Choice School and Programs Frequently Asked Questions

If my student is currently enrolled in a Choice School/ Program, do I need to submit another application for them to remain in the program next year?

No. Once approved and enrolled your student may continue in the Choice School/Program unless they are not in good standing or withdraw or are withdrawn.

If my student is in 5^th grade and currently enrolled in a Choice School/Program that requires changing schools, do I need to take any action?

No, students attending Puesta del Sol, Jing Mei and Spanish Dual Language Programs will automatically roll-up to the assigned middle school: 

• Mandarin Dual Language students will attend Tillicum Middle School.
• Spanish Dual Language students will attend Highland Middle School.
• Spanish Immersion or ISA students will attend Tillicum Middle School.

*Nonresident students: If your student is enrolled in a Choice Program and will be changing schools/levels as described above, in January you must submit the 2024-2025 Choice Transfer Request to your resident district.

If my student is in 8^th grade and currently enrolled in a Choice School/Program that requires changing schools, do I need to take any action?

Dual Language students will automatically roll-up to the assigned high school:  

• Mandarin Dual Language students will attend Tillicum Middle School then Newport HS.
• Spanish Dual Language students will attend Highland Middle School then Sammamish HS.

8th grade Spanish Immersion or ISA students will need to choose Newport HS or Sammamish HS:   (You will receive an email in December from [email protected] requesting that you complete a questionnaire with your decision)

• Spanish Immersion or ISA students will attend Tillicum Middle School then Newport or Sammamish HS.

*Nonresident students: If your student is enrolled in a Choice Program and will be changing schools/levels as described above, in January you must submit the 2024-2025 Choice Transfer Request to your resident district.

What if my student doesn’t want to continue to 6^th grade in the Choice Program or attend the assigned school?

Your student is always guaranteed to return to their home attendance area school. If your student will be withdrawing from the Choice School/Program for the 2024-2025 school year, please notify both the Choice School/Program school and your home school of your transfer plans. If interested, you may apply through Open Transfer for a different school or incoming 6th grade students may submit Choice School applications for entry level to International School and/or Big Picture school.

*Nonresident students leaving a Choice School/Program are not guaranteed continued BSD enrollment; if you are interested in attending a different BSD school please use this link for information about transferring into the Bellevue School District.

What are the Choice Schools/Programs?

Entry into these programs is through application and lottery, the winter before your student begins kindergarten.

• Mandarin Dual Language Program – Jing Mei ES
• Spanish Immersion Program (ISA) – Puesta del Sol ES
• Spanish Dual Language Program – This program is available at Lake Hills, Sherwood Forest and Stevenson Elementary Schools

Heritage Language Program

• Arabic Bilingual Program – Ardmore ES
• Hindi Bilingual Program – Ardmore ES
• Korean Bilingual Program – Newport Heights ES

Entry into these programs is through application and lottery, the winter before your student begins 6th grade.

• International School
• Big Picture School

What is a Choice School/Program?

• Choice Schools/Program offer unique learning environments.
• For information on each choice school, please visit Choice Schools.
• For information on Spanish Dual Language Programs, please visit Spanish Dual Language Programs.
• For information on the Heritage Language Program, please visit Heritage Language Program.

How are students admitted to these schools?

Admission to these schools is during the Choice Schools/Program application period for the grades listed

• kindergarten entry – Jing Mei, Puesta del Sol, Spanish Dual Language, Arabic Bilingual Program, Hindi Bilingual Program and Korean Bilingual Program;
• 1st through 3rd grade entry – Arabic Language Program;
• 6^th grade entry – International, Big Picture.

If you’ve missed the application period or if your student is not entry grade level, they may apply to the waitlist. The waitlist applications for the 2024-2025 school year will open January 24, 2024.

What is the timeframe?

Choice School/Program applications will be accepted from 9:00 a.m. on Monday, December 11, 2023 through Friday, January 19, 2024 at 4:30 p.m.

Choice School/Program notifications will be emailed in February for Big Picture School, International School, Digital Discovery School, Jing Mei, Puesta del Sol, Spanish Dual Language Program, Arabic Language Program, Hindi Bilingual Program and Korean Bilingual Program.

If I submit my application at 9:00 am the first day will my student be chosen?

No. Applicants are not chosen on a first come, first served basis. All applications received during the application period are considered equally and all applicants will be in the lottery. Applicants will be placed on the requested school/program list by lottery number.

Who can apply for a Choice School/Program?

Choice Schools/Program are only open to residents of the Bellevue School District*—the student must be physically living within the boundaries of the District at the time of application.

Per Washington State Law and District Policy, the nonresident children of eligible Bellevue School District employees may apply as resident students. (The parent/guardian is working for the Bellevue School District (i.e. teacher, principal, in a support function) and receives a paycheck from the Bellevue School District not that the parent/guardian works in the Bellevue community.)

Eligible employment status will be verified with Human Resources. Eligible employees of the Bellevue School District are defined as:

• certificated employees who work .4 FTE or greater
• classified employees who work 16 hours or more per week for a minimum of 180 days

*Applications will be accepted from nonresident students for Puesta del Sol, Spanish Dual Language Program, Arabic Bilingual Program, Hindi Bilingual Program and Korean Bilingual Program, priority is given to Bellevue School District resident students:

• Nonresident students may apply during the application period and will be added to the appropriate nonresident grade level waitlist.
• After the close of the entry level application period, the waitlist applications will open for 2024-25 applicants who missed the deadline.
• Applicants will be added to the bottom of the appropriate nonresident grade level waitlist in the order received.

Waitlist applications will be accepted from nonresident students for Bellevue Big Picture School beginning January 24, 2024, priority is given to Bellevue School District resident students:

• After the close of the entry level application period, the waitlist applications will open for 2024-25 applicants who missed the deadline.
• Applicants will be added to the bottom of the appropriate nonresident grade level waitlist in the order received.
• Current 5th grade nonresident students may apply to be added to the Bellevue Big Picture nonresident waitlist at this time they will be added to the incoming 6th grade waitlist in the order received.

What if my student does not meet the age requirement to enter kindergarten, but will take the Early Entrance to Kindergarten assessment?

If your student turns 5 years old on or before October 31st of the entry year you may apply for kindergarten entry. If your student is selected in the lottery and offered placement, your student’s  actual enrollment will be contingent on whether they qualify through Early Entrance testing, they will retain their spot pending the assessment results.  If your student does not qualify the placement offer will be rescinded and the spot will be offered to the next student on the waitlist. Being selected via the lottery and offered placement is not a valid reason to appeal the results of the early entrance assessment should your student not pass.

What if my elementary student is entering a grade other than kindergarten?

Students who wish to join the waitlists for other grades may submit a Choice School/Program waitlist application.  New applicants will be added to the bottom of the existing waitlists in the order received for possibly entry in the fall for the upcoming school year. Students applying for language programs will be required to pass an appropriate grade level language proficiency screening.

Except for the Arabic Language Program.  Entry for this program is kindergarten, 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rdgrades.  Please apply through the Choice School/Program application for all three grades.  Language proficiency screening will not be required for the 2024-2025 school year

What if my student is interested in Big Picture or International School and is not entering the sixth grade?

Students who wish to join the waitlist at Big Picture or International School may submit an online application and will be added to the bottom of the appropriate grade level waitlist in the order received.

How does the application process work?

Applications are completed online at will be available on the District’s Apply to Choice Schools and Programs page during the application period.  Families may access online applications from their personal computers or smart phones, or by using a kiosk at any school or at the District office. If internet access is unavailable please contact Student Placement at [email protected] for assistance;  Student Placement personnel will enter your application information into the online application and provide application confirmation as needed.

How can we be sure Student Placement received our application?

You will receive a confirmation email at the email address provided on the application. When you receive the email confirmation, please review your student’s information for accuracy. If a correction is needed please reply to the confirmation email with the information that needs to be corrected.

Please do not respond if no correction is needed.  Additionally, please be sure to respond to the confirmation email without changing the subject line or creating a new email; we have routing rules established to help us more efficiently process application emails.

TIP:  When completing your Choice School/Program application, please provide the contact information (i.e. name, phone number and email address) of the parent you want us to contact. If you have multiple email addresses, take special care to provide the email address you check frequently on the application, this will be the email we use to contact you for offers.

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What if we do not receive an email confirming our application has been received?

If you did not receive a confirmation email please check your spam, junk and promotion email folders for an email from [email protected]. If you do not find the confirmation then contact us with your student’s name and school requested, we will let you know if your application has been received or if you need to resubmit the application.

TIP: Please make sure that [email protected] is in your list of safe emails.

Can we submit multiple applications to the same school or program to improve our chances in the lottery?

No.  Any student with multiple applications to the same school/program will have all submissions discarded and will be removed from the Choice School/Program application process.

Can we apply to multiple schools?

Yes.  Students apply to each Choice School or Choice Program that is appropriate for your student’s grade level.

Can we apply to all three Spanish Dual Language Program Schools?

No. You may submit one application and indicate which school you prefer.  If your preferred school is no longer available when we get to your student on the waitlist, you will be offered placement at the available school(s) or placed on your preferred school’s waitlist at your request.

How do the lotteries work?

After the close of Choice School/Program application period, a lottery is held for each school/program. Applicants will then be placed on a list in the order drawn for that school/program. Applicants with priority, children of eligible Bellevue School District employees assigned to the school and those having sibling preference will be moved to the top of each list. Applicants will be chosen for entry by list order, the list of those remaining will become the waitlist.

Choice School/Program notifications will be emailed in February for Big Picture School, International School, Digital Discovery School, Jing Mei, Puesta del Sol, Spanish Dual Language Program, Arabic Bilingual Program, Hindi Bilingual Program, and Korean Bilingual Program.

Can we attend the lottery drawing?

All lotteries are closed to the public.

How will we be notified of the results of the lottery?

Notification will be made via email to the email provided on the application.  Please add the [email protected] email address to your list of safe emails so you can receive notifications.  Families will either receive a notification of available placement or an email with your student’s place on the waitlist.

What happens if we are placed on a waitlist?

You will be notified by email of your waitlist number. If you are a resident of the Bellevue School District and your student is placed on a waitlist, please plan on attending your attendance area school; if you are a nonresident family, please plan on attending your resident school district.  There is no need to contact Student Placement to verify waitlist status.  If space becomes available, Student Placement will contact families immediately to get students in their schools as soon as possible.

Can a sibling automatically enroll in the same Choice School or Program?

No, siblings who do not apply will not be admitted. The new sibling must apply to be considered for enrollment. The new sibling will have preference in admission provided that both siblings will attend the school or program together for a minimum of one year.

If the sibling is not in the choice program can they attend the same school?

No, the new sibling must submit an Open Transfer application to be considered for general enrollment at the same school. The new sibling will have second-tier sibling priority in admission.

How long do we have to accept an offer to a Choice School/Program?

All offers will have one (1) week to respond. Students who are not already enrolled in BSD will be given a date by which they are expected to enroll and submit residency documents or nonresident paperwork.  Enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year does not open until April 1 so the expected completed enrollment date will be in early April.

If I accept a spot at a Choice School/Program will my student still be considered for another Choice School/Program?

Once a student has accepted a spot at one choice school/program, their name will be removed from all other choice school/program waitlists.

What if I missed the initial entry application period?

After the Choice Schools/Programs entry application period closes, the waitlists will open all available grade levels.  Students who did not apply during the entry application period, will be able to submit a waitlist application and will be added to the bottom of the appropriate waitlist in the order received. These applicants will indicate the student’s current grade level (example: 5th grade for incoming 6th grade students and P-4 for incoming kindergarten students) when applying.

I applied for a Choice Schools/Programs last year and my student was put on a waitlist, do I need to apply again this year?

No, applicants on Choice Schools/Programs will remain on the waitlist unless you indicate otherwise. Waitlists will roll-up to the new grade level each next year.

Who do we contact if we have questions?

If you have questions, please send an email to [email protected] with specific information:  student name, grade, school, address, etc.  We will answer your question as soon as we are able.