• Priorities are available to applicants ONLY during the initial application and acceptance periods.  

    Priorities are applied ONLY to the top-ranked (first choice) program.  

    Prioritities do not guarantee a seat, but increase the likelihood of an invitation being extended. 

    Priorities do not apply to any late application with the exception of a military priority or a newly hired professional courtesy.

     

    Prioritities are applied in the following order:

    1. Program Continuation (feeder pattern);
    2. Sibling;
    3. Professional Courtesy;
    4. Proximity.

     

    Program Continuation

    • Program Continuation priority is given to the related program of Lakewood Elementary's Center for the Creative Arts, Health, and Wellness. 

     

    Sibling Priority Status

    • Priority is given to students who have a sibling who is already attending the program and will be there at the same time as the applicant. 
    • Siblings are defined as brothers, sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters or other children with common legal guardianship (Policy 5500.01) who live in the same household.  In the case of shared custody, the address used will be the address designated for school assignment purposes (Policy 5500.01).

     

    Professional Courtesy 

    • Professional Courtesy priority is given to full-time school-based employees who request their children to attend a program in the school where they work full-time.  Transportation is not provided for professional courtesy priorities unless the family resides in the geographic application area. 

     

    Proximity

    • Proximity is defined as the distance a student lives from the school.  All proximity distances will be computed to the nearest hundredth of a mile using the Manhattan Distance Formula calculation. During the initial year, proximity will be applied to all three grade levels. After the opening year, proximity will only be applied to the first choice of school and or programs for sixth grade. 
    • One-half of the seats remaining after the other priorities have been applied will go to those applicants who live closest to the school. 

     

    Military Transfer Priority (only applicable during the Late Application Period)

    • Priority is given to the dependent children of active-duty military personnel transferring to or caused to move into the school  district from another Florida district, state or foreign country after the initial application period. By state law, dependent children are given first priority at the time of their initial transfer to the school district.