Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions and helpful answers for parents, families and students.
The current NHPS school choice application period will begin on Monday, February 3, 2025 and will end on Friday, March 7, 2025. Families will be notified on Monday, March 31, 2025, 5:00pm of their initial placement results. Families are encouraged to submit applications online. Why? Online applications can be modified throughout the application period and real-time notification of placement results. Paper applications will be accepted in our office at 54 Meadow Street, New Haven, CT. We urge families NOT to mail in applications, as we have no control over the timeliness of receipt of mail. No applications received after Friday, March 7, 2025 will be accepted.
If you are completing a paper application, you can use a single application to apply for up to 2 children. You must use an additional application if you are applying for more than 2 children. If you are completing an online application you must complete a separate application for each child but do have the ability to use the sibling linking option.
Yes. All waitlists from the previous year have expired. Typically, all waitlists expire on October 1st of each school year.
No. Once your child is placed at a school, he/she can remain until the last grade of his/her current school. You DO NOT need to apply through the school choice process if your child will be staying at his or her current school next year and the school offers your child’s next grade level.
Public Act 23-208 states, “public schools shall be open to all children five years of age and over who reach age five by September first of each year.” Effective fall of the 2025-2026 school year, a child should attain their fifth birthday on or before September 1 in order to enroll in school. New Haven Public Schools understands the timing of this change creates a number of challenges for families. For this reason the New Haven Public Schools has created the following transition plan:
- If your child turns 5 on or before September 1, 2025, they are eligible for kindergarten and no action is necessary.
- If your child turns 5 after September 1, 2025, and IS currently enrolled in an NHPS PreK 4 Program, they will automatically move on to Kindergarten for the 2025-2026 School Year.
- If your child is NOT enrolled in a New Haven Public Schools PreK program and turns 5 after September 1, 2025 and before January 1, 2026 and you would like them to attend Kindergarten in the fall of 2025, you must: Submit a written request for a consultation with our Early Childhood Office to determine eligibility by clicking the here.
See this page for more details.
This law also impacts the age requirements for incoming PreK3 and PreK4 students starting with the 2025-2026 school year:
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If your child turns 4 on or before September 1, they are eligible to enter PreK4
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If your child turns 4 after September 1, they are NOT eligible to enter PreK4
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If your child turns 3 on or before September 1, they are eligible to enter PreK3
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If your child turns 3 after September 1, they are NOT eligible to enter PreK3
Yes. Changes can be made until the deadline of Friday, March 1, 2024. Please note only one application is accepted per child. If you applied online, go to www.newhavenmagnetschools.com to update the information. If you submitted a paper application, another paper application is required. Only the latest application received by the deadline date will be included in the placement process.
Yes. Transportation is provided for all K- 8 students who live more than one mile from their school. Transportation is NOT provided for PreK-3 and PreK-4 students. Please note New Haven Public Schools does NOT provide school bus transportation to the following schools: Common Ground, Sound School, Riverside, Worthington Hooker. To further inquire about school transportation please contact the Office of Transportation at 475-220-1600.
The Office of Choice & Enrollment uses the preferred list of schools’ submitted by each applicant, the number of seats offered at each school by grade in the upcoming school year and each school’s priority structures (e.g., sibling preference and neighborhood preference) to determine placement. In the common case that there are more applicants than seats, applicants are placed by their priority. Ties between applicants with the same priority are settled using an assigned lottery number.
Student placements are made using a computer-based algorithm. This algorithm takes into consideration the applicant’s preferred schools and their verified preferences. In a nutshell, this is what happens:
Process Steps:
- All applicants are temporarily assigned to their most preferred school.
- Next, at each school, the temporary applicants are sorted by their priorities at that specific school. Priority ties are settled using a lottery number.
- At each school, seats are now filled in the above order until no more seats are available.
- Students who do not receive a seat in Step III will now be considered for their next preferred school. The process continues until 1) all applicants are placed or 2) all non-assigned applicants were considered at all their preferred schools.
Entering Kindergarten students who are New Haven residents and are not placed at a school of their choice will be assigned to a school with appropriate availability.
Grade 8 students currently enrolled in a New Haven Public School students who are not placed at a school of their choice or do not apply via the school choice application process, will be enrolled at their neighborhood zoned high school. These schools include James Hillhouse and Wilbur Cross.
Students who are not residents of New Haven and have applied via the school choice process but were not placed in a preferred school must enroll in their home district.
- Photo ID of parent/guardian
- Child’s birth certificate or passport
- Proof of New Haven residency—a current utility bill or lease/mortgage papers with parent/guardian name
