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Admission

How to Apply

Steps to lottery

Orientation & Lottery Application

Prospective families of Chinook Montessori Charter School are guided to complete the following enrollment process: 

1. Attend an Orientation

  • The first step is visiting Chinook for a required orientation. You’ll learn about our philosophy, how our school works, and take a short tour. Before leaving, you’ll fill out an orientation verification form. Plan for about 30 minutes. Attending an orientation is required to participate in the lottery.
  • The lottery opens on January 12 and closes on April 10, 2026.

Orientation Dates to enter the 2026–2027 lottery:

  • Tuesday, February 3-- 8:30am-11:00am, 1-2:30pm
  • Monday, March 2-- 8:30am-11:00am, 1-2:30pm
  • Thursday, April 2-- 5:00pm-6:30pm

A proxy may be established for families not currently in the Fairbanks area. Military families are supported by Georgia Sandgren (907) 452-2000 x 11340), the Military Student Support Coordinator for the FNSBSD.

2. Submit Your Application

  • After orientation, complete the online lottery application through the district’s Centralized Application Portal (CAP)  Online Lottery Application Portal.
  • General information about the FNSBSD online lottery process can be found at https://www.k12northstar.org/lottery. 
  • If applications exceed available seats (K–6: 16 students per grade; 7th: 22 students), students are admitted by lottery. Due to course requirements, new 8th graders cannot be accepted.

3. Lottery Date

  • The lottery runs April 15 (or the nearest weekday). Chinook uses the district’s online lottery system (CAP) to complete the draw.

4. After the Lottery

  • On April 17, log in to CAP to see your child’s waitlist number. Please do not call. Chinook will contact families via phone or email as spots become available. You will have 48 hours from that point of contact to accept or decline the spot. If a spot is offered in August, you will have 24 hours to accept or decline the spot.
  • If a spot is offered, your family will attend a brief meet-and-greet with their teacher to ensure that Chinook is a good fit.

If you miss the deadline, you may still add your child to the waitlist through the lottery system after May 2, 2026.

 

Admission & Selection Process

Admission Criteria 

Chinook Montessori Charter School is a school of choice. A student enrolling at Chinook must be within the age of five and fourteen and a resident of the FNSBSD. In order to be eligible to apply to attend kindergarten, children must be five years old on or before September 1st. Children must be 6 years old on or before September 1 to attend 1st grade. A copy of the child’s birth certificate, proof of immunizations, or a waiver, is required for each student enrolling. Chinook may, upon written notice to the FNSBSD, decline to accept students who have been determined, after due process, to have violated FNSBSD Policies 1042.61 (Firearms and Other Guns) or 1053.3 (Alcohol and Other Drug Violations). 

All parents who enroll students in the school must agree to contribute at least fifteen hours per trimester either at the school site or from home. Parents choose from a wide variety of ways to be involved. 

Attending Chinook is a long-term commitment. Students applying should intend to complete their entire elementary and middle school program at the school. Prior to the application process, parents and students must attend an orientation meeting about the philosophy, curriculum, and day-to-day operation of the school. At this time they also observe the school in session. Parents and students then complete an application form and their name will be placed in the lottery.  

After the lottery, if a placement is offered, the student and family must attend an interview with at least one teacher. 

In the event that attending an informational meeting is not possible, for example, in the case of a military relocation or a family preparing to move into the area, a proxy may attend in place of a parent or guardian.  Please call or email the school to establish this proxy.

Selection Process 

The school strives to enroll all students who meet the admission criteria and turns in their application five business days before the lottery drawing held on April 15 (or the closest weekday to that date). As per AS 14.03.265 (b) the school shall strive to enroll all eligible students who submit a timely and accurate application. In the event that the number of students applying exceeds the capacity of the program, grade level, or building, families who meet the above criteria will be selected by lottery. The lottery determines the waiting list for the following school year. New waitlists are created each year.  All unsuccessful applicants are welcome to reapply the following year. When there are openings in the school, the waiting list is used to fill the vacancies. 

We have a Sibling Waitlist and a General Waitlist. Once a student is admitted into the school, their school-aged siblings are placed at the bottom of the Sibling Waitlist. The General Waitlist is compiled from the lottery. When school is in session, the Sibling Waitlist is updated at time of sibling attendance or at the end of each school year, whichever comes first. New families joining Chinook will be added to the sibling list for the upcoming year if admittance to the school occurs prior to July 1st.

In subsequent years all students who have previously attended Chinook are automatically re-enrolled in the program.  Parents or guardians are expected to notify the school of any change in enrollment plans, prior to our lottery, for the upcoming year. 

Entering five-year-old students who already have siblings enrolled in the school are given admission preference. Siblings are defined as permanent, immediate family members, of kindergarten through seventh grade, who are living in the home. If a student withdraws from Chinook Montessori Charter School to attend another school, they are required to complete the application and lottery process again if they wish to return. The student loses the ability to use sibling preference. Per FEA and ESSA contracts, children of Chinook teachers and staff are given enrollment preference.

During the lottery process, or whenever student spots open during the school year, we identify the grade level of the position open. Openings will be filled to accommodate the grade space available in the class to keep grade level balance in each classroom. First, we check the sibling waitlist. If there is not a sibling that fits the opening, we move to the general waitlist.

Nondiscrimination Disclosure

Chinook does not discriminate toward any individual as defined in FNSBSD Policy 1011 nor does it require any student to attend the program.  Chinook Montessori Charter will not discriminate by race or special needs or other inappropriate criteria. No student shall be denied participation because of a learning disability, handicapping condition, or special needs.