Enrolling twins shouldn't be twice as stressful: SFUSD's policy

September 12, 4:14 PMSF Education ExaminerCaroline Grannan

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Parents of twins have been reporting getting conflicting information from the SFUSD enrollment counselors about the policy for enrolling twins. Here's the official policy, provided by SFUSD spokeswoman Gentle Blythe:

Applications of Twins for Kindergarten Placements in Round 1 Assignments

 Twin applicants (siblings that share the same date of birth and same parent/guardian) are not given any special priority in Round One.

 The goal of the EPC is to strive to keep twins together unless otherwise requested by the parent/guardian.

 Families of twins should:

1. Make sure that all the general information on both applications match.

2. Check off the sibling box on the application and indicate “twin.”

3. List identical choices and programs for both students.

 Twins go into the run as individual students. During the Round 1 process, data checks will reveal if twins have been separated. In this case, EPC will contact the family to offer them the following options if both siblings have matching choices of schools:

1. Keep the schools offered and receive sibling priority in Round 2.

or

2. Accept a school offer from the District to have the siblings attend the same school which has openings.

 Families will not be given sibling priority unless they have listed matching choices of schools. The purpose is to assist families in enrolling their children in a school together, not provide a placement priority at multiple schools.

Note from Caroline: One parent of twins was told that there was no sibling priority for twins. It seems to be more complicated than that -- and basically, there is -- but one interpretation of that statement is in the last two sentences: You can't apply to Alvarado for one and Alice Fong Yu for the other and then expect whichever hits the lottery to carry the other twin in automatically on sibling preference.