Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School
Frequently Asked Questions
Lottery Process in Cooperation with the Regional School Choice Office (RSCO)
Definition of Sibling Preference: There is a “sibling preference” rule that governs admission to
Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School via the lottery process. A sibling is defined as “a
brother or sister living in same household and sharing at least one biological parent or legal
guardian.
In order to obtain sibling preference for admission the siblings must attend Wintonbury during
the same year for which sibling preference admission is requested.
Q. Because my child is already in a magnet school, if I choose to place my child in the
lottery for a different magnet school, will he get any preference or lose preference over
other children who are not currently enrolled in a magnet school?
A. There are no preferences for the lottery when applying for a new magnet school. All children
are treated equally unless they are a sibling of a child who will be attending the school that you
want the younger sibling to attend at the same time. Then that younger child will receive sibling
preference status.
If your child is currently enrolled in a magnet school, your child also does not lose preference for
a magnet school over others not enrolled. All applications for new schools are weighed equally
regardless of where the student is currently enrolled.
Q. My child currently attends Wintonbury as a four year old. If I want to enter my child in
the lottery for a K to 5 or K to 8 school, will he automatically lose his kindergarten spot at
Wintonbury?
A. No, your child will stay in the kindergarten spot at Wintonbury until you withdraw him or we
are notified that your child is registered in another school. A child cannot be registered in any
two public (including magnet, charter) schools in CT at the same time. Once you make the
decision to register your child in another school, he will be withdrawn. Just applying in the
lottery does not force your child out of Wintonbury.
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Q. I understand that our younger child will automatically get into Wintonbury due to the
sibling preference rule. Do I need to do anything else to ensure her enrollment?
A. Sibling preference is not the same as automatic admission. As long as your older child will be
attending Wintonbury in the coming year, your younger child will receive “sibling preference”
which provides an advantage for admittance through the lottery process. In most cases, it is
highly likely that a sibling will be admitted, but the lottery runs under many rules and the sibling
preference rule means that your younger child’s ability to be accepted is placed above a nonsibling who is vying for a slot.
Even if a potential student is a sibling, you need to apply for the lottery on the RSCO (Regional
School Choice Office) website: www.choiceeducation.org. In the application, make sure you
note that your child is a sibling of a student who will be attending Wintonbury next year and
notify the Wintonbury office so we can assure the sibling status is in place.
Q. My older child currently attends Wintonbury, but will not be attending there when my
younger child is ready to enter the lottery. Will my younger child still receive sibling
preference for admittance to Wintonbury?
A. No. Sibling preference is only allowed for siblings of children who will be attending
Wintonbury at the same time.
Q. My child is currently a student at Wintonbury. Do we need to put him in the lottery in
order to keep his spot for Wintonbury or is it assumed that all current students will be
returning. Do we need to fill out any forms to hold his slot for next year?
A. Once a student is enrolled at Wintonbury that student stays enrolled unless the student is
withdrawn by the parents or the parents register him in a different school. There is no need to
reapply each year. It is assumed the student will be returning unless he or she is withdrawn
voluntarily by the parents or the parents actually register the child in a new school. There are no
forms to fill out, although once a year (for our planning purposes only) Wintonbury requests that
you let us know (via a school memo) whether you intend to keep your child at the school for the
upcoming year.
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Q. Will my child lose his Wintonbury PK4 spot for next year if he applies for a CREC
preschool?
A. No, you can apply for your child to attend a CREC preschool without him losing his slot at
Wintonbury. However, once you officially register your child in a CREC preschool (or other
public, magnet, charter school), your child will be withdrawn from Wintonbury. In almost all
cases, parents inform us in advance of their acceptance at another school by formally
withdrawing the student.
Q. Will my child lose his Wintonbury PK4 spot for next year if we move from Bloomfield to
a partner district?
A. Your child will not lose his slot in the school if he moves from Bloomfield to a partner
district. Once admitted, your family can actually move anywhere in the state, but you would
need to provide your own transportation to and from school (unless you move to Harford. All
students from Hartford receive transportation through RSCO.)
Q. What are Wintonbury’s partner districts?
A. Wintonbury’s partner districts are Granby, East Granby, West Hartford, Avon, Simsbury,
Bloomfield, and Hartford.
Q. Do you anticipate there being a pathway from Wintonbury to a magnet elementary
school in the next few years?
A. At this time there is no magnet pathway program after Wintonbury. Bloomfield Public
Schools is considering creating a magnet school that will link Bloomfield’s Wintonbury Magnet
and Bloomfield’s other magnet school (Grade 6 through 12 Global Experience Magnet School),
but at this point it is in the discussion phase only.
Q. When we accepted the spot at Wintonbury, we were told that transportation was
provided only for students in Hartford and Bloomfield, but a stipend was given to families
with PreK students who provide their own transportation. What are the details for
receiving this stipend?
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A. Annually (usually in the late fall) Wintonbury sends a letter detailing the information
regarding the transportation reimbursement process to families. More information on this topic
and the reimbursement form can be found online at http://www.creg.org/transportation.
Q. My child was admitted prior to the school being a RSCO school. Can he still take all the
privileges of being a RSCO school?
A. The direct “privilege” afforded to RSCO schools is the ease of applying through the RSCO
website, consistency of application process across all magnet schools, and the plethora of
information provided by RSCO to families regarding the various schools, their themes, and
benefits. Any other benefits (such as transportation reimbursement) applies to all students, not
just ones who came in through the RSCO lottery process.
Q. What do I need to do if I want my child to go to a different magnet school?
If you want to have your child attend a different magnet school, please log onto the RSCO
(Regional School Choice Office) website at http://www.choiceeducation.org/2015-16-rscolottery. Your application needs to be submitted by February 27, 2015.
Q. If my child stays at Wintonbury through kindergarten, what would be the next school
he could go to for first grade?
A. If your child is a Bloomfield resident, he could attend Laurel Elementary School, which is a
fine elementary school with rigorous standards, strong teachers, and a strong administrator.
If your child is in a partner district, he could attend the public elementary school in the
neighborhood in which you reside.
If you prefer that your child attend a magnet school, please apply on the RSCO (Regional School
Choice Office) website at http://www.choiceeducation.org/2015-16-rsco-lottery before the
February 27th deadline.
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Q. What is the difference between “Open Choice” programs and “Magnet Schools?”
A. RSCO manages two types of lotteries.
1. The Open Choice lottery is for Hartford Students only. This is a remake of the old “Project
Concern” or “Project Choice” program from many years ago in which students from Hartford
Schools were allowed to attend schools in the outer Hartford suburbs. This is still the case and
RSCO manages the lottery that allows students from Hartford to attend typical suburban public
schools in agreement with the Boards of Education from those towns.
2. Magnet Schools were built with more prevalence after the Sheff v. O’Neill decision in 2002.
This decision created opportunities for all students from all towns in the state of CT to be
integrated with each other, with the focus being on ensuring that students from Hartford had
multiple opportunities to attend schools in which social, economic, and racial isolation was
reduced.
Currently, there are CREC magnet schools (managed and operated by the Capitol Region
Education Council), which are located in multiple suburban towns and allow students from any
town to attend. There are also Hartford magnet schools (managed and operated by Hartford
Public Schools), which are located in Hartford and allow students from any town to attend.
Wintonbury Early Childhood Magnet School and Global Experience Magnet School are unique
in that they are managed and operated by Bloomfield Public Schools. We continue to have
partner districts via a signed agreement with Boards of Education in those towns. The partner
districts have preference for admittance and then students from any town can be admitted if
space is available.
Q. I understand that CREC magnet schools will now be charging tuition for preschool
students. Will Wintonbury also be charging tuition for their students?
A. No. Wintonbury is a Bloomfield Public School and, at this time, there will be no tuition
charged for students attending Wintonbury.
For additional information please find the RSCO Catalog available at:
http://www.choiceeducation.org/javascript/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/RSCOcatalogFIN
ALNov19.pdf.
The phone number of the Greater Hartford Regional School Office is 860-713-6990.
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