Documentation for Administrators

Magnet/Special Assignment

Updated on

The Magnet/Special Assignment screen is used to view a student's current and previous choice, magnet, or special placement application information. As on the School Choice Reports screen, the student's application status and other application information can be modified. This report should be viewed in the current school year before and/or after the lottery has been run.

Users will only see programs on the Magnet/Special Assignment screen and Evaluate Placement screen for the school(s) that they have permission to view according to their user_enrollment.schools settings.

School choice is available at two levels of student population: students that exist in the current district and students that are applying to come to the district for a choice program. If a student is coming to the district for a choice program, the first step on the student side will always be to complete a registration process whether it is going to the school and going through Add a Student to get the student into the Applicants school for choice processing, or completing some other version of the registration process to get a student ID. Following this, the choice, magnet, or SPA application can be completed.

To access parent/student help documents, including Parent Portal Registration, School Choice Application, Magnet Application, Special Placement Application, and School Choice, see Parent/Student Portal.

Viewing and Modifying a Student's Application Information

1. In the Students menu, click Magnet/Special Assignment.

2. On the Search Screen, enter search criteria to locate the student and click Search.

See Searching for Students for detailed instructions on the various ways to search for students.

3. In the search results, click the applicable student.

Magnet / Special Assignment

The Magnet/Special Assignment screen can also be accessed for a student by clicking the Choice link at the top of the student's record in Student Info.

Student Info

4. At the top of the screen, click Choice to view the student's choice application information, Magnet to view the student's magnet application information, or SPA to view the student's special placement application information.

The student's current and any previous applications are listed.

Column
Description
School Year Displays the school year the application was submitted for.
Choice Displays the rank the applicant gave the program. 
Applying Program Displays the application school and program title.
Status Displays the application status (Lottery Accepted, Pending Acceptance, Cancelled, Lottery No Space, or Waiting). If custom display names were set up for statuses in Setup > School Choice Setup > Statuses tab, those names will display instead of the default names. 
Applying Gradelevel Displays the grade level the student will enter in the program. For new entries, this field will populate with the student’s grade level as of the selected school year. This field is required. 
Status Date Displays the date the status was last updated. 
End Date If applicable, enter the student’s end date in the program. 
Reason If applicable, select a reason. Reason options are set up in Setup > School Choice Setup > Reasons tab. 
Notes Enter any notes, as needed. Notes entered here also display on the School Choice Reports, and vice versa. Notes do not display to the parent or student.
Deadline Met Indicates if the application met the application deadline. 
Priority Displays the student’s priority ranking. 
Priority Overwrite To overwrite the student’s priority ranking, enter the value. 
Wait Seq If the student was waitlisted, this displays the student’s waitlist sequence designation. 
Document Click Scan, Upload, or Take Photo to add documents to the record. This field is only enabled after the row is added to the table.

Note: This is not the same as the View Files field on the School Choice Reports. That field is used to track documentation the parent submitted along with their application. 
Last Modified By Displays the user who last modified the application.
Last Modified Date Displays the date the application was last modified. 

5. Edit any of the information as needed.

The field will turn yellow to indicate a change has been made.

6. Click Save.

Values on the report can be mass updated by clicking the Mass Update button, selecting the Column and Value to update, clicking Update, and then clicking Save.

Evaluating Placement

The Evaluate Placement screen is accessed by clicking the "View Evaluate Placement" link on the Magnet/Special Assignment screen. The Evaluate Placement screen displays any programs the student is eligible for, based on grade level, zoning, ESE restrictions, and other program restrictions that were set up in School Choice Setup. From this screen, a singular lottery can be run for the student to give them a potential placement in a program based on seats available, choice, and priority. You can then accept or cancel the student's placement. If the student has siblings defined in the Linked Siblings logging field in the Student Info screen who are in the same school level (elementary, middle, high) as the student, the student's siblings are available for selection on the Evaluate Placement screen. The siblings can have their lotteries run together to place them into programs at the same school. In order for siblings to be placed into programs at the same school, the applying schools in common between the siblings must be ranked the same.

If there are re-enrollment restrictions placed on the student, or enrollment restrictions based on victim/aggressor status, certain programs may not be available for the student. If the either or both of the system preferences "Ignore Re-Enrollment Restrictions" and "Ignore school choice restrictions on Enrollment" are enabled, re-enrollment restrictions and victim/aggressor enrollment restrictions will not be enforced.

If the student does not have an active enrollment record in the school year selected at the top-right of the screen, a warning message will display: "{STUDENT NAME} does not have an active enrollment for the selected school year."

Evaluating Placement for One Student

1. Click View Evaluate Placement.

The Evaluate Placement screen is displayed for the application type (Choice, Magnet, SPA) that was selected on the Magnet/Special Assignment screen. All of the programs the student qualifies for are listed. Any information from the student's application, as well as information added or changed on the School Choice Reports or Magnet/Special Assignment screen, will be populated.  

If a choice application or entry has already been processed for a student, their existing Status value will display. If no application or previous entry is present, the Status will default to Waiting for all programs. In order to run an Evaluate Placement for a student, the Status must be set to Waiting. 

Evaluate Placement

Click the student's name to open the student's record in Student Info in a new tab.

Evaluate Placement

2. To change the school year being viewed, select the school year at the top-left corner of the screen and click Update.

Evaluate Placement

The Projected Grade field is populated as follows:

1. For applications to a School Choice program for the default school year, the Projected Grade is set to the student's current grade level.

2. For applications for the next school year, the Projected Grade field follows a specific hierarchy:

a) Priority is given to the 'Choice Applicant Gradelevel' field. If this is null, the 'Applicant Gradelevel' field is used.

b) If both are null and the student is marked as 'Retain' in the Rolling/Retention Options field, their current grade level is used.

c) Otherwise, for non-retained students without values in the aforementioned fields, the next grade in the district's grade level configuration is used. For students in transition grades, the next grade in the Applicants school's configuration applies.

It is very important that all grade levels are set up in Setup > Grade Levels in the Applicants school. Marking periods also need to be set up in the Applicants school in Setup > Marking Periods in order to use the School Choice module.

Evaluate Placement

3. Make any edits to the fields, as needed, and click Save.

For example, if Choice entries have not been made for the desired programs, you can enter and save the student's rankings.

Press Enter after adding a value in the Choice column to navigate the cursor to the Choice column in the next row. This allows you to quickly enter Choice values for the student.

Evaluate Placement

4. To run the lottery for this student and view potential placement, click Finalize this enrollment.

The system will attempt to place the student in the highest ranked choice program where seats are available.

In order to run an evaluation, the Status for the available programs must be Waiting, and Choice entries made on the desired programs.

Evaluate Placement

The results of the lottery for the student will display in a pop-up window.

5. Click Cancel if you do not want to proceed with accepting the student into the program. Click Accept to finalize acceptance into the program.

Evaluate Placement

A confirmation message will display to indicate that placement was successful. You will be redirected to the Enrollment screen for the student.

On the Enrollment screen, the student's Enrollment record is displayed, with a default record inserted for the school in which the student was accepted. If the student already has an enrollment record for the new school year, a new record will not be inserted.

Student Info

6. To proceed with adding the enrollment record, click into the row and press Enter to add the row. Make any changes to the enrollment record as needed, and click Save. If you do not want to proceed with adding the enrollment record, click Finished without making any changes.

You can also add a Drop Date and Drop Code to the student's current enrollment record, depending on district procedures.

Student Info

7. Click the Finished to return to the Evaluate Placement screen.

Student Info

The Evaluate Placement screen is displayed, and the Status is updated to Accepted for the program that was accepted. The statuses for the other programs that the student applied to are updated to Declined.

Evaluate Placement

If needed, click Refresh Seat Capacity to update the seat counts displayed in the table.

Evaluate Placement
Evaluating Placement for Siblings

In order for siblings to be placed into programs at the same school, the applying schools in common between the siblings must be ranked the same.

1. Click View Evaluate Placement.

The Evaluate Placement screen is displayed for the application type (Choice, Magnet, SPA) that was selected on the Magnet/Special Assignment screen. All of the programs the student qualifies for are listed. Any information from the student's application, as well as information added or changed on the School Choice Reports or Magnet/Special Assignment screen, will be populated.

Evaluate Placement

2. To change the school year being viewed, select the school year at the top-left corner of the screen and click Update.

Evaluate Placement

The student's linked siblings who are at the same school level as the student (elementary, middle, high) are available in the Siblings pull-down.

3. Select the Siblings with whom the lottery should be run and click Update.

Evaluate Placement

The program information for the selected sibling(s) is displayed on the screen.

If a choice application or entry has already been processed for a student, their existing Status value will display. If no application or previous entry is present, the Status will default to Waiting for all programs. In order to run an Evaluate Placement for a student, the Status must be set to Waiting. 

Click the student's name to open the student's record in Student Info in a new tab.

The Projected Grade field is populated as follows:

1. For applications to a School Choice program for the default school year, the Projected Grade is set to the student's current grade level.

2. For applications for the next school year, the Projected Grade field follows a specific hierarchy:

a) Priority is given to the 'Choice Applicant Gradelevel' field. If this is null, the 'Applicant Gradelevel' field is used.

b) If both are null and the student is marked as 'Retain' in the Rolling/Retention Options field, their current grade level is used.

c) Otherwise, for non-retained students without values in the aforementioned fields, the next grade in the district's grade level configuration is used. For students in transition grades, the next grade in the Applicants school's configuration applies.

It is very important that all grade levels are set up in Setup > Grade Levels in the Applicants school. Marking periods also need to be set up in the Applicants school in Setup > Marking Periods in order to use the School Choice module.

Notes

4. Make any edits to the application fields for any of the siblings, as needed, and click Save.

For example, if Choice entries have not been made for the desired programs, you can enter and save the student's rankings.

Press Enter after adding a value in the Choice column to navigate the cursor to the Choice column in the next row. This allows you to quickly enter Choice values for the student.

5. To run the lottery for all of the siblings and view potential placement, click Finalize All Enrollments at the top of the screen.

The system will attempt to place the students in the highest ranked choice program where seats are available. If no seats are available to place all siblings at the same school, none of the siblings will be placed.

In order to run an evaluation, the Status for the available programs must be Waiting, and Choice entries made on the desired programs.

The results of the lottery for the siblings will display in a pop-up window.

6. Click Cancel if you do not want to proceed with accepting the students into the programs. Click Accept to finalize acceptances into the programs.

Evaluate Placement

A confirmation message will display to indicate that placement was successful. You will be redirected to the Enrollment screen.

On the Enrollment screen, the first student's Enrollment record is displayed, with a default record inserted for the school in which the student was accepted. If the student already has an enrollment record for the new school year, a new record will not be inserted.

Notes

7. To proceed with adding the enrollment record, click into the row and press Enter to add the row. Make any changes to the enrollment record as needed, and click Save. If you do not want to proceed with adding the enrollment record, click Finished without making any changes.

You can also add a Drop Date and Drop Code to the student's current enrollment record, depending on district procedures.

Notes

8. Click the next arrow in the header to view the enrollment record for the next sibling.

Notes

9. Repeat step 7 to add the enrollment record for the student.

10. Click Finished to return to the Evaluate Placement screen.

Notes

The Evaluate Placement screen is refreshed, and the Status is updated to Accepted for the program that was accepted for the student. The statuses for the other programs that the student applied to are updated to Declined.

If needed, click Refresh Seat Capacity to update the seat counts displayed in the table.

Notes
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