Enrollment Guidelines

The FSMA application window for the each school year will be from the first Monday in November through the second Wednesday in January. All materials must be received by this date, accurate and in full, to be considered. Applications may be submit online at www.SchoolChoiceDE.org. Application materials may be completed online, sent via email (scanned with hand-written signatures), standard post, or hand-delivered. If materials sent via standard post are postmarked by the deadline, they will be accepted.

 

FSMA Lottery

If a lottery is required for student placement in a given grade, all applicants will be informed by email. The lottery will be structured and performed in accordance with State law. In advance of a lottery, parents of qualifying applicants will be notified. All students not chosen in the lottery process will be placed on a waiting list in the order that their approved applications were received. All students that apply after the choice window closes will be placed on the waiting list following lottery-eligible students that were not selected.

 

Admissions preferences are also a consideration at FSMA. In cases where the number of applicants exceeds the number of seats available, admission preferences will be applied prior to administering the lottery. These preferences include (in order of importance):

 

  1. Children of FSMA founders
  2. Children of staff permanently employed by FSMA
  3. Siblings of children currently enrolled at FMSA this school year
  4. Applicants who have demonstrated an interest in the Montessori teaching philosophy
  5. Children whose primary residence is within a 5-mile radius of FSMA on the date of the lottery.

 

Sibling Preference Information

This preference applies to:

  • Biological/adoptive siblings
  • Step-siblings residing in the same household
  • Foster child residing in the same household

Additional information about sibling preference:

Same-grade siblings will be treated as one single applicant unit, rather than multiple applicants. When that one applicant unit is drawn in the lottery, the same-grade siblings will be numerically ordered on the waiting list or conditionally accepted dependent upon where in the lottery that applicant unit was drawn.

Different grade siblings who apply during the same year will not be treated as a single applicant unit. In the event an older sibling is admitted through the enrollment or lottery process, any younger siblings who applied within the Enrollment Period will be entitled to a sibling preference. If an older sibling is placed on a waiting list after the lottery process, but a younger sibling is admitted, the older sibling will not be given a sibling preference for the purpose of placement on the waiting list.

Demonstration of Interest in the Montessori Teaching Philosophy

As noted above, FSMA will apply an admission preference to applicants who have demonstrated an interest in the Montessori teaching philosophy. To demonstrate an interest in the Montessori teaching philosophy in the first year of enrollment, applicants must first complete an application, then submit documentation in support of one of the two following options:

  1. Demonstrate that the child seeking enrollment attended a Montessori institution (full- or part-time) for the entire school year in the past two calendar years by submitting appropriate verification, including transcripts or invoices from that institution.
  2. Sufficiently complete any of the following items:
  • Participate in a conference or teleconference with FSMA administrators or board members during which they discuss the educational philosophy of the school and answer questions concerning the school’s teaching philosophy;
  • Attend an information session, tour or educational program sponsored by FSMA;
  • Submit a completed optional application question stating the applicant’s interest, in 100 words or fewer, in FSMA’s teaching philosophy;
  • Demonstrate that the child seeking enrollment previously attended a Montessori school or Montessori camp for any period of time at any time in the child’s life.

Information concerning the information sessions, tours, educational programs, and teleconferences offered by FSMA to permit applicants to fulfill this admission preference will be posted on FSMA’s website.

 

For More Information

For more information to answers to any questions you might have concerning the applications process, please contact FSMA by e-mail at: fsma.charter@gmail.com or contact our Head of School, Courtney Fox at Courtney.fox@fsma.k12.de.us . More information, including the application package once it becomes available, will be posted on FSMA’s website.

 

First State Montessori Academy, Inc. admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.