As required by state law, any child who is qualified for admission to a North Carolina public school is qualified for admission to the School. Admission shall not be determined according to the school attendance area in which a student resides.

The School shall not discriminate against any student on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, gender, or disability.  Except as otherwise provided by law or the mission of the School as set out in the charter, the School shall not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability. The School shall not limit admission to students on the basis of race, creed, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, or ancestry. 

The application will include the student’s name, current grade level, grade applying for, student’s date of birth, age of child by August 31st,  current address of student, self-identification of priority status(es) found below, parent/guardian name, phone number of parent/guardian, email of parent/guardian, notification email, notification cell phone number, self-identification of students as multiple birth siblings, and a declaration of the student’s residence in the state of North Carolina. 

For the purposes of this section, the term “siblings” includes any of the following who reside in the same household: full siblings, half siblings, step siblings, and children residing in a family foster home.

The School will give priority in this order:

1a. Children or grandchildren of the school's full-time employees.

1b. Children or grandchildren of the charter school's board of directors. If a board member resigns prior to completing one year of service, the priority and/or offered seat will be forfeited.  

The number of students admitted via this priority (1a, 1b) is limited to no more than fifteen percent (15%) of the school's total enrollment, unless granted a waiver by the State Board of Education. Children or grandchildren of the school's full-time employees, so long as the total percentage of such students does not exceed 15% of the school’s population.

2. Students who were enrolled within the two previous school years, but left the school (i) to participate in an academic study abroad program or a competitive admission residential program or (ii) because of the vocational opportunities of the student’s parent.

3. Siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the School in a previous year.

4. Siblings of students who have graduated from the highest grade level offered at Willow Oak Montessori and who were enrolled in at least four grade levels offered by Willow Oak Montessori.

5. Children whose families are considered Economically Disadvantaged based on Federal National Program Free and Reduced Lunch income guidelines. The School will utilize a weighted lottery system for our economically disadvantaged students (EDS) to increase their chance of admission.

6. All other applicants.

Families seeking lottery priority as Economically Disadvantaged will have the opportunity to complete an optional form, separate from the lottery application, to establish that they qualify for such priority. On that form, applicants will consent to verification of the income provided only to establish eligibility. Information provided for verification purposes will not be retained.

The School will hold an annual open enrollment period that shall last at least 30 consecutive days. Applications will typically open in December. The lottery will typically be held in early March. Dates will be communicated yearly to the public. At the conclusion of the enrollment period, if the number of applicants for a particular grade does not exceed the number of available spaces for that grade level, all eligible students who have properly applied by the deadline will be accepted. At the close of the enrollment period, if the number of applicants for a particular grade level exceeds available spaces for that grade level, a lottery system will determine admission eligibility. If multiple birth siblings apply for admission to the School and a lottery is needed, the School shall enter one surname into the lottery to represent all of the multiple birth siblings. If that surname of the multiple birth siblings is selected, then all of the multiple birth siblings shall be admitted.

Students who are not offered enrollment will be placed on a wait list. After all spaces for a grade level are filled, the lottery will continue until all applying students have been assigned a number on the waitlist. The wait list will not carry into the next School year, but will remain and be used for admission should a space become available during the current School year for which it was conducted. Applications received after the lottery is run will be added to the bottom of the grade-level waitlist in the order they are received.

Applicants will be notified that their student has received an offer of enrollment via email. Once they have been notified, the deadlines to accept the seat will be as follows: 

• After the lottery is run - 7 calendar days to accept

• 30 days prior to the start of school - 3 calendar days to accept (72 hours)

• One week prior to the first day of school - 1 calendar day to accept (24 hours)

• After the 20th day of school - 3 calendar days to accept (72 hours) 

Enrollment is confirmed only when parents/guardians have completed or submitted all required forms and documents either electronically or in person to the School’s office based on the timeline above. If these documents are not received by the deadline, the spot may be offered to the next person on the waitlist. 

If an enrollment offer is declined or allowed to expire by the applicable deadline, that student’s name will be removed from the waitlist and the next person on the waitlist will be offered the space. Families can add their students to the bottom of the waitlist at any time during the application period or the current school year.

Attendance at school every day, particularly at the beginning of the school year, is critical. In the event that an enrolled student does not attend any orienting events prior to the start of the school year, the school will make an effort to contact the family via telephone and/or email to ensure that the student still intends to attend the school. If a student does not show up for school on the first day of school, the school will again contact the family via the telephone numbers and email addresses provided on the student’s enrollment paperwork. The family will have three days (72 hours) to respond to these inquiries to confirm that the student still intends to attend the school before the student’s space is offered to the next student on the waiting list.

The School will work to implement this Admissions policy consistently, and as written. The School recognizes that administrative errors may occur. The School will attempt to identify and address such an error in a timely manner with the affected individual(s).

After admission and during the School year, serious and/or repeated deviations from the policies and procedures defined by the School will result in an evaluation of the student’s placement in the School, as allowed by law.