grade levels, while a sibling was offered an available seat at a different grade level.

Accepting the seat offer guarantees that student’s place at that grade level.  The sibling on the waitlist remains in their place on the waitlist unless something changes with students ahead of the sibling on the waitlist.  

Every spring, students on the waitlist that were never contacted must reapply for ROLES if they would like to be considered for enrollment again.  These students would then fall into “Preference Group 4”.  If the waitlist student has an attending sibling, then the student would fall into “Preference Group 2” for siblings of returning students.  Preference Group 2 students are placed before Preference Group 4 students at their grade levels.  There must be an available seat at the grade level before any Preference Group student is considered for placement.  

The applicants for the kindergarten class may fall into Preference Groups 2 and 3.  New applicants for kindergarten will not fall into Preference Groups 1 (returning students) and 4 (waitlist from previous year’s lottery).  This means there will likely always be some of the 18 seats available to new applicants.  

ROLES contacts the next family on the waitlist for that grade level to offer the available seat.  If the student applies for ROLES in the future, he/she is treated as a new applicant to ROLES and will be part of the lottery at the given grade level.

This is a challenging family decision!  The ROLES Lottery and Enrollment process was designed to give preference to families and keep siblings together, however, occasionally this does not happen due to limited available seats at each grade level.  

Transportation to and from ROLES is a major practical consideration for all families attending ROLES.  Drop off is between 8:20am and 8:30am.  Pick up is about 3:40pm.  Our ROLES PTO assists families in connecting with others to form carpools.

Another large practical consideration in this decision is our weekly schedule.  The Governance Council approved the schedule of Monday through Thursday in person instruction and virtual instruction on Fridays for the next three school years. 

On Fridays, virtual instruction typically consists of a virtual meeting/presentation by the ROLES Staff about 30 minutes long and assigned tasks by the classroom teacher to be completed individually at home by the student.  To provide optimal programming in our natural setting in which classroom staff are with their students the entire school day Monday through Thursday, teacher preparation occurs on Fridays including professional development, collaboration and meetings as well.

The online open enrollment period begins the first Monday in February at 8:00AM and closes at on the last Friday in April at 4:00PM.  The online open enrollment application may be completed at any time between these dates.  Completing and submitting applications early in the open enrollment period does NOT increase the likelihood of a seat offer.  In addition to the online open enrollment application, make sure to submit a ROLES application directly to the school.  Visit the “How to Enroll” website page for more information.  Both applications MUST be completed and submitted by the end of April to be included in the lottery for the subsequent school year.

Enrollment Application ROLES 2023-24

After the lottery in May, non-resident applicants must complete and submit the Alternative Open Enrollment form in addition to the Enrollment Application ROLES 2023-24.  This form becomes available on WI DPI’s website after July 1, 2023.  Applicants after the lottery are considered after all students on the waitlist for the grade level have been contacted.

Both residents of Northern Ozaukee School District and non-residents have an equal opportunity through our lottery for any available seats at any grade level.  NOSD residents only need to complete and submit the ROLES application by the end of April.  Non-residents must also complete the online open enrollment application between early February and the end of April.

Preferences are given to students in this order who:
1. Are currently enrolled in The Riveredge School (Preference Group 1)

2. Siblings of currently enrolled students (Preference Group 2)
3. Are children of The Riveredge School teachers and staff, Governance Board members, or school’s
founders (not to exceed 10% of the overall enrollment) (Preference Group 3)
4. Are on the waiting list from the previous year (Preference Group 4)

Due to WI DPI guidelines, no students may be added to waiting lists years ahead of time.  When your student reaches the spring before he/she would enter 5 year old kindergarten, submit an application to ROLES to be included in the spring lottery.  Every school year, applications for open seats at all grade levels will be accepted the beginning of February through the end of April (WI DPI Open Enrollment Dates).  Our school’s lottery will be held in May to fill open seats.

There is a lot of interest at the kindergarten level especially in our school, so there are many new applicants going into the lottery for a seat.  If you feel strongly that ROLES is an ideal fit for your family, please submit the application(s) and stay tuned for the lottery results!

Applications from both returning students and new applying students are collected from early February through the end of April.  Because applications may be submitted at any time during this time period, ROLES staff will not know the numbers of returning students and/or new applicants going into the lottery until May.

Students in Preference Groups 2, 3, and 4 will be placed in open seats and/or the waitlist at their grade level before the lottery.

All other new applicants to fill available seats and form grade level waitlists will be included in the lottery on May 11th, 2023.  These families will receive an email in the first two weeks of May, before the lottery, with their family’s lottery number and information about the lottery process.

After the lottery is a very busy time for our school staff and NOSD staff!  During the first few weeks of May, our school and NOSD review all open enrollment information including any students with special education services.  Our lottery on May 11, 2023 occurred before this reviewal process is complete.  As a result, there may be changes to the classlists and waitlists before the lottery results are posted on our website and individual emails are sent home to families.

Families are informed of their student’s status when the reviewal process has been completed.  Individualized emails are sent home to all lottery participants informing the family of the student’s seat offer, waitlist number, or denial before lottery results are posted on the website. 

We kindly ask for your patience and understanding as we work to inform all families of their status within the same time frame. We understand that this is a very exciting time and there are questions left to answer, however our team will be working tirelessly to send communications out following the lottery through a variety of platforms including individual emails, our website, and social media.

Lottery and Waitlist Results: 2023-24

At this time, ROLES works in collaboration with Northern Ozaukee School District to provide special education services as determined by the IEP. During the application process, both ROLES and NOSD will review the needs of your child to determine if his/her needs will be adequately serviced in ROLES unique setting.  The ROLES lottery takes place before IEPs are reviewed by ROLES and NOSD through the open enrollment process.  Placement during the lottery does not ensure a seat offer.  A child’s acceptance to enroll in ROLES with an existing IEP is determined on an individual basis.  Currently, a limited number of students with only speech/language services receive services through NOSD onsite at ROLES during the school year.

Thank you for your time and support!