It’s that time of the year again: New Orleans’ public school enrollment. With no neighborhood-specific schools, families must rank which of the city’s 70-plus charter schools they’d like their children to attend. That process starts now.
OneApp, the district’s centralized enrollment process opened Friday and will stay open until Jan. 29, according to the district. Families have 10 weeks to rank up to 12 schools using the district’s software.
In most cases, families do not need to re-apply to stay at their current school, according to the district. OneApp is largely for families who are new to the system entirely or looking to switch schools. It’s also for families with students in transitional grades applying to middle or high school.
The district says families who are matched during the first round of OneApp will receive their school assignments in late March or early April.
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There’s no incentive to rank your schools early since all applications are processed at the same time once the deadline has passed. Some schools do have early deadlines though and three schools don’t participate in the OneApp process at all.
To apply to Benjamin Franklin High School, Lake Forest Charter School, and Lusher Charter School, families must follow the school’s own application process.
Applications for Lake Forest and Lusher must be submitted before Nov. 30. Benjamin Franklin’s deadline is Jan. 22.
There are several schools participating in the OneApp process that have earlier deadlines due to additional admissions requirements, according to the district.
They’re largely French and Spanish immersion programs that require older students to complete language proficiency exams prior to enrollment. Applications for these schools must be received by Jan. 15.
Superintendent Henderson Lewis Jr. said in a statement Friday that the enrollment timeline, which is similar to last year’s, will allow families to better plan for the year ahead.
“We know that switching from or starting at a new school can be challenging, and we want to better serve families by ensuring they know where their student will be attending school earlier,” Lewis said.
A second round of OneApp enrollment will be available for families who missed or did not receive a match during the first round. OneApp is expected to reopen for these families in early April once first-round matches are announced.
