FAQ

How do I get information about DPNS programs and apply for admission? Applications and written information about our preschool and playgroup programs are updated annually and are located in file boxes in front of the gate at both school sites or available for download from the website. If neither of these options works for you, contact one of our Registrars to arrange for mail delivery. DPNS programs follow the Davis Joint Unified School District calendar, late August to mid-June. Admission to our programs is for the entire school year. Open enrollment for the following fall occurs every year during the month of March with a firm application postmark deadline of April 1st. Generally speaking, applying during the open enrollment period offers you the best opportunity for admission. However, after April 1st, we will continue to accept applications on a first-come-first-served basis.

How do I visit the school? We host a spring Open House at both of our school sites on the first Saturday in March from 10 am to noon. This is a great opportunity to check out our facilities, meet our Directors, and chat with current DPNS families. To preserve the quality of our programs, we cannot accommodate drop-in visitors at other times. For further questions, please contact one of the Registrars.

The moment my child is born, do I need to get them on a waitlist? No, no, no, and no. We do not maintain a perpetual waitlist. We only accept applications for students who are age-eligible for our programs (as of August 31st). Each year, everyone who wants to attend DPNS has to apply or re-apply during the spring open-enrollment period. This includes everyone: Continuing students, new families, and families waitlisted during the previous year.

If we are a family new to DPNS, is it impossible to be admitted? Every year, many new families are enrolled in DPNS. Some of the sessions are easier for new families to get into than others. However, you never know when you will “luck out.” We encourage patience and flexibility as you consider the sessions that you apply for. Please understand that many of our class lists undergo constant revision after they are initially posted on May 1st. So that you may not be offered a space in the first class list, but by the end of summer your chances are good of being offered a space in a session. Please contact a Registrar if you have questions about enrollment in a specific session.

How does Open Enrollment Work? After April 1st the Registrars review all applications received and pull those postmarked by April 1st. The rest will be held aside until we’ve attempted to place all on-time applicants. We then work session by session to fill each class.

The open enrollment process is one that has been developed to insure fairness for our families and includes an assessment of each families “priority,” plus a lottery.

First, all applications that have listed a particular session as a choice are sorted by enrollment status. Families have priority enrollment in the following order (1 = highest priority):
1. continuing student returning to same session (if age eligible)
2. child of a Board members (only one child per Board member gets priority enrollment)
3. continuing students enrolled prior to winter break (only twice weekly older playgroup counts as a continuing student if the extra requirements are completed; otherwise playgroup does not count as “continuing student”, see #8)
4. continuing families (sibling enrolled this year)
5. continuing students enrolled between winter and spring breaks
6. alumni (siblings or parent formerly enrolled) and enrolled in Playgroup during the prior year
7. alumni (siblings formerly enrolled)
8. children enrolled in Playgroup this year
9. continuing student enrolled after spring break
10. children enrolled in playgroup after winter break or new families on waitlist all of 2005/2006
11. alumni (parent formerly enrolled)
12. new families living in Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD)
13. new families living outside DJUSD

We add students to the class in order of priority. After the first couple of priority groups are enrolled, we pick lottery numbers for each family in the next priority group, and add as many students as we can starting with the lowest lottery number. Some sessions will fill before we even get through the “continuing student” priority group. Even so, we lottery all remaining priority groups so that we can organize the waitlist in order of priority and lottery number.

The final part of creating the class lists occurs after we’ve gone through the process above and have to check the class for gender and age balance. If we see that the class is very girl- or boy-heavy, or that ages aren’t distributed across the age range, or that an individual child does not have a peer within a few months of their age, we may have to enroll a child with a higher lottery number to keep the class balanced. A poorly balanced class can be challenging children, parents, and the Director. We may have to move around a little within a priority group, but we try not to skip to a lower priority group unless the class is severely imbalanced.

Do the Directors get to pick who is in their session? No. The Registrars will review the preliminary class lists with the Directors as a group. The only information the Directors will see is enrollment status (e.g., continuing student versus continuing family), age and gender. If a Director is not happy with the age or gender balance, they may ask us for the ages and genders of the first 5 children on the waitlist (within a priority group), and may propose changes to the class list. Any change has to be considered by all Directors, since a change in one session might adversely affect another.

When will I know if I got in? We hope to have class lists posted internally by May 1st. Around the same time, we will notify waitlisted families by email or regular mail. If you did not get your first choice, don’t lose heart! You will automatically be added to all applicable waitlists, and there is always some movement over the summer. We will not be able to tell you your precise spot on the waitlist, but can give you a general idea.

Is there a secret strategy to ranking my preschool session choices on the application? No, honesty is the best policy and flexibility is to your benefit. We fill each session independently and, at the end of the process, we will offer you a spot in your highest ranked session that we have been able to place you in. If you did not get into your first choice session, your name will remain on the waitlist for that session until we have been able to offer you a spot. The more choices you give us, the greater chance we have of placing you. In our process, we try very hard not to penalize people who offer us several ranked choices.

As a continuing student, once I’m in, can I blow off all remaining participation requirements? (Don’t worry. No one has actually asked this) No. No. No. Just prior to forming our preliminary class lists, we will check with Directors and Auction organizers to see if any families are not on track to fulfill their participation requirements and/or are delinquent in paying tuition. Based on this information, some families may be offered “provisional” enrollment. If they don’t end the year in good standing, they will lose their spot in the session. Not to be overly harsh, but we typically have lots of families on the waitlist who are willing to do more than their share.