LAWRENCE — It was a lottery day with few chances of success.
Community Day Charter Public School and Lawrence Family Development Charter School had lotteries yesterday in which hundreds of parents hoped to win spots in classes for their children for the next academic year.
But parents like Maria Munoz, who was trying to get her 4-year-old daughter Danna into Community Day, ended up disappointed.
Danna is number 59 on the kindergarten waiting list.
"It's much better, more education," Munoz said of her desire to get Danna into the school over the traditional public schools in Lawrence.
At Community Day, names were drawn from baskets. But with the 20 openings in the kindergarten class already taken up by students who either have siblings at the school or whose parents attended the school, the lottery was just for spots on the waiting list.
Under state law governing charter schools, siblings of current students and children of alums are given preference, making it more difficult for new students to crack the enrollment barrier.
At Community Day, parents of 191 children wanted to get into the kindergarten classes, and parents of 741 children wanted to get into grades one through eight. All they could hope for was a good waiting list number.
Statewide, 33 of the state's more than 60 charter schools had enrollment lotteries yesterday. Lawrence has just two charter schools — Community Day and Lawrence Family Development.
Parents fared slightly better yesterday at the Family Development lottery. There were 60 open spots for the kindergarten, 24 of which were already filled by siblings. That left 36 to be filled by the lottery at Foley Family Library, where names were drawn from a metal bingo drum.
"It's amazing how many parents are interested in their children going to this school. Every grade level has a waiting list," said School Director/Superintendent Ralph Carrero.
Charter schools are paid for by the state and federal governments, but don't have to follow the state's education regulations. They're typically started by people or organizations like universities, and are granted five-year contracts for operation that can be revoked if they don't meet curriculum standards.
Community Day, which opened in 1995, was one of the first charter schools in the state. Since then, demand for it has grown every year.
There are 331 spots at Community Day, which is for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Last year, there were 836 students on the waiting list. This year, there's 932.
Family Development has 600 students on its waiting list, according to Carrero.
Community Day has a 98 percent retention rate. Last year, only three students left the school because their parents moved out of Lawrence.
Students lower than 12 or 13 on the Family Development waiting list typically never get in for the same reason, school Principal Connie Tarsook said.
"Last year, we had a lot of people leave crying," Tarsook said.
It's not hard to see why there are waiting lists.
According to MCAS data from the school, more students at Community Day scored at the proficient or advanced levels on the 2006 MCAS test than in the traditional Lawrence public schools. Most grades at Community Day also scored higher than the state average for students who scored at proficient and advanced levels on the MCAS test.
And students who attend Community Day — which includes kindergarten through eighth grade — are more likely to graduate from high school on time. On average, 91 percent of Community Day students graduated on time, compared with 41 percent for students who attended other public schools in Lawrence.
Yudelka Geronimo was trying to get her three children into Community Day — Sujeniry Hernandez, 11, Suleykia Geronimo, 8, and Angel Delgado, 4. All are on the waiting list. She liked the longer school day — which runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"It's better," Geronimo said.
Sonia Rosario's 4-year-old daughter earned a spot in Family Development's kindergarten class. But eight of her friends' children who also attended the lottery did not, she said.
"(We) were hoping to get our kids in here and only two of us lucked out," Rosario said. "I saw lots of sad faces today."
But for those whose children made it into one of the schools, it was a good day.
Diana Gonzalez's 4-year-old daughter Eveliz will enter the kindergarten class at Community Day in the fall because Gonzalez herself went to the school.
Gonzalez, 21, attended Community Day from second through eighth grade. Her brother Andy is in the eighth grade there, and her sister Dhariana is a senior at Phillips Academy in Andover. Gonzalez is attending Middlesex Community College, where she's studying business administration.
"It's such a great education," Gonzalez said of the school. "I feel like I had a second family. I felt like it was a great experience. Now my daughter will go here, too."
