School Choice Application

Colorado law allows students to attend any school or participate in any program of their choice on a space available basis. Students will attend the school within their residential attendance area unless a School Choice application to attend another school within the district is approved. Approval will be made in accordance with CCSD regulations and Colorado law.

Students who will be in Kindergarten (age 5) through 12th grade in the upcoming school year may apply for School Choice enrollment.

For information about Pre-Kindergarten (age 4), visit the Early Childhood Education School Choice page.

Applications for Cherry Creek School District residents, as well as non-residents of the district are submitted through an online application found toward the top of this page.

Applications can be submitted from December 1^st through May 31^st of the current school year for a School Choice placement to start in the upcoming school year. 

The School Choice application allows up to three (3) schools to be requested per school year.

Submission of another application will be denied as a duplicate for the student, even for adding schools if the first application only listed 1 or 2 schools, or for changing the order of preference after the first application has been through the lottery.

Parents are notified of the results via email the day of the lottery. Lottery dates will vary each year and are listed toward the top of this page. Notifications for applications submitted after the priority round deadline will be sent out after the application has been processed.

There is no appeal process. Once all seats are filled, additional applicants are waitlisted. If a seat becomes available, the school will notify selected applicants by email.

The waitlist will remain active only for the school year that the request was submitted for. Schools review the waitlist periodically through the end of the current school year and again after returning from the summer break. If your student is not offered a seat for the requested school year, a new application will be required for the next school year.

Students currently enrolled in CCSD will automatically be enrolled in their school of residence if they are not offered a seat through the School Choice process. Students who live within the Cherry Creek School District but are not yet enrolled must complete enrollment to attend their school of residence.

Students are accepted through the highest grade level for that school as long as they meet the Continuing Enrollment Criteria - Policy JFBA-R.

Existing School Choice elementary and middle school students who will be moving to a different school (5th-6th grade or 8th-9th grade transition) must complete a new School Choice application.

Students will be enrolled to their school of residence for the next school level, unless a new School Choice application is accepted at a different school. Automatic approval to the next school level is not given to students attending on School Choice. Non-resident students will have to enroll to their district of residence if not offered a seat at the next school level.

Students are allowed to continue attending the choice school as long as the meet the Continuing Enrollment Criteria- Policy JFBA-R, regardless of where they move while attending a school with a School Choice status.

Yes, if the sibling has already been approved to attend the same school in the school year that the application was submitted for, the sibling priority status will be applied to increase the chance of being accepted; sibling priority does not provide a guaranteed acceptance.

Yes, priority is given to students of CCSD employees pursuant to negotiated District policy. Additional priority consideration for available space will be extended to the grandchildren of current CCSD employees working in identified high-need service level positions. As with the sibling priority status, the employee priority status increases the chance of being accepted and is not a guarantee.

1. Highest priority is given to the siblings of students who are already approved to attend the requested school next year.
2. Secondary priority is given to the children of qualified employees of the district and verified during the application review process.
3. Third priority is given to students who are currently attending the requested school and are in good standing with the Continuing Enrollment Criteria - Policy JFBA-R.
4. District residents without a higher priority consideration will be considered fourth priority.
5. Non-residents of the district without a higher priority consideration will have the lowest priority.

Except as may be required by law, transportation for students granted permission to attend a school or program outside their attendance area is the responsibility of the parents/guardians - Policy JFBA.

No, acceptance to a school is based upon how many seats are available, priority consideration, and the random lottery selection.

No, the School Choice lottery is run with a random lottery number assigned to every applicant and the number of seats available is determined by the school.

All CCSD elementary, middle and high schools are included in the School Choice process.

Charter schools, alternate schools/programs, and Cherry Creek Elevation have their own application process.

No, the odds are the same for all applicants and only increased for those with priority consideration.

The student will then be considered for the 2^nd and 3^rd choice schools and waitlisted for each school if all seats have already been filled.

A student or parent/guardian may rescind their acceptance at any time and be transferred back to their school of residence. Current proof of residence and a request to revoke the seat to return to the school of residence will need to be submitted to Cherry Creek Schools Admissions via email at admissions@cherrycreekschools.org.

Please contact the Cherry Creek Schools Admissions department at 720-554-4550 for any further questions.