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Open Enrollment

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APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION OF OPEN ENROLLMENT and INTENT TO RENEW

LPS offers many educational choices to resident and non-resident families and welcomes out-of-district students. Colorado state law allows nonresidents to enroll students in any Colorado school without paying tuition when state and district guidelines are followed. Resident families may attend their attendance-area school or apply for open enrollment at another LPS school.

 

LPS Open Enrollment Guidelines

  • District residents have priority consideration over non-residents.
  • There is space available at the student’s grade level.
  • There is a school program appropriate for the enrolling student.
  • The student must be in good standing, grades, attendance and behavior, in his or her previous school.
  • Good standing applies to resident and non-resident students seeking new and continuing open enrollment.
  • Open enrolled students must reapply at level changes, elementary to middle and middle to high.
  • Open enrolled students wanting to continue at the same school next year must complete an "Intent to Renew" form. This must be done each year by the first Friday following Winter Break.

What Does It Mean to be a Student in Good Standing?

Grades 
Student overall academic performance will be considered in reviewing all open enrollment applications.  Students applying for open enrollment will be required to provide their classroom grades and/or standardized assessments for review.  Academic performance concerns may result in denied open enrollment requests or denial of continuing open enrollment requests.

Attendance 
Student attendance will be considered in reviewing all open enrollment applications.  Students applying for open enrollment will be required to provide attendance records from their previous school(s) for at least the last two school years. Both excused and unexcused absences will be considered.  Students applying for open enrollment who have 10 or more absences and/or 15 or more tardies during a single school year may be required to provide additional documentation related to those absences.  Attendance concerns may result in denied open enrollment requests or denial of continuing open enrollment requests.

Behavior
Student behavior will be considered in reviewing all open enrollment applications. Students applying for open enrollment will be required to provide copies of their behavior records from their previous school(s). The number of behavior incidents and the severity of the behavior incidents will be considered. This includes behavior that may or may not result in suspensions, expulsions, safety plans, etc. Behavior concerns may result in denied open enrollment requests or denial of continuing open enrollment requests.

LPS Open Enrollment Windows

In an effort to better serve families, LPS offers two open enrollment windows. All qualified students who apply within an open enrollment window will be part of a random drawing for admission, following district enrollment guidelines. This means families will have several weeks to turn in open enrollment applications for a random drawing of qualified students. Families will no longer feel pressured to line up on October 1st to turn in applications for open enrollment. Open enrollment applications must be turned in to each requested school.

Open Enrollment for the 2024–2025 school year is as follows:

  • Open Enrollment Window One for incoming high school students begins October 1, 2023 and ends November 15, 2023. No open enrollment applications or Intent To Renew forms for incoming elementary students or incoming middle school students will be collected during Open Enrollment Window One for the 2024-2025 school year.
  • Incoming high school students will be notified by the end of the first full week in December if they have been admitted based on the availability of space at the grade level and school, and if the review of records indicates that the student is in good standing. Qualified students in good standing who apply and are not admitted in Open Enrollment Window One will be placed on a waitlist. Should space become available, a random drawing based on LPS Open Enrollment Guidelines will occur. Additionally, qualified high school students who applied in Open Enrollment Window One will be placed in the random drawing before high school students who applied during Open Enrollment Window Two. 
  • Open Enrollment Window Two for all incoming elementary, middle and high school students begins November 16, 2023 and ends the first Friday following winter break (January 12, 2024). ALL open enrollment applications and Intent To Renew forms for incoming elementary students and incoming middle school students will be collected during Window Two. 
  • Students will be notified by the second Friday of the second semester (January 19, 2024) if they have been admitted based on the availability of space at the grade level and school, and if the review of records indicates that the student is in good standing.
  • Kindergarten registration window begins December 1, 2023 and ends January 17, 2024. Families will be notified of open enrollment admission at the end of January.  
  • Parents and students will receive notification about the availability of services from the requested school.
  • If, based upon the unavailability of services, enrollment in the requested school would constitute a change of placement for the student, an Individualized Education Program (IEP) team will be convened to determine whether the student can receive a free, appropriate, public education in the least restrictive environment at the requested school.

Littleton Public Schools does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, age, religion,  sex (which includes transgender and gender identity), marital status,  sexual orientation,  disability, or need for special education services in its programs or activities.

LPS continues to accept open enrollment applications through the spring and summer as space allows. Please check with individual schools for availability. 

Why the change in practice for elementary and middle open enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year?

The Littleton Public Schools Board of Education recently charged the district Long-Range Planning Committee to continue its review of elementary school boundaries east of Broadway and also review boundaries for middle schools east of Santa Fe. A subset of the original Long-Range Planning Committee has been meeting this fall to review new data from the demographer, Western Demographics, which includes information on children aged birth to 4 along with the extensive, accurate data already reviewed by the entire Long-Range Planning Committee last year. The charge for this group is to bring two or three recommendations to the Board of Education in October that will better balance (right size) enrollment at Newton, Powell, and Euclid middle schools as well as all elementary schools east of Broadway, using the Board’s and Committee’s long-established standards and values when possible. 

The Board’s deliberations will occur during Open Enrollment Window One. Because the Board may adopt boundary changes, LPS will wait to collect ALL elementary and middle school open enrollment applications during Window Two, after the Board’s possible action on boundaries. It is important that all elementary and middle school families have the opportunity to learn about possible boundary changes and subsequently make enrollment decisions that are best for their families. 

This temporary change in the open enrollment process for the upcoming 2024–2025 school year does not affect high school students. Open enrollment applications, including Intent to Renew, for both resident and nonresident high school students will continue to be collected in both Window One and Window Two.

For additional details and deadlines, see Board of Education policies related to open enrollment:

Application for Admission of Open Enrollment

  • Email the Application for Admission for Open Enrollment form with supporting documentation to the school(s)
    • Please keep in mind Open Enrollment is no longer a first come first served format.  
    • Please send the Application for Admission for Open Enrollment form to (individual school email list) the address listed for the school you wish to attend. 

If you are new to LPS: once accepted by the school, you will register with the district central registrar.

  • All students NEW to LPS must register by completing an online pre-registration form and provide documentation to the Central Registrar. Please follow the Parent Checklist on the How to Enroll page.

If you are an existing LPS student: you do not need to register with Central Registration.  

Open Enrollment Reminders

  • Open enrollment applications must be emailed directly to the school. All open enrollment requests must be approved before students can be registered.
  • Existing open enrolled students, resident and non-resident, wanting to continue at the same school next year must complete an "Intent to Renew" form by the first Friday following winter break.
  • Existing open enrolled elementary and middle school students who will be moving to a different school (5th-6th grade or 8th-9th grade transition) must complete a new open enrollment application.

Parents are responsible for providing transportation for open enrolled students. District transportation may be provided when space is available on established bus route. To see if bus transportation may be available, please visit the Bus Transportation page on the district website and complete an online “space availability” form. Keep in mind that space available transportation requests may not be processed until October.

If you need to submit an Open Enrollment application for the current 23-24 school year:

Application for Admission of Open Enrollment or Transfer 23-24 English

Application for Admission of Open Enrollment or Transfer 23-24 Spanish

Enrollment