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Lottery

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The following is a guide for prospective families of Boreal Sun Charter School to complete the enrollment process:
  1. Attend an Orientation

  • The first step is visiting Boreal Sun for a required orientation. During the orientation, parents or guardians will learn about our philosophy and how our school operates, and you'll take a short tour of the school. Before leaving, you’ll fill out an orientation verification form. Plan for about 30 minutes. Attending an orientation is required for your application to be approved. Families will be asked to sign a verification form to show they attended an orientation.    Orientation days are designed as "open house"- style events. You may come at any time between the times listed; you may stay as long or as briefly as you'd like.
    The application deadline is Friday, April 10, 2026.  Students are encouraged to attend an orientation with their parent/caregiver. 
  • Boreal Sun welcomes students whose families are willing to commit to following the expectations outlined in our Family Commitments Form, which is part of the Orientation Verification.
  • The lottery opens on January 12 and closes on April 10, 2026, at 3 PM

A proxy may be established for families not currently in the Fairbanks area. Military families are supported by Georgia Sandgren (907) 452-2000 x 11340), the Military Student Support Coordinator for the FNSBSD.

2. Submit Your Application

3. Lottery Date

  • The lottery runs on April 15 (or the nearest weekday). Boreal Sun Charter uses the district’s online lottery system (CAP) to complete the draw.

4. After the Lottery

  • On April 17, log in to CAP to see your child’s waitlist number. Please do not call our school, as our Administrative Secretary will contact families via phone or email as spots become available. You will have 48 hours from that point of contact to accept or decline the spot. If a spot is offered in August, you will have 24 hours to accept or decline the spot.
  • If a spot is offered in grades 6-8, a brief interview with the teacher is requested to see if our school is the best fit for your family. 

If you miss the deadline, you may still add your child to the waitlist through the lottery system after May 2, 2026.

Admission & Selection Process

Admission Criteria 

Boreal Sun Charter School is a school of choice. A student enrolling at Boreal Sun must be between the ages of five and fourteen and a resident of the FNSBSD. To be eligible to apply for kindergarten, children must be 5 years old on or before September 1st. Children must be 6 years old on or before September 1 to attend 1st grade. A copy of the child’s birth certificate, proof of immunizations, or a waiver is required for each student enrolling. Boreal Sun welcomes students whose families are willing to commit to following the expectations outlined in our Family Commitments Form, which is part of the Orientation Verification. 

If a family participates in the lottery and is not offered placement during one school year but remains interested in enrollment the following school year, a new application must be completed the following Spring. Waitlists do not carry over from year to year. Families must attend an Orientation each year, regardless of whether they have attended one previously. 

Enrollment Preferences

The following shall be given preference for admission to the school in the event a lottery becomes necessary:

-Children of staff of the school

-Siblings of students currently enrolled in the school - Siblings are defined as any two or more students who share a legal parent/guardian.  If a class is already full, siblings will move to the top of the waitlist for that class.

-Children whose family lives within the defined neighborhood of Boreal Sun Charter School

Neighborhood Preference

Enrollment preference allows neighborhood families to be offered placement before the general lottery applicants are drawn. If there are no openings in the neighborhood for the child’s grade level, the child will be placed on the waitlist before general lottery children.

The neighborhood defined for neighborhood preference is the residences within Lathrop St. to the West; 21st Ave. to the North; S. Cushman to the east, and the Mitchell Expressway/Richardson Highway to the South.

Enrollment Policy - Withdrawals

If a family chooses to withdraw a child from BSCS, that child will no longer have sibling school priority for enrollment should the family want to re-enroll the student in the future.  Removing a child's priority enrollment status does not disallow their inclusion in the lottery or potential reenrollment; it simply removes the priority status. The child could still be re-admitted through the regular lottery process. 

 Kindergarten Retention and Enrollment Policy

In the fall of each year, the Kindergarten teacher will meet with Kindergarten parents to review 1st-grade readiness. This will include 1st-grade readiness skills that teachers will look for in students over the course of the Kindergarten year.  The Waldorf-inspired approach views students as individuals with their own developmental schedule.  As such, both academic skills and student readiness are considered when recommending promotion from Kindergarten to 1st grade.

If a recommendation for retention is made by the Kindergarten teacher at the spring parent-teacher conference, the school will hold a spot for that child in both Kindergarten and First grade for the following school year, allowing for re-evaluation of the child in late July if needed. In most cases, the school will honor the parents’ placement decision. 

Nondiscrimination Disclosure

Boreal Sun Charter School (BSCS) is a free charter school of choice and will not discriminate against students for any reason in its education programs or activities, including its admissions policies or procedures, as defined in FNSBSD Policy 1011.