SCHOOL OF CHOICE
School of Choice Informational Events
Our Open House in at 5:30 p.m. on February 7. All interested families are welcome to attend. Current students will display their work and our classrooms will be open.
School tours will be held on the following dates. If you would like to join us for a tour, please sign up using the link below.
Tour dates are as follows:
Wednesday, January 25 at 9 a.m.
Friday, February 3 at 9 a.m.
Thursday, February 9 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, February 14 at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, February 21 at 9 a.m.
Monday, February 27 at 9 a.m
Simi Valley Unified School Enrollment and School of Choice
What is School of Choice?
Almost all of our Simi Valley Schools are considered Schools of Choice (SOC). (The standing exceptions to School of Choice are Hollow Hills Elementary and Vista Elementary, which are fundamental schools, and Santa Susana High School, which is a magnet school.) In some years, schools that are filled to capacity may be closed to SOC, but for the 2023-2024 school year, all of our schools except those listed as standing exceptions are able to accept SOC applicants. As long as the school is not filled to its capacity with existing students and incoming neighborhood students, students living outside the neighborhood boundaries of a school may apply to enroll in that school, and the school may accept these students until the school is filled to capacity. If there are more applications than there are available spots for interested students, the school will conduct a random lottery to select the number of students they are able to accept.
What if we want to apply after the deadline?
We will take SOC applications after the deadline, but these applications will be placed at the bottom of the school's waiting list. As space becomes available, applicants will be advised of their potential enrollment.
Who can apply for School of Choice?
Any school-age child living in the boundaries of the Simi Valley Unified School District may apply for SOC. But, some students with an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) may be directed to a specific school because of that student's needs. SOC can be used by any existing student at any grade wishing to transfer into another school that is not the student's neighborhood school. You do not need to submit a SOC application if you are planning to attend your neighborhood school.
Click HERE to see the Boundary Maps for Simi Valley Schools' elementary, middle and high schools. Locate your address on the appropriate map to determine which school is your neighborhood school.
What is Intent to Register?
Intent to Register only applies to our 5th graders looking into the next school year. In the Simi Vally Unified School District, families have a choice between remaining in their current elementary school for 6th grade or attending one of our three middle schools (HIllside, Sinaloa and Valley View Middle Schools) for 6th grade. The Intent to Register section of our School of Choice application lets the schools know which 6th grade students are staying in elementary or wanting to move into a middle school. All middle school transfers into 6th grade are considered School of Choice transfers. Therefore, if your family has chosen to your child move into 6th grade middle school for the next school year, you will need to complete this application even if the middle school you are interested in is your neighborhood school.
How do we apply for School of Choice/Intent to Register?
To apply for SOC, complete the form(s) required. The link to the SOC Application is found at the top of this page. Also, for all 5th grade students currently attending SVUSD schools and all 6th grade elementary students attending SVUSD schools, the same link will provide you access to the required Intent to Register form. SOC applications and Intent to Register forms are due on or before TO BE DETERMINED SOC applications submitted by this date will be given equal weight if a lottery is needed to determine admission to the school for SOC
How are the applicants chosen for School of Choice enrollment?
Beginning in March, schools start to determine if and how many open seats they have in their school by each grade. (The incoming grades--Kindergarten, 6th, 7th and 9th grades--are usually the grades receiving the most SOC applications.) If the school has enough available open seats for the applications received, then all applicants will be notified that they may enroll in the school. If there are more applicants (by grade level) than there are open seats, then the school will randomly draw on-time applicants from the group and offer enrollment to those students. The applicants who are not initially selected will be placed on a waiting list in the order in which they are randomly drawn, with priority given to the order. (Number one on the waiting list will have priority for an available seat over number five on the waiting list.) Applicants are told what their waiting list number is to help them assess the potential for enrollment.
If an applicant who has been offered enrollment into their SOC declines the enrollment, the next applicant on the waiting list is offered the position. This process continues until ALL of the available seats are filled, or until there are no more applications for that grade level.
When will we know if our child has been accepted into our School of Choice?
As said above, the process begins in March and applicants can be notified as early as the end of March/beginning of April. Because there are many factors that constantly shift throughout the end of the school year to determine how many open seats are available at a school, an applicant may not have a definite answer about acceptance into their SOC even up to right before the school year begins in August. An applicant's neighborhood school will always accommodate a new student, so many families plan to attend their neighborhood school as they wait to hear about a SOC application.
May we submit a School of Choice application to more than one school?
Yes. But when an applicant is offered a position at a school, they are given a strict deadline to accept the placement and submit all enrollment paperwork. Once the paperwork is submitted, the student's name will be removed from all other SOC lists.
Who may we contact if we have additional questions about School of Choice?
Our schools all have warm and friendly staff members in the offices who are happy to answer questions and guide prospective families through the process. Feel free to call any school you are interested in at any time during normal school hours.
