[SoDuWe Poll Results] DPS Magnet Lottery Outcome

On March 2, 2024, Southpoint Access encouraged readers to participate in a flash poll about their experiences with the Durham Public Schools magnet lottery.

Of those responding, 60% indicated that they didn’t secure a spot in their top choice, while 40% indicated that they made it into their first-choice school.

Of those who didn’t get their first choice, 80% reported that they are considering their base DPS school instead, while 20% aren’t sure.

When it came to communication from DPS regarding lottery results and next steps, 40% found the district’s efforts unclear or delayed, while 60% thought the communication was clear and timely. Most respondents indicated they were likely to participate in the DPS magnet lottery process again in the future.

Some comments from parents included:

• “Need more transparency from DPS on actual numbers available and the process.”
• “I feel like there are a lot of unknowns this year due to redistricting and changing some base schools to magnet, etc. DPS once again screwed up a communications opportunity: they could have explained that due to transitions, etc., first pull would be extremely conservative, could have explained when they would make next pull, etc., to manage anxiety and keep people informed. Now you have some families looking at charter that might not have.”
• “I have no idea how it works, but we came out of it with the result we wanted, so I think we’re lucky.”
• “Being redistricted out of our current magnet, we were told we would have priority for the similar magnet in the new district. One of my children got in and two were placed on the waitlist. Not knowing if they would actually come off the waitlist down the line makes the choice on whether to accept the seat offered to my one child very difficult.”

Families have until March 22 to accept assigned lottery seats. And don’t forget: the afterschool program is moving to a lottery method for registration too, with that window opening on March 18.

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