Centralized Online Admission Process for NYC Charter Schools in 2016
Parents who want their children to attend New York
City
charter schools will have a single admissions platform they can use when
they apply
for admission in 2016.
The New
York City Charter School Center has come to an
agreement with SchoolMint
to have the latter offer its online and mobile
admissions and communications platform to all of the 207 charter schools
in the
city. More than 70 New York charter schools already use the platform
that is
intended to make the application and admission process
easier for parents and
students.
The new Common
Online Charter School Application, along with
allowing parents to apply for charter school admission on mobile phones,
will
also offer 24-hour customer support and text notifications to monitor
the
status of applications.
"SchoolMint’s mobile solutions were a significant
factor in
our decision," said New York City Charter School Center COO Christina
Brown. "The
majority of New York City families applying to charter schools not only
own
mobile phones, but rely on them for daily access to critical services."
The ability to communicate via the centralized
application
platform will be helpful since, while 95,000 students will enroll in New
York
charter schools this fall, another 42,600 remain on waiting lists.
"High-performing charter schools routinely receive
more
applications and more requests from parents than they can physically
respond
to," said SchoolMint CEO Jinal Jhaveri. "Over and over, we hear from
schools
that answering questions is not only time-consuming to their staff, but
distressing for parents who don't have the answers they need."
The new process will allow parents to submit their
applications online on their phones. Schools will process applications
and, in
cases where there are more applications than available seats, lotteries
will be
used to choose successful applicants.
The New York City Charter School Center provides
advocacy and
support for the city's charter schools.
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.