HHA Enrollment Policies
Hampstead Hill Academy (HHA) is a public charter conversion school serving students from PreK through 8th grade. As a conversion school, HHA serves students living in its attendance area from Broadway (west) to Haven (east) and Eastern (north) to Boston (south). All students in grades K-8 living within HHA’s attendance area are admitted to the school. Visit this link https://www.baltimorecityschools.org/schools to confirm that HHA is your zoned school. If you live in the HHA zone and you would like to enroll your child in our school for the current school year, please call 410.396.9146 to set up an appointment for enrollment. Office staff will let you know what documentation is needed for enrollment.
As a public charter school, admission can be possible by taking part in the HHA Lottery. The lottery procedures apply to any K-8 vacancies that exist after all in-zone K-8 students are served. Lottery participation is open to all kindergarten through 8th grade students who are residents of Baltimore City and who live outside of the HHA zone.
Although the lottery has already taken place, you can still complete a Prospective Student Information Form. Your child will be added to our waitlist. If you are in zone and plan to enroll for the upcoming school year, we ask that you complete a Prospective Student Information Form. We will know that you plan to send your child to Hampstead Hill Academy.
Lottery Guidelines
If you do not live in the HHA zone, you can apply for the HHA Lottery. According to Maryland Charter School Legislation (Statute § 9-102(1-13)), enrollment in public charter schools is open to all students on a space available basis and admits students on a lottery basis if more students apply than can be accommodated. Lottery participation is open to all kindergarten through 8th grade students who are residents of Baltimore City and who live outside of the HHA zone.
Lottery participation is also open to non-resident students who pay tuition at the rate established by BCPSS, though available slots are allotted to Baltimore City students first. A public charter school may not limit enrollment based on student’s race, color, religion, national origin, language spoken, intellectual or athletic performance.
Lottery Process
1. When the enrollment period is determined, HHA will make public announcements of the lottery submission deadline through the school news magazine, website, Facebook and/or e-mail. Evidence of the school’s public announcements will be documented and maintained.
2. The HHA lottery will include all completed forms for the lottery received by the published date.
3. HHA will make available at the public lottery the projected number of vacancies at various grade/multi-grade levels. Students at HHA are homogeneously grouped by skill level and not strictly by grade. Therefore, vacancy projections may be made for multi-grade groupings (for example 3 slots are available for grades 1, 2, etc.). As a point of reference, there are fewer than five spaces available per grade level.
4. The lottery is a system of random selection of applicants that identifies students for possible enrollment and generates the school’s official waiting list. During the lottery process, all completed and accepted forms submitted during the enrollment period are publicly drawn by student name in random order until capacity is reached in that grade or multi-grade grouping.
The remaining applicants for that grade or multi-grade level will be drawn and placed on the waiting list in the order they are drawn. In the event one sibling is offered a seat through the lottery, the remaining sibling(s), if not chosen, will receive a preference on the waiting list by being moved to the top of the waiting list. In the event there are multiple families with sibling(s) on the same waiting list, they will remain in the order in which they were drawn. The date of the lottery drawing will be set district-wide, usually in January or February.
5. The waiting list ranks applicants by the order they are drawn in the lottery and by grade or multi-grade grouping. Forms received at HHA after the public lottery will be added to the waiting list in the order they are received. As spaces become available at the school, they are offered to the applicants in the order of placement on the waiting list. County residents will always maintain the last position on the list until a seat is offered. A current year waiting list will be maintained in the school’s main office through September 30th of each year.
6. The waiting list is only valid until September 30th. October begins the application process for the lottery for the next school year.
Retention Clause
If a student is chosen for a grade or multi-grade slot and is then retained at their sending school or if the information provided on the enrollment form about the student’s grade level is found to be inaccurate, the offer of admissions will be rescinded and the student will go to the end of the waiting list for the newly identified grade level.
Preference for Employees
Employees and administrators of HHA and HHA’s operator – the Baltimore Curriculum Project – are given preference. Such applicants will be given priority for vacancies after any slots going to in-zone students and kindergarten siblings of current students and before students are admitted to HHA via the lottery.
PreK Information
PreK is a separate program with its own set of admission criteria and will not be fully addressed by lottery guidelines. A current year PreK waiting list will be maintained in the school’s main office through September 30th of each year. In October, interest forms for the next school year will be accepted. In the spring of the year, you will receive notice to complete a City Schools’ application on the City Schools’ website. You will be notified via email when the City Schools’ application is available. Selection for PreK will begin at the end of May. Seats will be offered first to in-zone, low-income students. On the first workday of July, seats will be offered to siblings of current students and then to in-zone/out-of-zone students. Forty-six students are selected for PreK per school year.
Kindergarten Early Admission Waiver
Parents whose children turn 5 between September 2nd and October 15th of the school year may request an early admission waiver by completing an Early Admission Packet. Early entrance into kindergarten is intended for children with exceptional ability who are capable of working in a classroom setting with children who are at least one year older. Visit https://www.baltimorecityschools.org for more information on this process.
Hampstead Hill Academy 