Exhibit B: Recruitment, Enrollment and Retention Plan

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the recruitment, enrollment and retention plan shall include reasonable efforts to enroll educationally disadvantaged students, including a percentage of students that are eligible for Free and Reduced Priced Meals (FRM) program consistent with District averages. (See section I. Recruitment)

Children’s Kiva Montessori School (Kiva) is committed to serving the diverse communities that make up the Four Corners region. Our organizational goal related to our diverse community states that: our program will honor, enrich, and foster the cultural diversity of Montezuma County and the region through inclusive practices in enrollment, hiring, curriculum development, and outreach.

I.  Recruitment

To support the recruitment of a diverse student body at Children’s Kiva Montessori School, our school will:

·  distribute informational brochures in Spanish and English

·  ensure translation of materials is available in Ute and Navajo

·  work closely with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council and Education Department throughout the year and provide outreach during enrollment periods

·  schedule multiple enrollment meetings to facilitate parent availability

·  collaborate with our partner preschool to ensure charter school information is provided to each family receiving CPP funding

To ensure our enrollment lottery placements are consistent with District demographics, we will implement a lottery process that:

·  meets all Federal and CO state requirements

·  implements a weighted lottery (see Supportive Insert 2015 below) to support enrollment of students who are eligible for FRM as allowable by law

Supportive Insert 2015:

In February 2014, Children’s Kiva Montessori School (Kiva) conducted a random lottery in which each student applying for admission was given a single chance of admission. Following are the results of that lottery:

Admitted by Lottery / Not Admitted (as of 2/26/14) / Pool
Number / Percentage / Number / Percentage / Number / Percentage
FRM / 17 / 26.5625 / 10 / 62.5 / 27 / 33.75
Total Minority / 10 / 15.625 / 7 / 43.75 / 17 / 21.25
Native American / 5 / 7.8125 / 3 / 18.75 / 8 / 10.0
Total / 64 / 16 / 80

As demonstrated by these results, a random lottery produced enrollment that materially under-represented the percentage of educationally disadvantaged and ethnic minority students in the lottery pool, and severely under-represented such enrollment in the District (60% FRM; 50% minority; 27% Native American). While Kiva does not have confirmation of the ELL status of all students in the pool, it is probable, given the ethnic minority figures above, that this group is under-represented in relation to the pool of applicants and District enrollment.

In order to correct for the first random lottery having had the effect of disproportionately excluding educationally disadvantaged students, Kiva will conduct future random lotteries with the following modifications:

·  In 2015, Kiva will award two lottery chances to any student in the pool who has documented their FRM status before the lottery is conducted.

·  If the results of the 2015 lottery do not result in an entering cohort of students who are within 10% of the FRM percentage of the District, in 2016, Kiva will award three lottery changes to any student in the pool who has documented FRM status before the lottery is administered.

·  If the results of the 2015 lottery do result in an entering cohort of students who are within 10% of the FRM enrollment percentage of the District, but Kiva enrollment taken as a whole remains more than 10% short of the FRM enrollment percentage of the District, Kiva in 2016 will continue to award two lottery chances to any student in the pool who has documented their FRM status before the lottery is conducted.

·  In both 2015 and 2016, only if Kiva has enrollment of FRM students that is, taken as a whole, within 10% of the District’s FRM enrollment, will Kiva conduct a lottery in which all students are awarded one chance.

This policy will expire after the 2016 lottery and will be replaced by a policy adopted by Kiva, taking into account its experience up to that date with random and weighted lotteries, to conduct enrollments for 2017 and after.

Other than awarding additional chances as stated, this does not change other aspects of the existing enrollment policy at Kiva.

For more information, see the detailed description below

I. Retention

To support the retention and ongoing academic, social, physical and emotional success of all students our school will:

·  fund and sustain a FRM program for eligible students

·  implement sliding scale fee structures based on FRM eligibility for all school activities or programs that have related costs or fees

·  cultivate strong parent-school-community partnerships through volunteerism, an active and inclusive PTO, parent education nights, school-wide celebrations and events

·  implement a coordinated, responsive, RtI program that aligns social, emotional, behavioral, and academic support resources for families and students in need

·  implement our evidence-based academic program that supports the development of the whole child, emphasizing balance and excellence in academic, physical, social, and emotional achievements

II.  Enrollment Criteria and Procedure

The purpose of an enrollment limit is to ensure adequate space, strategically plan for school growth, and support academic goals. Children’s Kiva Montessori School is committed to providing a unique education option in the region for as many families as we can appropriately accommodate. If enrollment requests exceed the capacity of Children’s Kiva Montessori School the following procedures will determine which student(s) are able to enroll and how students are wait-listed.

A.  Priority Enrollment Categories

Currently enrolled students have priority for enrollment in Kiva for the following school year. Beginning in January each year, parents, guardians or legal custodians of students currently attending Kiva must declare their intentions to return to the school in the next academic school year. The Kiva website will post a reminder to parents/legal guardians of the need to return the Intent to Re-Enroll form, along with any additional requested forms and the final day they will be accepted. It will be the parents/legal guardian’s responsibility to return the Intent to Re-Enroll form by the last business day in January. On the first business day of February, the Executive Director will determine the number of spaces available for new students in each grade level for the upcoming school year. For the 2014-15 school year, the number of spaces will be determined through agreement with the School District. If there are more applicants for positions than available spots, the Executive Director will hold a lottery. Priority for available Kindergarten through 8th grade spots will be allocated to the following groups, in the order stated below:

  1. Children of Founding Members of Children’s Kiva Montessori School; established in 2014.
  1. Children of current or former Children’s Kiva Montessori School Elementary/Middle School Board members.
  1. Children of current, full-time teachers and staff.

4.  Siblings of returning and admitted Kiva students. Should there be more siblings of returning and admitted Kiva students than enrollment openings for a given grade, enrollment shall be offered by lottery from within this priority group for the affected grade level.

NOTE: Siblings include any child(ren) living in the same household or with a common parent/legal guardian in separate households. This includes children who become siblings by marriage and/or adoption. Any sibling born while a student is enrolled may retain that status even if the original student graduates from Children’s Kiva Montessori School before he/she reaches Kindergarten. Any sibling offered a position in the first semester must enroll or forfeit their position, and are then subject to general lottery rules.

Limitation: The combination of children of Children’s Kiva Montessori School founding families, board members and children of current, full-time Kiva teachers and staff will not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the total enrollment population in any given year. Should these two groups of children exceed the twenty percent (20%) limit of the total enrollment population in any given year, priority within this group shall be given to:

  1. Children of Founding Members of Children’s Kiva Montessori School; established in 2014.
  1. Children of current or former Children’s Kiva Montessori School Elementary/Middle School Board members.
  1. Children of current, full-time Kiva teachers and staff; and

4.  Children with Intent to Enroll forms received prior to June 25, 2013.

Any children from a priority category who fall outside of the 20% limit shall be eligible for the general school lottery.

B.  Kindergarten Lottery Process:

  1. Eligible applicants may participate in the lottery for kindergarten up to two years and seven months prior to starting kindergarten. Parents interested in participating in this early lottery must undertake the same steps outlined below in Lottery Eligibility and Dates. Parents/legal guardians whose child(ren) secure a spot in the kindergarten may or may not choose to enroll their child(ren) in The Children’s Kiva Preschool program. If they choose to enroll in the preschool program, then they will be able to continue into the public portion of Children’s Kiva Montessori School without competing in the lottery a second time. If they choose not to enroll their student in The Children’s Kiva Preschool program they may wait to enroll their child(ren) into the kindergarten for the school year position allocated in the early lottery, without competing in the lottery a second time. A number of kindergarten positions will be reserved for the lottery conducted in the year in which students will enter kindergarten.
  1. Kiva will offer both full-day and half-day kindergarten positions. The half-day positions will be offered free of charge due to public funding received by the school. Full-day positions will require tuition to cover the portion of the school day not covered by public funds. As Montessori is a progressive method of education, with each year’s learning building on the foundations of the prior year, full-day kindergarten is considered “best practice” for children enrolled in the program, and to ensure the best outcomes for each student, Kiva will strongly encourage full-day enrollment for each applicant, though it will accommodate those families who are admitted through the lottery and prefer the half-day kindergarten option. Based on discussions with other public Montessori schools in Colorado, it appears that the demand for full-day kindergarten is quite high, with schools reporting 90% enrollment for full-day kindergarten, and 10% enrollment for half-day kindergarten. Kiva expects a similarly high demand for full-day kindergarten.
  1. Details of the tuition-based preschool and full-day kindergarten can be found in the preschool enrollment section of Children’s Kiva Montessori School policies. Whether a child is enrolled in a full-day kindergarten program or a half-day kindergarten program, all kindergarten students will be assessed for academic and social preparedness before entering 1st grade.

C.  General Lottery Process

The lottery will be held on the first Wednesday in February, unless Kiva notifies the public otherwise, for available positions in the upcoming school year (except as stated under “Kindergarten Lottery Process,” above). Families interested in having their child(ren) included in the lottery must complete the following:.

  1. Tour our school. Large group and individual tours can be scheduled throughout the year.
  1. Attend one of the MANDATORY Enrollment Meetings for the lottery (dates will be posted on our website and through PSA).
  1. Fill out a Lottery Application for each child to attend (Lottery Applications will only be available and stamped at the Enrollment Meetings, unless previous arrangements have been made).
  1. Submit Lottery Application(s) before the last business day in January to Children’s Kiva Montessori School. Beginning with any lottery conducted after the February 2014, lottery, families who are eligible for FRM will be given the opportunity and encouraged to complete documentation of FRM status in advance of the lottery. Students whose FRM status is timely documented (by January 31) will be given two chances in the lottery.
  1. Kiva will use the contact information provided on the Lottery Application to offer child(ren) a space in the program once the lottery has taken place. Once notified, parents/legal guardians will have 48 hours to accept or decline the offer. If declined, child(ren)’s application and position will be forfeited. Students may reapply for the lottery the following day; however their names will be placed at the end of the compiled wait list. If parents/legal guardians do not respond by the 48 hour deadline, their application will be placed at the end of the lottery waiting list. Notification in Spanish/Navajo/Ute will be provided for those parents/legal guardians who have indicated such language preference.
  1. Once verbal acceptance is given, parents/legal guardians will have ten (10) days to complete an Enrollment Acceptance Letter.

Additional Lottery Information:

·  Placement in the program is prescribed by the student’s age as of October 1st for students entering Kindergarten or 1st grade the upcoming school year. If the incoming student is enrolling for 2nd through 8th grade, he/she will be placed in the grade level which corresponds to the grade level he/she would be entering in his or her former school. The lottery will be conducted from the highest grade level with available spots down to the Kindergarten spots.

·  Each lottery wait list will remain active until the end of the first semester of the school year of potential enrollment. In order to participate in the subsequent year’s lottery, parents must indicate that they want their child to be considered for that lottery, and must update their enrollment form by coming in to the school office and completing the appropriate paperwork prior to the last business day in January.

·  After available spots for each grade level have been filled by the lottery, remaining students will be placed on an “order drawn” list that will become the wait list for openings which may arise in the upcoming school year.

D.  Children without Previous Montessori Experience

Children may apply for Kindergarten without previous Montessori experience. Parents/legal guardians of child(ren) applying for grades K-8 without any previous Montessori experience will be expected to participate in a Montessori Transition Program. Due to the different environment and methodologies in a Montessori school, the transition program is put in place to ensure student success at Kiva. An applicant who has not had previous Montessori experience will have the same chance of enrolling at the school as an applicant with prior Montessori experience.