Waitlist at Oakland Unified School District
Hello!! We recently moved to Oakland Hills and enrolled our son in the elementary schools for kindergarten this fall. We got waitlisted 137 at Thornhill Elementary, 167 at Crocker Highlands Elementary, 142 at Hillcrest elementary, 166 at Montclair elementary and 110 at Peralta elementary. Any idea if these kinds of waitlists move up and the child may be allotted a seat? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Apr 8, 2021
Parent Replies
I’m sorry to say most of the schools you have listed often can’t take all of the zoned neighborhood kids and rarely accepts kids from outside the catchment. A 3 digit waitlist lowers the chance in normal times. Were you assigned a OUSD school?
I think it’s harder to predict this year because so many people are looking to move or weighing options or waiting to see how the pandemic progresses. Many people are signed up OUSD but may not attend. Waitlists start moving in the summer into 1-4 weeks after school starts.
In past years, when my child was wait listed in the 100s, there was no chance of them getting in. There are usually few spaces that open up after kindergarten year. So you might want to try again next year for first grade, when there are less kids competing to get into these schools. My child got in one of these schools in 4th grade but we ended up moving and didn't take the spot.
We got into some of our higher ranked schools off the wait-list over the summer and a couple weeks into the school year (2020-2021) but we were in the lower 2-digits on each wait-list. We decided to stick with the one we had enrolled in for stability and also because we came around to being very excited about the unique diversity and opportunities the school offers. Almost a year later, we are thrilled with our school. The schools you've listed are in high demand and I would be very surprised if the wait-list will move into the 3-digit despite folks transferring to private etc. You don't mention your neighborhood school, but depending on where you are, some of the other hills and flatland schools are wonderful: Joaquin Miller, Sequoia, Glenview, Redwood Heights.