1. School Selection Process
and
LeGare Consent Decree
For

2. The School Selection Process2

3. School Selection is open to students in all grades (K-12), and can be used to apply to School District of Philadelphia Schools ONLY (including different neighborhood, citywide and special admission schools.  This process excludes charter schools, Catholic schools or paid tuition schools).
In the beginning of every school year, this process is available for students to apply for admission into another school other than their neighborhood school. If an approval is received, admission will be granted for the following school year.* (For example, all applications received during the filing window of September 29th to November 13, 2017; will be for admission into school for the school year.)  A student can apply for admission to as many as five (5) School District of Philadelphia Schools.  Students will receive notification of acceptance starting in February or March, which allows time for schools to prepare for when students arrive in September.
Special Note: Families wishing to apply to a different Kindergarten other than their neighborhood school must apply through this process the year BEFORE the child actually starts Kindergarten.

4. *All School Selection Approvals are CONDITIONAL!
An approval can be rescinded if:
The student is not promoted in June; (Note: If a student attends and successfully completes a summer school program, the approval will remain)
The student does not attend or satisfactorily complete a school's required summer session, where applicable
The Student has been recommended and approved for a disciplinary transfer (EH-21)
The student presently attends a disciplinary school and is not recommended for restoration
There are inaccuracies or errors in the application of administrative processes.

5. Date Event Location Fri. September 29, 2017
School Selection Process Application Submissions Begin
World Wide Web
Mon. November 13, 2017
School Selection Process Application Submission Ends
November 16 & 17, 2017*
Supplemental Material Drop Off*
440 N. Broad Street, Suite 111
November 20, 2017 to
January 8, 2018
School evaluations, Interviews & Auditions where applicable – contact schools for specific dates & times.
District Wide
January 17, 2018
Initial Notifications to Students
District Wide:
SDP Students – School Net
Non District -
January 18 to 25, 2018
Student Response to notifications
March 2, 2018
Final Notifications to Students

6. Other Items September 15 & 16, 2017 – High School Fair
Mid January 2018 – Lottery
April LeGare Impartial Reviews
April 2018 to June Students pulled off the wait list to fill available seats

7. What is LeGare? 7

8. The LeGare Consent Decree (1995)
Each student with a disability or English Language Learner (ELL) has an equal opportunity to attend a criteria based high school and or programs that are available to students in city wide and special admission schools
Reasonable accommodations that do not alter the program substantially
Students may not be excluded on the basis of admission criteria if they can participate successfully and given reasonable accommodations
The family will be assisted by persons knowledgeable about high schools and the high school programs in considering a range of programs, in identifying the accommodations and supports needed for the student to be successful, and in recommending modifications and waivers of admission criteria

9. School Based Team and their Duties
Principal or Designee
School Counselor
Special Education Liaison
ESOL Teacher
Teacher of Record
School Nurse (504 Plan)
Assist families with the High School application process 9

10. School Based Team and their Duties
Informing school based team and parents of HS Admissions Criteria & Timelines for Special Education and ELL students
Conducting a Career Interest Survey for 8th grade Students with IEP’s or 504 Plans (IEP & 504 ONLY)
Coordinate the delivery of HS Admissions Application Materials to the Drop/Pick Up Boxes located at 440 (location to be determined)
Providing both oral and written translation for parents who need it

11. School Based Team and their Duties
Support the SEL & ESOL Teacher with HS Admissions & LeGare process
Assist students with HS essay
Provide students with a recommendation (if appropriate)
Provide supporting documentation for HS Admission Criteria Waiver (if appropriate)

12. School Based Team and their Duties
Assists Parents & Students with HS application process (if necessary)
Assist in electronically inputting HS application. (Records of District Students will be forwarded to criteria based schools and or programs automatically. Non District Students should forward their most recent final report card and standardized test score results to criteria based schools and or programs).
For any current District student that was not in the SDP the previous year, the records from the previous school MUST be obtained and forwarded to criteria based schools and or programs for consideration.
Prepare Student Advocacy folders that are to be forwarded to the receiving high schools and to the 440 LeGare Review Team.

13. Types of High Schools
Neighborhood
Citywide
Special Admission 13

14. Neighborhood High Schools (NS) ***NO ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS***
These high schools have an open admissions policy for students who have attended grade eight in the school’s feeder pattern. Students from outside of the feeder pattern are also encouraged to apply for admission into the various college and career focused programs within each high school. Please note that admission into the academic and specialty programs described in the HS Directory are based upon space availability.

15. Citywide Admission High Schools (CW) ***SOME ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS***
The high schools accept students from across the city. Each has its own set of admissions criteria related to attendance, punctuality, behavior, grades. In addition, students may have to attend an on-site interview. Please contact the school directly for any additional admissions requirements, if applicable.

16. Special Admission High Schools (SA) ***STRICT ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS***
These high schools are “magnet schools,” each with its own set of admissions criteria related to attendance, punctuality, behavior, grades, and standardized test scores and in some cases an audition. Students citywide may apply however, it is strongly recommended that you review EACH of the schools admissions criteria and your own scholastic record before applying.

17. When to Start? For 6th & 7th Graders
Begin discussions about the High School Admissions process

18. What’s Important?
Grades
Attendance & Punctuality
Behavior
PSSA scores

19. What Does Advocacy Look Like?19

20. The High School Admissions Addendum Form
Provide examples of extenuating circumstances:
Attendance: student was absent for 30 consecutive days because he/she was hospitalized
Punctuality: student is taking a new medication that causes nausea and vomiting. Student comes to school late rather than missing the entire day
Behavior: student’s behavior is improving due to a recently added behavior plan
Standardized Test Scores: student’s test scores have improved due to an IEP amendment that indicates that student should take the PSSA with accommodations or ELL student’s English language proficiency affected the PSSA reading score
It is NOT enough to just check off on the waiver box, you must provide supporting documentation OR the HS will NOT honor the waiver request 20

21. Preparing the Advocacy Folders
MUST be placed in a straight cut tab folder 
On the tab of the folder PRINT the student’s name as follows: Last name, First name 
Please prepare one folder per criteria based high school, one for 440, and one for YOU
Dual Diagnosed Special Ed and ELL - student folders go to the Office of Multilingual Curriculum & Programs 21

22. The Contents of A Students Advocacy Folder That Goes to the Schools Includes:
Report Card & Data Transcript
Addendum Form
Easy IEP at a Glance or 504/Chapter 15 Service Agreement
Supporting Documentation
Student Essay
Letters of Recommendation

23. The Contents of A Students Advocacy Folder That Goes 440 Includes:
List of schools to which the student applied
Report Card
Addendum Form
IEP at a Glance or /Chapter Service Agreement
Student Essays
Letters of Recommendation

24. When Delivering Advocacy Folders:
Sending Schools MUST bring Advocacy folders to the Student Enrollment & Placement Office, 440 N Broad Street, Suite 111.
Drop Boxes will be available for the following:
CRITERIA BASED High Schools Only (City Wide & Special Admission)
Specialized Services – Multilingual – 504
* You do NOT need to provide Advocacy Folders for Students applying to Neighborhood Schools with CTE Programs. There is no admissions criteria for those programs. 24

25. When Delivering Advocacy Folders:
1 Advocacy folder MUST be placed in the box for EACH CRITERIA HIGH SCHOOL your student applied to*, Specialized Services – Multilingual or 504
You may bundle multiple folders together into a packet for those students applying to the same school (i.e.: students applying to CAPA)
Please bundle all SPED students together forming 1 packet, bundle all ELL students together forming 1 packet or bundle all 504 students together forming 1 packet.

26. When Delivering Advocacy Folders:
Please also complete the coversheet, listing all the student names, ID numbers, support designation, sending school and your contact information (phone & ). Dual IEP & ELL students are placed in the ELL box
If you have a student who is attending your school now but attended a non District School last year, you will need to treat them as if they were an External Student. They can apply through their School Net Account but you’ll need to obtain their academic records from the previous school and forward a Student Data Transcript to each criteria based High School.
*NOTE: Special Admission Middle Schools will be available too, but you will only need to use them if the student wasn’t in the District last year.

27. Which Schools Require Essays?
Carver Engineering and Science
Central
Constitution
Motivation
Palumbo

28. Student Essays *One topic for most schools! Who am I?
What do I want to get out of my experience?
What I can contribute to the school?
* Check the High School Directory for Specific questions.

29. Which Schools Require Writing Samples During the Interview?
SLA
SLA Beeber
SLA Interviews are MANDATORY for admission. Families MUST contact the school to schedule Interview dates are: October 14 & 15 and November 4 & 5, 2017

30. Which Other Schools Require Interviews?
Constitution*
Motivation*
Philadelphia Military Academy*
Robeson*
SLA*
*ALL Interviews are MANDATORY for admission. Families MUST contact the school to schedule.

31. Which Schools Require an Audition?
Arts Academy at Rush
CAPA
FLC
Girard Academic Music Program
*Auditions & Interviews will ONLY be offered, provided the student meets or comes close to the admission requirements.

32. Preparing for Auditions, Essays, and Interviews
Use instructional time!

33. Statement of Non-Participation
If a student chooses to apply ONLY to Neighborhood High Schools, Charter Schools, or Non-District high schools, the parent must fill out the Statement of Non- Participation in LeGare Process
No advocacy folder should be sent to the 440 LeGare Team, but sending schools should send a copy of the Statement of Non-Participation to the 440 LeGare Team.

34. Waitlisted Students
Students who have been placed on a school’s wait list may remain on that list until the school contacts them indicating space has become available.
When space becomes available, the school will reach out to “said” student and or family to notify them and offer a seat at that school.
Students can remain on a schools wait list up until end of the first marking period. After that, the wait list is dissolved and students on the wait list will have to re-apply for the following school year.

35. Impartial Review
If a Special Education or English Language Learner student is not accepted to any criteria based high school to which they applied, a 440 team that did not previously review the student advocacy folders will make a determination if the student can attend one of the schools provided reasonable accommodations can be made.
Students who do not receive an Impartial Review Letter are not eligible for Impartial Review. 35

36. Who is Ineligible for Impartial Review?
Examples of Ineligibility are:
Students who have been placed on a school’s waitlist
Students who have been given provisional/conditional acceptance
Students whose name was placed in the Lottery, but their name was not chosen in the Lottery
Students who did not apply to a Special Admissions, City-Wide or
Criteria-based school (i.e: CTE program in a comprehensive HS)
Parent who has rescinded an acceptance to a selected high school

37. Resources for High School Selection
Go to:

38. School Selection Resources Continued

39. Transportation Services
In accordance with the Office of Transportation Services, transpasses are provided to ALL students living 1.5 miles or more from the school in which they attend. Students eligible are those in grades 7 through 12.
Students with disabilities in need of specialized transportation (such as curb to curb) must have those services outlined in their finalized IEP along with a finalized NOREP approving those services.

40. Points of Contact General Questions: legare@philasd.org
If you have general questions, please us!
General Questions:
High School and or Elementary/Middle School Selection:
Special Education Transition Coordinator:
English Language Learners:
504 Coordinator: 40