Some adjustments have been made to the way Sea to Sky school registrations are prioritized.
At the Dec. 13, 2023 public meeting, the Sea to Sky School District Board of Education approved updates to Policy 501, Student Registration, Enrolment and Placement.
The updated policy includes moving from a first-come-first-serve model to a lottery system the school district says is more equitable.
This change will apply to families who pre-register students using an online webform, which will open on Jan. 23, 2024.
Families who are registering children for the 2024 to 2025 school year will pre-register for schools and district programs using the webform from Jan. 23 to 26.
While this process has been in place for the last three school years, priority order was previously determined by a time and date stamp.
With the change, if there is a need for a waitlist—for example, signing up for French Immersion—a new randomized lottery process will be used to determine priority order,
"In the past, families who were not able to log in to the system early in the morning when the online system opened, or families who may have accessibility issues or language barriers, would be at a disadvantage. The lottery system ensures that all families who pre-register their children for school will have an equitable process," said Paul Lorette, assistant superintendent, in a news release.
Enrolment priority order for all students who are registered after the webform closes will continue to be determined on a first-come, first-served basis, based on time and date of registration.
In other words, students who pre-register using the webform and whose placement priority is determined by lottery will have higher placement priority than students who register after the webform closes, according to the release.
“This change will be invisible to families in that it is an administrative process change. It does not change what families are being asked to do to register their child, and it will not increase the number of waitlists. It will ease the stress of feeling that you have to get up early and hit the send button as fast as you can," Lorette added in the release.
For more information about the registration process and guidelines for the 2024/2025 school year, go to the school district website at www.sd48seatosky.org.
