When do OUSD Waitlists Move

The waitlists usually start to move in mid-April once new families have accepted offers and continuing TK families have confirmed whether they're staying. That said, all three of those schools tend to get late neighborhood applicants, who will bump ahead of you on the list. There is a chance you might get a spot, but it's a slim one. Glenview is a great option to have, though, especially if you live in the neighborhood!

If you are willing to wait until one or two weeks after school starts next year-you most likely will get into Crocker or Thornhill. We were higher on the list last year and got into our desired school the second week of the school year. You will see your number get closer and closer throughout the summer. 

I have no personal experience, as I'm also an incoming kinder parent wondering if we'll get into the school we're waitlisted at. I've been asking around, though, and have heard several stories of people getting in off waitlists right before school starts or even a few days after school starts, as families end up not sending kids at the very last minute. Good luck!

Glenview is a great school. My niece and nephew went there. Why not just be happy with that option? I wouldn’t stress about the waitlist. Just go where your kid got in. 

I was wondering the same thing. I was moved down from #5 to #6 at our first choice school.

The lists move a lot over the summer, and even after school starts.  We got into a Charter where we were 101 on the waitlist on the second day of school. Mind you, we had gone with the back up plan of private school, so we were locked in with a significant tuition payment by that point and didn't take that spot.  (and I seriously thought that 101 was a pipe dream so didn't bother taking ourselves off the list - lesson to others, if you aren't serious, even if your number seems insane, take yourself off to make it easier on another family.)

If you have your heart set on a school, wait it out.  The numbers on all of this have changed dramatically so who is to say what the odds are now.  

People can get get accepted any time between late April to a few weeks after school starts. I have never seen non-neighborhood kids getting into your mentioned schools off of the waitlist until the summer or 1-4 weeks after school starts. Glenview is a great school and typically also has a waitlist. So, you can imagine how it will work out. If you get accepted into Thornhill in August and decide to enroll in Thornhill, your spot will then be offered to a person on Glenview waitlist in August. 

I imagine you have your reasons for choosing another elementary school even if you are in the GV neighborhood. For example, the schools you mentioned are higher performing. I sent both my kids to GV, one graduated from there and the other eventually transferred to Montclair when the GV campus moved offsite during renovations.  But the experience of living in the same neighborhood, walking to school with my kid(s), and getting to know kids and families who also live close by - in short,  finding an incredibly strong sense of community — is priceless. We never found that again after my girls graduated or moved schools. But fortunately for us, since we started at GV early one, our closest friends are our old GV elementary friends and neighbors whom we got to know bc of GV elementary. You will look at your neighborhood in a new light and feel a sense of belonging, at least it did for us. I encourage you to consider GV for your kindergartener. Investing in and building community where you live with your little ones can be wonderful. GV Elem. was how it happened for us. Good luck! Such a personal decision. If it doesn’t work out, it might be easier to transfer later.  Even though we left OUSD after elementary school, I would unequivocally choose GV for my kindergartner. But if you end up getting into and choosing Montclair, I have nothing but praise.