• Returning students who applied to virtual schools other than the schools they currently attend (278 students).

• Siblings of current students (240 students).
•  New applicants who were selected at random from the pool of new applicants (a total of 2,936 new applicants are in this category).

Letters saying that students are on the waiting list will go to 1,418 students.

Responding to firm approval letters – June 5 deadline
If you submitted an application and got a firm approval letter (or multiple firm approval letters, if you applied to two or three schools), you have until June 5 to respond and tell a school whether you have decided to enroll there.  The firm approval letter will include detailed instructions about how to respond.  Just remember not to cut things too close, because if you miss the deadline you lose your opportunity to enroll.

Some schools may request a response sooner than June 5 for their own planning purposes.  You are certainly free to respond sooner, but it is clear under the law that your spot is reserved until June 5 if you prefer to take some time to consider your options.  Parents are not risking anything by waiting until June 5, nor are they getting any advantages or disadvantages by submitting enrollment forms prior to that deadline.

Students who get firm approval letters will get them from all the schools to which they applied, and will then be able to take time to decide which school they want to enroll in.


If you are on the waiting list
After June 5, schools will notify DPI if students who received firm approval letters have decided not to attend, and then DPI will notify the schools that the next student on the waiting list can be given a firm approval letter.  After a student on the waiting list gets a firm approval letter, they have ten days to respond and let the school of their choice know that they will attend.   

If a student on the waiting list applied to two or three schools, they will get firm approval letters from all of them.  They have ten calendar days to respond from the date on which they receive the firm approval letter.

DPI will send e-mails to schools once a day indicating which students on the waiting list can be offered spaces as slots open up. If you are on the waiting list, you will be able to see what your position on the list is using a DPI web site after June 5.

Based on past experience, students who are initially placed on the waiting list have a fairly good chance of ultimately being able to enroll in a virtual school.  However, there is a possibility that some new applicants will not be able to enroll because of the enrollment cap.  There is also a possibility that some new applicants who are ultimately accepted may not get firm approvals until later in the summer months, shortly before the school year begins.   

DPI Question and Answer list
For further detailed information, please see the DPI May 6 Question and Answer list: Click Here.  Of particular interest are the following questions and the accompanying answers:

Q8.    Description of the process for determining whether the enrollment limit has been reached.

Q10.  Description of the random selection process.

Q3.  Description of the process for notifying virtual schools of the names of students who should receive firm approval letters and the names of those who should be told they are on the waiting list.

Q18.  Description of what happens when DPI is notified that a student will not attend a virtual school, thus opening a slot for a student on the waiting list.     

Q21.  Description of how a parent can check to see the progress on the waiting list.   

Additional information
The information in this information sheet is as current and accurate as possible at the time of writing based on our current understanding of the open enrollment provisions.  We will provide further updates as needed as we get additional information.   

We know that the open enrollment procedures can be very confusing.  The Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families has opposed moves to restrict access to virtual schools, especially enrollment limits, because they are confusing, complex and arbitrary.  However, since the limits are in place, we will continue to work to get helpful information to you as soon as possible to help you understand how the process works.

If you have questions, we would encourage you to review all the materials you get from the schools and the DPI Question and Answer list to see if the answers are provided in those materials.  If you still have questions, you can contact:

    * Mary Jo Cleaver at DPI at (608) 267-9101 or (888) 245-2732.
    * The virtual school to which your child has applied.