Lottery Philosophy: We aim to be a great elementary school for any student, and in a program within our larger school, we want to have a student body that reflects both our entire schools’ and Portland’s wonderful diversity. Our lottery process strives to promote that as best we can to be demographically representative of our greater Lyseth school community, including diversity of students who receive free or reduced lunch, students who receive special education services and students who are considered by PPS as “Multilingual Learners.”
Our lottery process also guarantees a spot to siblings of current Spanish Immersion students, following previously agreed upon protocols created to support language learning in the home. (Please note: 23-24 Kindergarten students who have siblings in the 22-23 5th grade - or who have siblings who are alumni of the SI program at Lyseth – are not guaranteed a spot in the program. They do NOT have an advantage (or disadvantage) in the lottery.)
Lottery Priorities
- Six spots for Spanish speaking students - students whose home language is Spanish. This refers to students whose primary language is Spanish, or who have a parent whose primary language is Spanish. These spots are not bound by Lyseth boundary but priority will be given to boundary students if there are more than six applicants. At this time, PPS cannot provide transportation for these spots.
- Up to 16 spots for kinder siblings of current Spanish Immersion students who live in the Lyseth boundary.
- Remaining spots will go to, in order of priority:
- Boundary students who apply
- Portland district students who apply
- Out of district students who apply
Lottery Process
- The first week of June, the names of all incoming kinder students who have submitted a SI Commitment and Lottery Form to Lyseth Elementary School will comprise the lottery pool. Students must be living in the Lyseth boundary of Portland by September 1st, 2022 to be considered a part of the “boundary” pool.
- Before the lottery begins, any sibling of current Spanish Immersion students in the pool will be offered a spot. Sibling status should be indicated on the student's commitment form and confirmed by Lyseth staff before the time of the lottery. Step-sibling and
half-siblings are considered siblings.
- The students remaining in the pool will be assigned one lottery number using a random number generator. The lower the lottery number, the greater the likelihood that a student will have a place in the SI program at Lyseth.
- Spots in the class will then be filled by lottery number, from lowest to highest – within the three priorities.
- Students not offered a spot will be placed on a wait list, ordered by lottery number and priority groups.
- Lyseth staff will promptly communicate lottery results to all families. Any student who is on the accepted student list is presumed to be attending SI program at Lyseth for the fall of 2023. If a student has received a lottery spot at SI program at Lyseth and decides to attend another school, the parent or guardian should let Lyseth know as soon as possible.
- A minimum of 16 students will be accepted through the initial lottery process. The typical maximum for any grade level at Lyseth is 22. Up to six spots will be held in reserve for Spanish speaking students - students whose home language is Spanish. This refers to students whose primary language is Spanish, or who have a parent whose primary language is Spanish. These spots are not bound by Lyseth boundary. By the week before school starts, if it becomes clear that these spots are not able to be filled, then these spots will be offered to students on any wait list.
Special cases:
- In the event that twins (or triplets) from the same family are in the lottery pool, they will be treated during the lottery number generation process as one student and given one number (assuring that either both students will get offered a spot – or both will not). In the unlikely event that the twins draw the final spot in the class, both will be admitted.
- If at the end of this process, there are additional spots available, applicants from outside the Lyseth boundary whose home language is not Spanish will be considered.
1st-5th Grade Students:
- Whenever space allows, (when a class is under the designated Portland cap numbers) we will try and add students to Spanish Immersion classes. Students will be considered on a case by case basis depending on the grade level - they will need to have a grade level (or close to) equivalent proficiency of Spanish to be considered to be added to the program. Interested families can contact the Lyseth office directly and if no space is available, they may submit their names to be contacted later on if space does open up. The same priorities will apply for students joining the program in 1st-5th as in the kinder lottery.
