School choice meets specific education needs

Which learning environment will help your child most?

To ensure we meet the needs of every student, JCPS offers an array of learning environments and educational opportunities:

• Elementary Schools:  JCPS has developed a system of school choice that includes the resides school and an array of educational opportunities within the cluster.  JCPS elementary schools are grouped in six clusters of twelve to fifteen schools.

  If you're the parent of an elementary student, you might want him or her to attend another school within the cluster of elementary schools serving the student's address instead of the resides school. Why? Because a program might not be available at the resides school but is available at another school within its cluster. Contact your resides school for information on the schools in the cluster serving your address, or click here for more details

  Elementary students are assigned within a cluster and the district cannot guarantee placement in the resides school. Elementary students are assigned within the cluster based on school and class capacity, the programmatic needs of the student, the assignment of the student’s siblings, the resides school, and the district’s diversity guideline.  Parents are given the opportunity to indicate their preferences in the cluster on the elementary application

  Middle and High Schools:  Middle and high school students attend the school assigned to your address and also have the opportunity to apply for one of many magnet or optional programs.

• A magnet school is a school that provides a specialized learning environment or focuses on a specific academic area. For example, Central High School Magnet Career Academy offers a program for students who want to focus on law and government. Most magnet schools accept students from anywhere in the District. If a student is accepted, JCPS offers bus transportation regardless of where the student lives. Some magnet schools accept students only from specific areas. A magnet program operates in the same way as a magnet school, but it's a program within a school. Magnet schools and programs are offered at all grade levels-elementary, middle, and high school.
  •  A traditional school is a type of magnet school that focuses on basic skills in a traditional learning environment that requires uniforms, daily homework, and parental involvement. A traditional program operates in the same way as a traditional school, but it's a program within a school. Traditional schooling is available for elementary, middle, and high school students.
  • A magnet career academy is a type of high school that lets students focus on training for a specific career. For instance, Southern High School Magnet Career Academy lets students focus on transportation technology. JCPS offers more than a dozen magnet career academies.
  • A Montessori school uses the Montessori approach to learning, which encourages critical thinking, exploration, and self-directed education. Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary and Kennedy Montessori Elementary are magnet schools.
• An optional program is a small, specialized program within a school. Many other optional programs are available for elementary, middle, and high school students. JCPS provides transportation for students in an optional program only if they live in the school's attendance area.
  
  
• High school open enrollment gives all incoming ninth-grade students an extra opportunity to choose a school. It offers a student who isn't interested in magnet or optional choices the opportunity to apply to a high school other than his or her resides school.

For more information:
We'll send you a free booklet describing all the programs at all of our schools. Just call the JCPS Fact Line at 485-3228 and ask for the Choices! guidebook.

You also might want to visit the home page for the JCPS office of Optional, Magnet, and Advance Programs.

If you would like to visit a school before your child applies to it, just call the school, and the staff will be happy to schedule a personal tour.

How to apply

If your child is entering JCPS for the first time and you want him or her to attend the resides school-the school serving his or her address-you need to follow only the basic enrollment process. If you want your child to attend an optional or magnet school or program, you need to submit an application to the office of Optional, Magnet, and Advance Programs.

You can get an application by calling that office (485-3323) or by attending the JCPS Showcase of Schools, usually held in October at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

The elementary application period is offered throughout February. The middle and high school application period is offered during November, December, and early January.

JCPS staff members will help you with any part of the application process. Contact Optional, Magnet, and Advance Programs (485-3323) or the Parent Assistance Centers (485-6250 or 485-6771).