Carpenter Community Charter Announces Resident Application Deadline for Next School Year

Carpenter Community Charter (“Carpenter”), a Studio City public elementary school, is working hard to find solutions to potential overcrowding in the 2013-2014 school year and beyond.

Residents and nonresidents alike should take note that, at this time, the school cannot provide a guarantee of admission for new students next year.

“The school is committed to making every effort to find a fair solution that will allow legitimate residents in the Carpenter district to attend the school without being subject to a lottery,” states Carpenter Principal Joseph Martinez.

The potential overcrowding is presumed to be mainly caused by a high incidence of fraudulent admissions based on the use of false addresses, possibly involving approximately 120 currently enrolled students. While the school is investigating suspected fraudulent admissions of current students, “Carpenter has taken steps to institute new verification techniques that will ensure that applicants claiming to be residents are in fact currently living in the Carpenter residential area,” according to Heather Tonkins, Carpenter Governance Council Chair.

Carpenter is awaiting some permissions from LAUSD and Charter Schools Division officials that, if given, will help to more rapidly reduce the fraud responsible for the school’s overcrowding. Among other things, positive answers to some of the school’s questions will enable Carpenter to use electronic information to instantly investigate, prevent and eliminate fraud.

Potential solutions discussed at recent Carpenter Governance Council Enrollment Committee meetings include increased use of a Pupil Services and Attendance (PSA) Counselor as well as a public records database to discover potential fraud.

As a result of the crowding crisis, the school community has come together, largely on a volunteer basis, to develop systems and solutions to expunge fraud. “Families who initially enrolled their students at Carpenter using a fraudulent address should plan to send their children elsewhere next year,” warns a Carpenter Enrollment Committee member. (Enrollment Committee and Governance Council meetings are open to the public.)

While the school takes steps to put fraud enforcement measures in place, Carpenter finds itself forced to prepare for the possibility that residents may need to participate in a lottery for next year.

A new prospective student tour date has been moved up to March 14, 2013, formerly scheduled for the following week. Adult family members of prospective students are invited to attend.

The application period for this year for residents will end on March 22, 2013. Resident applicants who complete an online information sheet by this date will initiate the application and address verification process. Those residents whose addresses can be verified will be included in a lottery should there be a need for one. Resident applicants who do not complete the online information sheet by March 22, 2013 will be placed at the end of the lottery wait list after address verification. The non-resident application process will be similar to previous years. To be considered for either lottery, potential new applicants for any and all grades for the 2013-2014 school year must complete an online information sheet through the school’s website at www.carpentercharter.org.

At Carpenter Community Charter, our mission is to provide for the children of Studio City a vibrant, safe and rewarding neighborhood school where enrichment and hands-on learning are ingrained in a rigorous academic program - and where the whole child is encouraged to thrive and grow. Our goal is to impart in our students the skills they need to thrive in the 21st century and to provide our entire community the opportunity to have an active role in the success of our school.