Conejo Valley Charter Schools
There are 4 charter schools in the Conejo Valley: MATES, Bridges, River Oaks Academy, and Compass. They are tuition free public schools, ranging k-12, that offer alternative teaching styles and classroom environments.
Charter Schools: independently-operated public schools that have the freedom to design classrooms that meet their students’ needs. All charter schools operate under a contract with a charter school authorizer – usually a nonprofit organization, government agency, or university – that holds them accountable to the high standards outlined in their “charter.” (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools)
Are Charter Schools part of the local School District?
Charter Schools are not affiliated with any school district. But, the Conejo Valley Unified School District says the transition back into the school district is very easy if/when that time comes. Charter schools k-8 won’t affect your child’s ability to attend the local public High Schools.
However, parents choosing charter schooling at the high school level will want to make sure the school is accredited. Non-accredited charter high schools could cause an issue in applying for colleges.
Meadows Arts & Technology Elementary School (MATES) | k-5
MATES Location
MATES Mission Statement:
“Instituting a vision that welcomes innovation, honors the past, transforms the future, commands achievement, and empowers all children through the Arts and Technology.”
Enrolling to MATES:
Capacity is reevaluated and set each year and will determine the amount of space available for new students. At the close of the open-enrollment deadline, the number of applications will be counted and compared to the capacity set for each grade level.
If the number of applications exceeds the set capacity, MATES will hold a public random drawing to determine enrollment of the impacted grade level.
From MATES:
Admission preferences in the case of a public random drawing are given to the following students in the following order:
- Siblings of existing MATES students
- Children of employees of MATES up to 1% of the classroom based population
- Children who reside within the former attendance area of Meadows Elementary School at the time the MATES lottery is held
- Children of employees of MATES over 1% of the classroom based population
- Children who reside within the attendance area of Conejo Valley Unified School District
- All other applicants
Returning students are guaranteed enrollment in the new year. But will need to submit a Returning Student Enrollment Notification form during the open enrollment period.
At capacity, remaining applicants will be added to a waitlist for the current year. MATES waitlist does not rollover to the following year.
Learn more about applying to MATES
Bridges Charter School | k-8
Bridges Location
Bridges Mission Statement:
“Our mission is to educate the whole child using a combination of innovative curriculum and instruction along with social/emotional education embedded in the program. Students will be enabled to reach their innate intellectual, creative, and leadership potential through our commitment to nourish curiosity, compassion, independence, resourcefulness, and respect for diversity.”
Enrolling to Bridges:
Bridges accepts enrollment application throughout the year. Students will be enrolled mid-year if classes in that grade level have space, or they will be added to their grade’s waitlist.
A lottery system is used to determine enrollment for the new school year. In early-March, Bridges stops the enrollment of new students to protect the lottery process. Students looking to enroll in the upcoming year will need to file an application and sign up to be in the lottery before the deadline. The public lottery will determine upcoming enrollment and reset the waitlist. Once the lottery process is completed, enrollment applications for the current year will continue to be processed if/where space is available.
Being added to the waitlist does not add you to the lottery for the following year. A new application will need to be submitted each year along with signing up for the lottery.
To determine space, Bridges will send an “Intent to Continue” to current students. At the close of deadline, administration will count the total of returning students and calculate the amount of space available for the coming year.
From Bridges:
Lottery Preference as stated in our Charter for grades K-8 will be given in the following order:
- Siblings of currently enrolled students
- Students residing in the former Park Oaks School Boundary
- Children of Bridges Charter School employees
- Students who reside in CVUSD
- Students residing in other school districts
Learn more about applying to Bridges
River Oaks Academy Charter School | k-12
River Oaks Academy Location
River Oaks Academy Mission Statement:
“River Oaks Academy is founded on the belief that all children are born with the capacity for lifelong learning. Our mission is to help children find, nurture and sustain the passion that will lead to self-motivated, fulfilling, lifelong achievement, careers and relationships. To this end, we offer a non-traditional, TK-12, personalized-learning, independent study program.”
Learn more about River Oaks Academy
Enrolling to River Oaks Academy:
River Oaks Academy uses a rolling and ongoing waitlist to determine enrollment. Future applicants will be added to the bottom of the waitlist and admissions are processed if/when there is an opening.
Learn more about applying to River Oaks Academy
Compass Charter School | k-12
Compass Location
Compass Vision Statement:
“Our vision is to create a collaborative virtual learning community, inspiring scholars to appreciate the ways in which arts and sciences nurture a curiosity for life-long learning, and prepare scholars to take responsibility for their future success.”
Enrolling to Compass:
Compass offers year round admissions. To date (11/15/21), the Los Angeles campuses have not reached capacity and they are accepting current enrollment.
Learn more about applying to Compass
Environmental Academy for Research Technology of EARTH Sciences (EARThS), | k-5
“The Environmental Academy for Research Technology of EARTH Sciences (EARThS) is dedicated to helping students acquire the tools of inquiry and expression by delving deeply into subjects with a cross-curricular approach, using earth sciences and technology as a unifying theme for exploration.”
Enrolling to EARThS:
EARThS is actually not a charter school but a magnet school and part of the Conejo Valley Unified School District which means its curriculum will follow the guidelines of the school district rather than a charter. However, students are not “assigned” to EARThS as they are with other public elementary schools. Parents wanting to sign their students up with EARThS will apply to the district marking the academy as their preferred school.
Each year 88 new kindergarten students are accepted into the academy. Typically, these students are expected to continue on through 5th grade. If/when students move away or change schools that spot will become open to a new student. With no waitlist, you will need to mark EARThS as a preferred school each year for possibility of enrollment.
For more information on Conejo Valley Magnet Schools visit CVUSD.org
Mapped: Conejo Valley Charter Schools
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