Enrollment Procedure
Liberty Common School will begin enrolling for the 2023-2024 academic year in December 2022.
Enter the lottery by completing the online lottery form.
Enrollment Policy
Per the admissions process defined in the school’s charter application and its contract with the Poudre School District (PSD), Liberty Common School (LCS) complies with federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination. LCS makes no distinction on account of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services of any student who seeks admission. Furthermore, admission will be offered publicly to incoming students with an effort to invite all families in the Poudre School District to carefully review the LCS Charter and enroll their children if the parents value the school’s philosophy and educational offering.
Attendance by a parent or guardian at a public-information night is recommended, and results in priority status for lottery enrollment. This recommendation ensures all parents/guardians understand Liberty’s philosophy and educational approach prior to enrollment. Exceptions to the public-information-night attendance prioritization are considered on a limited, case-by-case basis by the Headmaster, Principals, and Board of Directors.
Vacancies exist whenever the number of students enrolled in class is below that class’ capacity. As vacancies occur, those vacancies are filled using a lottery system. Students are eligible to fill a vacancy after participating in a conference between the student, parent, Headmaster and/or an administrator designee to discuss curriculum, required levels of performance, dress code, rules, and other expectations. This conference may include discussions of academic achievement in previous schools and written or verbal evaluations. LCS does not mandate any student testing prior to acceptance, nor do test scores or previous academic performance affect a student's chances at admission.
Upon completion of the meeting and a review of the student’s academic data, the administration provides a grade-level recommendation for the student.
The following categories of applicants are exempt from the lottery-enrollment procedure in the following order of precedence:
- Currently enrolled students
- Total of the following two groups not to exceed 20% of total enrollment:
- Children and grandchildren of Founders as defined in the charter contract with Poudre School District, and
- Children of full-time staff
- Siblings of currently enrolled students
The lottery-enrollment procedure is then implemented to fill remaining vacancies in the following order of precedence:
- Students on the lottery list residing within PSD whose parent or guardian has attended a public information night
- Students on the lottery list residing within PSD whose parent or guardian has not attended a public-information night
- Students on the lottery list residing outside PSD whose parent or guardian has attended a public-information night
- Students on the lottery list residing outside PSD whose parent or guardian has not attended a public-information night
- All other students on the lottery list
Full-time vs. Half-Time Kindergarten
The objective of Liberty Common School’s kindergarten program is to introduce children to school and prepare them for first grade and beyond. This will be a child's first step toward cultivating wisdom and virtue at LCS. The students’ primary focus is to learn the content specified by the Core Knowledge Curriculum and the skills developed in Liberty’s literacy and math programs.
The Core Knowledge Curriculum for kindergarten is designed as a half-time curriculum acknowledging full-time kindergarten is not an academic necessity. This fact is readily evident by the academic performance of Liberty’s half-time and full-time kindergarten students. Test results indicate no difference in long-term academic performance of full-time vs. half-time kindergarteners.
Liberty Common School acknowledges the right and responsibility of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. Many five- and six-year-old children are not developmentally ready to be in school full time. Liberty is committed to maintaining half-time kindergarten to support students who are better served by such a program.
To ensure parity between half-time and full-time academic preparation for first grade, the full-time program is designed to be:
- 50% academics and skill instruction/development; and,
- 50% enrichment, skills practice to reduce homework, and supervised playtime.
Enrollment in half-time and full-time kindergarten programs is by lottery. Half-time kindergartners will attend school full days on Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday and a half day on Fridays.