Applications for SY10-11 closed March 2010. All openings have been filled and remaining applicants added to the waitlist.

Applications for enrollment in all grades are being accepted starting February 1, 2011 to March 24, 2011. Applications are available on our website or at the school office starting February 2011. The application form can be downloaded as a PDF file, printed, filled out and mailed to the IPCS office. Applications have a deadline of 3:00 p.m. on Friday, March 24, 2011. All applications go into a public lottery system as more applications are received than spaces available. The lottery will take place at IPCS on April 1, 2011 at 9:00 a.m. Applicants do not need to be present.

Thank you for your interest in our charter school. As a school of choice, prospective families will want to explore our website to learn about Innovations' philosophy and instructional program. Information learned about the school will help parents understand the level of participation expected from parents and know if the Innovations' program meets their child's learning style and needs.

The following summary outlines how children are admitted to our school. If you have further questions, do not hesitate to call our office at 327-6205.

Who Can Apply: Innovations has an open admission policy regarding all who wish to attend. It does not target any particular student population. It is intended that all students be admitted in compliance with state and federal mandates. The only eligibility requirement for all students is that families must agree to and support the Innovations' Student Code of Conduct.

Minimum Age Requirement: Innovations follows the August 1 Federal age requirement for enrollment. Children entering first grade must be six (6) years old by August 1 of their entry year. Children who are younger may be developmentally unprepared to enter our program. Parents with children who meet the Hawaii age requirement of being age 6 by December 13 of their entry year may submit an application for their child. However, if their child is selected for enrollment via the lottery, a team from Innovations will assess the child to determine if they are developmentally ready to enter our first grade program. If a child is denied entry based on their developmental age, and they wish to enroll the following year, they will need to reapply and go through the lottery process again the following year.

Volunteerism: Innovations is a school of choice open to all. Parents determine if Innovations will provide an appropriate learning environment for their child based on educational setting, expectations for students, and services available. Parents also must determine if they are willing to commit to parent participation expectations. Parent volunteers are valued at IPCS. Parent volunteers help IPCS meet the vision and goals of the school. There are many ways for parents to help. By submitting an application for your child, you are committing to active participation in the school through volunteerism.

Special Needs Applicants: The Department of Education has developed a policy regarding the enrollment of Special Education students in charter schools. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that students and their families are aware of the services available at the charter school. Students who have been identified as needing Special Education Services, have an IEP, and are selected in the lottery are offered enrollment after it is determined that the staff at Innovations can provide the services needed for that child. Parents will meet with the home school and IPCS teams to determine what services are needed for their child and what services IPCS can provide. SPED students at Innovations receive services from a Special Education teacher using an inclusion model (students are not pulled out of their classroom for servicing; rather they receive services in the classroom in their regular setting.)

If SPED services are required that IPCS cannot provide, the child's placement will be at his/her home school where services can be provided.

Lottery: If more students apply for admission than space allows, the school will admit students based on a public lottery system  as required by federal mandate.  A lottery is a random selection process by which applicants are admitted to the charter school.

Each completed application will be drawn in random order to fill the available open slots. Once the openings are filled, the subsequent applicants will be assigned a waitlist number. In the event that more than one child from a single family has applied to the same grade level (twins), one child will be placed in the lottery and one number will be assigned to both children.

Application and Lottery Dates / Notification of Results: Applications are accepted starting February 1 up to the deadline date of March 24, 2011. The lottery will be held April 1, 2011 at 9 a.m. Parents and applicants do not need to be present for the drawing. Students whose names are drawn in the lottery and space is available, will be offered enrollment on April 1, 2011 via phone call. Applicants drawn and no space is available will have their name added to the existing waitlist. These applicants will be notified via a letter.

Lottery Exemptions and Order: The only students exempt from the lottery are returning students, siblings of IPCS students or former IPCS students who apply on their entry year (first grade) by March 24, 2011, and children whose parents or guardians are IPCS staff members.

The order in which openings are filled is as follows:

1. Returning students from current school year.
2. Younger siblings of students/former students, children of IPCS staff, founders.
3. Applicants on wait list from previous year’s lottery (if grade level has openings)
4. Applicants for school’s entry grade level. If more applicants apply than openings then move to step 5.
5. Ranking of lottery: All non-placed students shall be wait-listed in the order in which they are drawn in the lottery. The starting wait-listed number for each grade level will be determined by total number of existing wait-listed students for each of the grade levels.
6. If after April 1st there are spaces available and no wait-listed applicants, then from that time forth all students shall be admitted on a first-apply, first-offered basis.

Parents do not need to be present at the lottery to gain entry for their child. Children accepted for enrollment at the lottery or from the wait list are notified by telephone and/or in writing. If a family cannot be reached by phone and the letter is returned without forwarding information, the school will go to the next child on the list to offer enrollment.

Waitlists: Because there are few openings at IPCS, most applicants will go directly to a wait list. Although your child may not get in via lottery the first year, each year openings do occur and waitlisted applicants are contacted and offered enrollment. Names on the waitlist roll over to the next year. New names are placed at the bottom of the list. As applicants are called and offered enrollment, your child’s name moves up on the list. We have had many success stories of families able to gain enrollment via the waitlist.

MULTIPLE SIBLING FAMILIES      

IPCS believes it is important for siblings to attend the same school. It is our desire to keep families together. Our enrollment system is able to honor family enrollment if your child is selected for enrollment in first grade because in subsequent years, younger siblings applying for enrollment are given preference (see Lottery Exemptions and Order:  # 2 above).

Older siblings of first grade applicants enrolled are not offered automatic enrollment as all grades beyond first are full and have an existing wait list. There are no openings. Older siblings of first grade applicants wishing to enroll need to submit their own application, go through the lottery and receive a waitlisted number for their grade level. Wait listed numbers will most likely be different for each child in the family. We regret that in this case, we cannot keep families together as we would desire.

First grade applicants have a better chance for enrollment because it is the entry year for the school and no first grade wait list exists – consequently, openings are available.

Non-discriminatory: Admission procedures comply with the Hawai charter school statutes: enrollment is open to all students and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, ethnicity, mental or other special needs.