Optional Schools FAQ

• Yes. Every child enrolled in MNPS is required to have a nine-digit student ID number that begins with 190. The student ID number for current students can be found on the child’s report card or requested at the child’s school.
• An ID number for a new student can be acquired online or at one of the district’s eight enrollment centers by presenting the child’s birth certificate along with parent/guardian’s proof of residency and a copy of your driver’s license.

Apply Online or By Paper Application

To Apply Online

• Families are encouraged to apply online. All families who wish to apply online must create a parent profile that requires a username and password. The username must be a valid phone number or email address.
  • If you need assistance setting up an email address, please contact the Family Information Center at 615-259-INFO(4636).
  • Free internet access is available at your nearest Nashville Public Library or the MNPS Family Information Center, located at 2601 Bransford Ave., Nashville, TN 37204.
• After you apply online, you will have the option of printing a confirmation or having it sent to you by email or text.

Paper Application Information

• Paper applications can be submitted in person or by mail. If mailing your application, obtain a “Return Receipt Requested” form from the U.S. Postal Service.
• It is the responsibility of parents to make sure the Office of School Options receives the application.
• If the application is mailed without a return receipt, the district cannot verify receipt of the application.
• Faxed applications will not be accepted.
• To be included in the random selection process applications must be received online or submitted to the Family Information Center, located at 2601 Bransford Ave., Nashville, TN 37204 (Berry Road entrance) by the posted deadline.

Download the Paper Application

• A random computerized selection will be held to fill available seats in schools listed in this application. Only applications submitted and completed by the deadline will be included in the random selection process.
• Results from the random selection process will be available on Selection Day. Selection Day results will be posted online and also available by contacting the MNPS Family Information Center at 615-259-INFO(4636). Your child’s Selection Day results will be mailed to the address provided on the application.
• School choices must be prioritized on the application from 1 (highest priority) to 7 (lowest priority). If your child is selected for a seat at a school, you will be notified via SMS, email or you will receive an acceptance letter in the mail, which must be returned by the acceptance deadline. You may also accept your child’s seat online and receive confirmation.
• If your child is not selected for a particular school, he or she will be placed on a waitlist for the school year, unless the school was listed lower on your priority list than a school where your child was offered a seat. Your child will be “opted out” of any schools, including guaranteed pathway schools, that were listed lower on your priority list than a school that your child was selected to attend. This process is designed to give families the option of attending their highest-ranked school where space is available.
  • Please note that all waitlists for non-charter schools in grades K-12 are dissolved after the first five attendance days of school.
• Once a student has accepted a seat at an optional school, his or her name will be removed from any currently attended or previously accepted school for the school year. 
• Applicants in the 11th and 12th grade go through a transcript review process for admission to available seats.  All completed applications with transcript review documentation must be received on or before the posted deadline, to be part of the random selection process. 

Pre-K and Montessori Application and Selection Process 

A separate random selection process is held for Pre-K seats in spring. A separate application is required to apply for a preschool and Pre-K seat in all schools, including Stanford Montessori and Hull-Jackson Montessori.

Kindergarten to Grade 12

• No. Current K-12 students do not have to re-apply to remain enrolled in their current optional school.
• In May, your child will receive a verification/continuation letter from his or her school to confirm their seat assignment for the school year.
• No action is needed if your child is moving from one grade to the next in the same school. Do not complete a new application.

Pre-K and Montessori Students

• Current Pre-K students must re-apply for kindergarten even if they have been placed by Exceptional Education or through the Pre-K lottery process.
• Students attending Hull-Jackson Montessori and Stanford Montessori do not have to re-apply.

• Yes, and families are encouraged to do so. You may apply for up to seven school options, prioritized in order of preference.
• Families who list few options or only schools in high demand may not be selected for any of the schools on their application.

• Sibling preference is given to students who have a sibling attending the school to which they are applying, as long as the sibling will still be at the school in the same school year. Pre-K is excluded from this. 
• Additionally, when two siblings apply to the same school and only one sibling is selected, if the parent accepts the seat, the sibling that did not get selected will be moved to the sibling priority waitlist. A student with sibling preference will be offered a seat from the waitlist when a vacancy becomes available.

The following schools do not have sibling preference: East Nashville Magnet High School, East Nashville Middle School, Head Middle School, Hume-Fogg High School, Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts, Martin Luther King Jr. School, Meigs Middle School, the Early College High School, MNPS Virtual School, Nashville School of the Arts and Rose Park Middle School.

All other schools, including charter schools, do have sibling preference.

• Students in grades K-12 are kept on waitlists through the fifth day of the school year.
• After the fifth day, the waitlists are eliminated with the exception of charter schools. Charter school waitlists continue throughout the entire school year.

• All 11th and 12th grade applicants applying to a non-charter high school must provide a complete copy of their high school transcript and latest report card at the time of application. 
• Principals at the requested school will review your child’s transcript to ensure that if transcripts meet the eligible requirements for the requested school, the application will be processed. 

Yes. If this is your child’s last year to attend the school and you want them to continue in the guaranteed pathway, you must submit the Optional Schools Application online by the application deadline.

School Options Calendar
 

Student must meet requirements to qualify for entrance into an academic magnet school: Academic grades and standardized test scores.

Complete details are on the academic requirements page.

• Nashville School of the Arts and Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts require students to audition.
  • NSA and Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts will notify all applicants about times for auditions. NSA will hold seats for qualifying students who will transition from Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts.
  • Students applying to these schools must include them in the list of prioritized schools in their application.
• Nashville Big Picture High School require students to interview. The schools will contact applicants to arrange interviews.
• MNPS Virtual School also has entrance requirements and requires applicants to submit a video. To see specific requirements, visit the school's website. 

• Charter schools are publicly-financed, privately-operated schools. Based on current state law, all charter school operators in Tennessee must be nonprofit organizations.
• Yes. You can apply any time throughout the year to the charter schools that choose to take part in the optional schools application process. 
• Some charter schools choose to use their own application process. If a charter school is not included in the optional schools process, contact the charter school directly to apply.

• No. A separate application is required to apply for a Pre-K seat in all schools.
• This also includes all Stanford Montessori and Hull-Jackson Montessori preschool (3-year-olds) and Pre-K (4-year-olds) seats.
• A separate application and random selection process will be are held for all Pre-K seats in the spring. 

Early Learning Website

• Students eligible for kindergarten must be 5 years of age on or before Aug. 15.
• If your child will turn 5 years of age between August 16 and September. 30 you may contact MNPS to ask about Kindergarten Readiness testing by calling 615-259-INFO (4636).

Please visit the Early Learning website for more details.

Any student entering kindergarten or first grade may apply for Spanish immersion schools.

• Applicants in second and third grade will be required to
  pass a language proficiency test before being accepted to
  the school.
• No applications will be accepted for fourth grade or fifth grade.

• A geographic priority zone (GPZ) gives admission preference to families who live in a defined geographic area around an optional school. Admission is not guaranteed for families located in a GPZ.
• However, they do receive priority placement during the random selection process. Use the Zone Finder tool or call 615-259-INFO(4636) to determine if you are located in a GPZ for a school.

• Some optional schools offer admission preference to families living within a geographic high school cluster. Additionally, out-of-zone students attending an optional school who wish to continue in the zoned feeder pathway will receive admission preference if the feeder school is an optional school.
• Parents must apply before the application deadline in order to receive cluster preference.

• School bus transportation is not provided to schools offered in the Optional Schools Application. Some charter schools provide transportation. Contact individual schools to determine transportation availability.
• Public bus transportation through WeGo Public Transit is provided at no cost to all high school students through the StrIDe program, where student ID cards double as city bus passes.
  • The same program is available to middle school students attending an optional school with the exception of charter middle schools.
  • Parent permission for middle school students is required to receive a StrIDe bus pass.
• Parents may contact WeGo customer service by calling 615-862-5960 or visit the Metro Transit website to plan a route and view WeGo availability.