Admissions
What are the admission requirements for Westlake Academy?
Westlake Academy is an open enrollment college preparatory charter school, which is owned and operated by the Town of Westlake. This means that we are a public school, funded primarily through contributions from the State of Texas. Charter schools are granted freedom from many of the State regulations, but still must maintain accountability through State assessments. As an open enrollment charter school, the only requirement for admittance into the Academy is based upon student residency.
Westlake Academy admits students from two distinct geographic areas; the primary and secondary areas are defined as:
- The primary boundary, which runs concurrently with the Town of Westlake boundary.
- The secondary boundary, which was adopted by the Board of Trustees and approved by the Texas Education Agency in June 2008. It currently consists of the following Independent School Districts (ISD): Birdville ISD, Carroll ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, Keller ISD, Lewisville ISD, Northwest ISD, HEB ISD, Decatur ISD, Paradise ISD, Boyd ISD, Weatherford ISD, Krum ISD, Ponder ISD, Denton ISD, Little Elm ISD, Argyle ISD, Frisco ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Grand Prairie ISD, Duncanville ISD, Lake Dallas ISD, Springtown ISD, Azle ISD, Coppell ISD, Irving ISD, Arlington ISD, Fort Worth ISD, Eagle Mt-Saginaw ISD, Highland Park ISD, Garland ISD and McKinney ISD.
What is the admission process for Westlake Academy?
Westlake Academy’s admission process is driven by the legal requirements set by state and federal agencies for operating open enrollment charter schools. We have a Board adopted admission policy which can be seen by clicking here. These policies must align with state and federal requirements, and approved by the Texas Education Agency.
As an open enrollment charter school, we accept applications from all students within the geographic areas defined above. The students residing in the primary boundary are admitted upon the completion of the enrollment packet and establishing proof of residency. Applications from students residing in the secondary boundary are accepted in December and January each year. If more students apply for admission than can be admitted, the Academy is required to conduct a lottery. This random selection process is used to determine the order students will be admitted from the waiting list.
Students are exempted from the lottery if they meet one of the following criteria and in the following order:
1. Residency in the primary boundary (the Town of Westlake) or children of the employees of the Town of Westlake, or children of Westlake Academy’s founders, teachers, and staff (so long as the total number of students allowed under this exemption constitutes only a small percentage of the school’s total enrollment).
2. Siblings of students already admitted to or attending the same charter school.
Once a student is admitted through the lottery process, their siblings are removed from the lottery waiting list and are added to the sibling waiting list. The list is ordered based upon the date of entry of the first sibling admitted to the Academy. Students on the sibling waiting list are granted admittance to the Academy before students on the regular waiting list, based upon available openings. Available openings are any openings that are not filled by students residing in the primary boundary, and the children of the faculty and staff of the Town of Westlake and Westlake Academy.
What is the timeline for admissions to Westlake Academy?
Our goal is to maintain classrooms at 20 students per class, and to provide priority placement to students residing in the primary boundary. In order to best accomplish this goal, we hold available positions as long as possible and do not post specific dates associated with the activities listed below. As this is an ongoing process, beginning in December and ending in August each year, we provide date ranges when admission activities occur.
* Kindergarten Roundup is where we identify all incoming Kindergarten students that will be admitted to the Academy and bring them onto campus to become familiar with the environment, meet the administration and teachers, and answer questions for new families.
2013-1024 School Year Lottery
Applications for participation in the lottery are accepted from December 1st through January 31st each year. We accept applications for students who are entering Kindergarten through Grade 11 only. Your child must be 5 years of age by September 1st to enroll in Kindergarten. If you complete an application after the deadline of January 31st, you will be placed at the bottom of the waiting list that is established for your child's grade in February.
Please only submit one application per student. Students must reside within one of the districts listed above.
Westlake Academy Student Application for 2013-14
This form does not need to be filled out for children who currently have a sibling enrolled at Westlake Academy. Siblings of existing students are placed on the Sibling Waitlist.
The Lottery will be held in the Westlake Academy Performance Hall on March 1, 2013 from 6:00-7:00 pm. Attendance is not required for Lottery applicants.
Any question you might have can be addressed to the school office at: info@westlakeacademy.org