Montgomery County’s first charter school botched its first year of admissions, notifying at least 72 children who did not receive seats at Community Montessori Public Charter School that they had been admitted.
Meanwhile — thanks to a computer error — parents of children who were admitted were incorrectly told that their children were put on a wait list.
“Your questions to us as to how that could have occurred are entirely appropriate and understandable,” Kathleen Guinan, CEO of the charter’s operator Crossway Community, wrote in an email to parents. “If we are in your shoes, we would be asking the same questions.”
When charter schools — which are countywide public schools — receive more applications than they can accept, school officials hold a lottery for admissions, as was the case at Community Montessori. For just 70 seats, 247 3- and 4-year-old children applied.
Among the 4-year-old group, 119 applied for 47 seats. The night before emails with the lottery results went out to parents, “the send-all option was accidentally triggered,” and all parents of 4-year-olds were told their children were accepted.
In a memo to the school board, MCPS Superintendent Joshua Starr said some parents whose children did receive seats were initially told they were wait-listed.
“Staff has been in contact with Crossway Community Inc. and currently is gathering additional facts,” Starr wrote.
The Washington Examiner has contacted both MCPS and Guinan and will update this post when more information becomes available.
