APS News Release

Applications for Admission to Secondary Option Schools Begins Nov. 5

75 Sixth-Grade Slots Available at H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program

Neighborhood Transfers
For the 2019-20 school year, transfers to all APS middle schools and high schools will be offered to the extent possible given financial constraints and capacity limits. For high schools, neighborhood transfers to Wakefield and Yorktown High Schools will be accepted. If families are interested in requesting a neighborhood transfer, they must complete the online Secondary Neighborhood Transfer Application.Parents/guardians are responsible for transportation when the student accepts a transfer to another neighborhood school that is accepting transfers or who decide to remain at their neighborhood school due to a boundary change.

Countywide Secondary Option Schools and Programs

Middle School Options

  • H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program
  • Dual Language Immersion Program at Gunston Middle School – Students currently enrolled in the APS elementary Spanish Immersion programs will complete an Intent-to-Return form through their school. Students not currently in an APS immersion program will need to meet language requirements for acceptance into the middle school program.
  • Montessori Program at Gunston Middle School – Students currently enrolled in the APS Montessori program will complete an Intent-to-Return form through Drew Montessori. Students entering this program from outside APS will need to meet Montessori experience requirements for acceptance into the middle school program.

High School Options

  • Arlington Tech at the Career Center
  • H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program
  • Advanced Placement (AP) Network at Wakefield High School
  • Dual Language Immersion Program at Wakefield High School
  • International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at Washington-Lee High School

Please visit the websites for these schools, as well as the Options and Transfers webpage, for any specific admission requirements for all the secondary option schools and programs listed above. Transportation will be provided for students who receive admission to any option school or program if the student lives outside of the school or program’s walk zone. APS will determine the number of available slots for secondary options and transfers based on a review of school projections and capacity, and will announce these numbers during the Superintendent’s Enrollment update on January 10, 2019.

Application Timeline
The online Secondary School Options Application and Neighborhood Transfer Application will be available online on November 5, 2018 at 8 a.m. Parents should complete the application for option schools/programs and transfers online any time between November 5, 2018 and January 18, 2019 at 4 p.m.

Lottery
If the number of applications exceed the number of available seats for any of the option schools/programs or neighborhood transfers, APS will conduct a random double-blind lottery to determine admission. If families apply to more than one school or program, their application will go into all lotteries simultaneously. Lotteries for all secondary option schools/programs, and neighborhood transfers if needed, will be held on January 29, 2019 at the Welcome Center by Department of Teaching and Learning staff.

Notification
Families will be notified through email and/or text of their acceptance or placement on the waiting list by the Welcome Center on February 5, 2019. Parents must accept or decline admission to the school or program by February 22, 2019.

Waitlist
Students who applied, but were not selected through the lottery process, will be placed in numerical order on a waitlist. Applications received after the February 5, 2019 deadline are placed at the bottom of the existing waitlist for the upcoming school year. Beginning this year, all families will need to apply for the option schools or programs they are interested in every year to be included in the lottery because waitlists reset annually after the lottery occurs. Additional information is available on the Options and Transfers webpage.

H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program – New Allocation of slots
Under APS options and transfers procedures, slots in the sixth-grade class at H-B Woodlawn will be assigned based on the size of fifth-grade cohorts in each elementary school, including option schools, and based on the number of students who were not previously enrolled in APS who applied to the program. The seat allocations were adjusted this year to provide more equitable access to students interested in attending H-B Woodlawn. Students in grades 6-12 interested in attending H-B Woodlawn for the 2019-20 school year will need to complete the Secondary School Options Application because the waitlist from the previous years will not carry over for the new 2019-20 application period.

A total of 75 sixth-grade slots are available for the 2019-20 school year. The slots will be assigned as follows:

  • Abingdon – 4
  • Arlington Science Focus School – 4
  • Arlington Traditional – 2
  • Ashlawn – 4
  • Barcroft – 2
  • Barrett – 3
  • Campbell – 2
  • Carlin Springs – 3
  • Claremont – 4
  • Discovery – 4
  • Drew Model – 3
  • Glebe – 3
  • Henry – 3
  • Hoffman–Boston – 2
  • Jamestown – 3
  • Key – 4
  • Long Branch – 3
  • McKinley – 4
  • Nottingham – 3
  • Oakridge – 5
  • Randolph – 2
  • Taylor – 4
  • Tuckahoe – 3
  • Students Not Currently Enrolled in APS – 1