Before/After School Program

Lottery, Waitlist & Enrollment Procedures

All of the Medford Before and After School programs have enrollment limits based on the space available in the building. The programs are typically full and maintain a waitlist. Depending on the school your child attends, it may take a year or more for a spot to open up. You only need to apply for the waitlist pool once.

Lottery

• Starting on April 1, families are invited to enter a Lottery for available spots for the following school year. 

• If you are moving to Medford, you must register for school before applying for the Lottery.

• The Lottery entry will close on April 13, and the total number of students signed up will be entered into random sequence generator.

• The numbers will then be assigned to the names and ordered based on the sequence.

• Once all of the seats are filled, families are notified by email of their enrollment or waitlist status.  The waitlist status is only ‘on the waitlist’ - it is not a reflection of the number assigned during the Lottery.

• Families will have five days to respond to their selection during the Lottery and the sequencing created during this process will be held until that five days is up should some families decide not to take the spots offered.

Waitlist

• If your student is currently enrolled in Medford Public Schools, you may apply to be added to the waitlist pool at any time. Please contact the Before & AfterSchool office at before-afterschool@medford.k12.ma.us.

• If you are moving to Medford, you must register for school before being placed on the Before or After School waitlist pool. 

• If your student will be starting school in the fall, you will have the opportunity to enter their name in the Lottery starting on April 1 of the prior school year. The Lottery will run in April and will determine whether your child gets an open spot, or put in the waitlist pool. Please note, any students in the waitlist pool who did not get a spot in a given year will remain in the waitlist for the following year.

When a Spot Becomes Available:

• The waitlist pool will be divided up by Grade Group. When a spot becomes available in a particular grade group, the students in that waitlist pool will be assigned numbers (like the Lottery) and run through a random generator to be sequenced. 

• If your child is at the top of the sequence, you will receive an email to let you know there is an opening. 

• You will typically have 5 days to decide if you still need the spot.

• If you decline the spot, you will be removed from the waitlist pool.

• We may offer you a limited spot if that is all that is available (such as Mondays and Wednesdays). If you require a five-day schedule you may decline the spot and still remain in the waitlist pool, but we will offer the limited spot to someone else.

Enrollment:

• Once your child is enrolled in the program, the spot is guaranteed through 5th grade if you choose to stay enrolled. 

  • This spot is NOT guaranteed if you change schools within the district.

  • This spot is NOT guaranteed if the student is asked to leave the program per Handbook.

  • The Re-Registration period is in March.

• Siblings of currently enrolled students are guaranteed a spot for the same schedule when they enter the school system, as long as they sign up during the Re-Registration period. 

• Open spots for the next school year are filled first by students who are currently enrolled in the program. Incoming siblings are then placed at their schools and any remaining spots are filled from the waitlist pool or the annual Lottery.