Prospective Families

The CLCS is open to all students in grades Pre-K to 5th, with preference given to those from the City of Boston.

Application Procedure

• Applications for the 2010-2011 school year are now closed.  The application for 2011-2012 will be available in November.  Please use our Admissions Information links below for more details about our admissions process.
• Students must be 4 years old by September 1st in order to qualify for Pre-Kindergarten.
• Download an Application (Admissions for 2010-2011 Closed): 
• English
• 2010-2011 Admissions Information: page 1,  page 2,  page 3
• 2010-2011 Admission Application

• Español
• 2010-2011 Información sobre Admisión: página 1,  página 2, página 3
• 2010-2011 Applicación para Admisión

• 中文
• 2010-2011 招生信息: p. 1,  p. 2,  p. 3
• 2010-2011 入学申请

• Português
• 2010-2011 Informações para Inscrições: página 1,  página 2, página 3
• 2010-2011 Formulário de Inscrição

• Haitian Creole
• 2010-2011 Enfòmasyon Admisyon: paj 1, paj 2, paj3
• 2010-2011 Aplikasyon pou Admisyon

Lottery

Students are accepted through an open lottery.   Applications received by the end of February will be randomly drawn in the March lottery. If there are spots available in a class, students will be drawn into empty spots.  When classes are full, remaining students are put on a waiting list. Applicants for grades 1 - 5 are drawn and automatically added to the Waitlist as K-1 is the only class with completely empty rosters.  The waiting lists do roll over each year. To remain on the waitlist families must respond to the periodic waitlist updates sent out by CLCS. Information may also be updated by calling the school.  

The enrollment process involves extensive, city-wide outreach, multiple information sessions (Visiting Days), and broad application distribution. We announce the enrollment process and post the application on our website. Further, in order to inform the general public about the school, fliers are distributed throughout the city; advertisements are placed in both city papers as well as nearly every Boston community paper and regular press releases are sent to those newspapers. The enrollment process concludes in mid-March with a publicly-held lottery to allocate available slots to applicants in the K-1 class or on the waiting lists of the K-2 - 5th grade classes. A full description of our enrollment policy is available at the school.

Sibling Policy

The charter school law, M.G.L. c.79, s. 81, provides a sibling preference provision that gives siblings of enrolled students preference over non-siblings in enrollment. Siblings of children who are already enrolled have preference for admission as space is available.

Being Offered a Spot

As spots become available, they are offered to the next child on the waitlist.  It is important to keep contact information up to date:  families with out of date contact information will lose the opportunity to take an open spot.  Once an offer is made, families are given 24 hours to respond.  Spots do become available both during the summer and during the school year. 

Visiting Days

Visiting days provide an opportunity to visit the school, and watch student performances during the Friday assembly.  You must register in advance to attend a session.  Please call (617) 254-8904 x100 to register.  Space is limited, and fills up quickly!

2009 - 2010 Visiting Days:

Friday, October 2nd, 2009  8:45 & 9:30 am

Friday, November 6th, 2009  8:45 & 9:30 am

Friday, January 15th, 2009  8:45 & 9:30 am

Friday, February 12th, 2009  8:45& 9:30 am

These policies and procedures are subject to change.  Please contact the school if you have any questions.