Lottery applications for the 2010-11 school year at Westlake Charter School will be available Jan. 15, at www.westlakecharter.com and the school office, located at 3800 Del Paso Road.
Campus observation dates are 8:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. on Feb. 9 and Feb. 11. No appointment is necessary. Deadline to turn in applications is Feb. 12. The public lottery will be held 5 p.m. on March 8 at the school.
Westlake Charter School is a K- 5 public elementary school created by parents and educators in the Natomas area and is part of the Natomas Unified School District. The school is open to any student who applies, no matter where that student lives and families from all parts of Natomas and beyond are encouraged to apply. Families are required to commit to at least 30 hours of volunteer time per year to the school.
A charter school can not mandate that a person must volunteer as a condition of enrolment.
Charter schools can encourage parents to volunteer a suggested number of hours, but it cannot enforce the requirement as a condition of enrollment. Article IX, Section 2 of the State Constitution stipulates that all residents of the state, between the ages of 6 and 21 years of age, be educated without cost.
http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdechart/guidebook/gov/pdf/Test_Ur_Knowledge_Quiz.pdf
The fact that there is a lottery to get in is a sad commentary on the state of our other neighborhood schools.
Nearly all charter schools require parent participation. This is not a condition of enrollment, it is a contract you agree to with the school after the lottery enrollment process. Children are not barred from enrollment because their parents refuse to participate in their school.