Enrollment Lottery

Enrollment and Lottery Policy

2026-2027 K-6 Open Enrollment will be held
February 15-February 29, 2026

Preschool (Ages 3-4)
Open Enrollment will begin February 15 and remain open until the program needs have been met.

ENROLLMENT APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE POSTED UNTIL FEBRUARY 15.

For more detailed K-6 and/or Preschool enrollment information please navigate to the K-6 and/or Preschool Enrollment Tab located on the Main Menu.

Three-Year Age Spans

Enrollment Process - A Breakdown

1. PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to clearly explain the enrollment and admissions policies and procedures at Creekstone Montessori School (CMS) so that families may make enrollment decisions in an informed and timely manner.

2. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY

Creekstone Montessori School shall not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability or any other criteria inconsistent with Applicable Law. The school will admit students through a process that is open to all students, publicly verifiable, and does not establish barriers to application that have the effect of excluding students based on race, religion, gender identity, socioeconomic, family, or language background, prior academic performances, special education status, or parental involvement.

Creekstone Montessori School is a public school and is required to enroll an eligible student who submits a timely application, unless the number of applications exceeds the capacity of a program, class, grade level, or building. When that occurs, students will be placed on a waiting list. Creekstone Montessori School will give enrollment preference to a sibling of an enrolled student and to a foster child of that student’s parents, and then to children of Creekstone Montessori School’s staff before accepting other pupils by lot.

3. ELIGIBILITY

Children must be 3 years of age by Sept 1 to be eligible to apply for the tuition-based Instructional Preschool (ages 3 – 4 years). To be eligible for Kindergarten the child must be age 5 by Sept 1, and to be eligible for grade 1 the child must be age 6 by Sept 1. Student must be a Minnesota resident to apply for the public charter school programming (grades K-6).

4. APPLICATION AND ADMISSION PROCEDURES

An application is considered to be timely if it has been marked as “received” in the administrative office of the school before the end of the open enrollment period.

Each school year, the Board:

Establishes enrollment capacity, accommodating slight over-enrollment to account for likely student attrition, at each Multi-Level Grade Program to appropriately distribute and balance enrollment in each grade level to honor Montessori Methods and balance instructional capacity and publishes by February 1st, the available enrollment by Multi-Level Grade Program applicable to the following school year
Establishes the open enrollment period applicable to the following school year’s admissions
Publishes the school’s enrollment application and process applicable to the following year on its website

Application requests: All applications received by the enrollment deadline will be equally considered. For any grade level where there are more applicants than spaces available, CMS will conduct a lottery to determine admission for that grade. Lottery applicants are drawn by random and admitted to the program in the order they are drawn, as capacity allows. When grades/levels have been filled, the remaining applicants will be placed on a waiting list in the order they are drawn and notified promptly if a space becomes available. Newly “admitted” students must complete and return an enrollment confirmation form to CMS by a specified date in order to formally be awarded an admittance spot. Students who submit applications after the open enrollment period ends will be admitted if there are any remaining openings, or added to a waiting list in the order in which they were received.

Preferences: Siblings of currently enrolled students, who submit an application by the open enrollment closing date will receive preference for admission. In the event that CMS has more sibling applicants than open spaces at any grade level, CMS will conduct a lottery among all of the sibling applicants who met the deadline to determine admission for that grade. Siblings who were not selected in the lottery will be placed on a waiting list. Then, the children of School staff who submit a timely application will receive preference for admission. In the event that the School has more children of staff applicants than open spaces at any grade level, the School will conduct a lottery among all of the children of staff applicants who met the deadline to determine admission for that grade. Children of staff who are not selected in the lottery will be placed on a waiting list after the siblings of students currently enrolled. No preference for Kindergarten enrollment may be given to CMS instructional preschool students based on their attendance or enrollment in the instructional preschool program.

Lotteries: CMS board of directors conducts all lotteries through a method of random selection and video records the proceedings. Applicable lotteries occur from highest grade level to lowest grade level.

Waiting Lists: No waiting list will carry over from year to year. Each waiting list is subject to a lottery and redrawn each admission process each year.

Enrollment Confirmation: All applicants will be notified of their child’s admission acceptance or waiting list placement after the closing of the open enrollment period and after all applicable lotteries are completed. If notified of admission acceptance, families will receive an enrollment packet to complete and submit for each child accepted.

CMS Admission and Lottery Policy