Intradistrict Transfer Request Process

TRANSFER REQUEST PROCESS

Select one option below to submit an Intradistrict Transfer Request

• Online Intradistrict Transfer Request Form: English    Spanish
• Paper (PDF) Intradistrict Transfer Request Form: English    Spanish

Important Information About Transfers

• Families of new students entering the District in grades TK-8, and who wish to request a transfer, must first complete the 2023-2024 New Student Registration Process.

• Intradistrict transfers are processed only if the student is either:

1. currently enrolled and attending school in the SMFCSD or
2. pre-enrolled for the following school year.

• Parents/guardians may request up to two (2) schools of choice. Do not select the school of assignment based on address of residence as one of the two choices.

• Valid transfer requests will be processed only if:

1. the request is for a District-wide magnet program (College Park, Fiesta Gardens, North Shoreview Montessori, Parkside Montessori, Abbott Middle School Spanish Immersion Program, Bayside Academy Mandarin Immersion Program), or
2. the student has a site-based priority to a school in the District

• The site-based transfer priorities are:

  • Continuing 5th/8th grader - former residents of the school’s attendance area who have moved into another school’s attendance area within the district and wish to finish the 5th or 8th grade year, provided space is available
  • Child of District employee - child of a District employee who works 20 hours a week or 50% of 1 FTE
  • Sibling - siblings of students concurrently (at the same time) enrolled on an approved intradistrict transfer
  • Overflow - students overflowed to another school who want to remain at the overflow school
  • Continuing - students who move to another attendance area within the district and wish to remain at their current school
  • Preschool - student attends a District preschool program and wishes to enter the feeder elementary program (Language Immersion or Montessori)
  • Neighborhood - 1/3 of the seats for the incoming Kindergarten classes at College Park, Fiesta Gardens International School, North Shoreview Montessori, and Parkside Montessori shall be set aside for in-district students from the historic neighborhood

• The intradistrict transfer request form opened at 12:00 pm (noon) on Monday, December 5, 2022.

• Valid transfer requests received by the deadline of 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday, January 27, 2023 will be entered into the school/program lottery.

• Transfer lottery status emails will be sent out by the end of the business day on Friday, February 24, 2023.

• Transfer requests received after the lottery deadline will automatically be added to the transfer request waitlist in the order received.

• Neighborhood priority is applied to a transfer request if the student resides in the historic neighborhood of the District-wide magnet school they are requesting, and the District-wide magnet school has been selected as Choice #1. Neighborhood priority is only applied to Kindergarten requests.
• If requesting College Park Mandarin Immersion, Fiesta Gardens International School, North Shoreview Montessori, or Parkside Montessori for grades 1-5 (and 6-8 at Parkside and North Shoreview), students will be assessed before being accepted into the program; Kindergarten and TK students do not need to be assessed. 
• Students requesting the Abbott Middle School Spanish Immersion Program and Bayside Academy Mandarin Immersion Program must have completed the elementary immersion program at Fiesta Gardens for Abbott or at College Park for Bayside Academy 6-8.

• A student must be either currently enrolled and attending school in the SMFCSD, or be registered for the upcoming school year, in order for a transfer request to be processed.
• Plan to attend the school of assignment unless you receive communication that the transfer has been granted.
• Priorities are weighted in the lottery - Choice 1 is weighted higher than Choice 2.  Priority is applied to Choice 1. Click here for the list of transfer priorities.
• Transfer requests are granted only if there is room in the school and grade level requested.
• A transfer request is not a school registration and is not a guarantee of enrollment.
• Transfers can be granted after the lottery if space becomes available.  The last day a transfer can be granted is the Friday before the first day of school.
• All transfer requests expire the Friday before the first day of school for the 2023- 2024 school year. Transfers will not be granted after that day.

Student Services will annually review the enrollment capacity at all school sites to determine space availability for purposes of enrollment and transfer requests. Available space is determined by program capacity, staffing entitlement, program considerations, and facilities. Student Services will annually establish and publish enrollment cut off dates for the purpose of determining district enrollment priorities.

Transfer Requests are approved based on the following descending order of priorities:

1. Continuing 5th and 8th Grade Students – former residents of the school’s attendance area who have moved into another school’s attendance area within the district, provided space is available.
2. District Employees – children of district employees who have requested attendance through the Employee Preference transfer process.
3. Siblings – siblings of students concurrently enrolled on an approved intradistrict transfer.
4. Overflow Students – students overflowed to another school who want to remain at the overflow school.
5. Continuing Students –  students who move to another attendance area within the district and wish to remain at their current school. 
6. Continuing Interdistrict Transfer Students – students living outside the district currently enrolled in one of the district schools with an approved interdistrict transfer and requesting to continue at the same school, providing they continue to meet transfer student criteria.
7. Preschool Students – preschool students who live within the district and attend a feeder SMFCSD preschool program (Language Immersion or Montessori) five days a week.
8. Neighborhood Students - 1/3 of the seats for the incoming Kindergarten classes at College Park, Fiesta Gardens International School, North Shoreview Montessori, and Parkside Montessori shall be set aside for in-district students from the historic neighborhood
9. New Intradistrict Transfer Students – students who live within the SMFCSD who are requesting a transfer to attend a District-wide magnet school.
10. Interdistrict Siblings – siblings of interdistrict transfer students concurrently enrolled in the district.
11. Elementary to Middle School Interdistrict Transfer Students – elementary students on an interdistrict transfer requesting an ongoing interdistrict transfer to a district middle school.
12. Out-of-District Preschool Students – preschool students who live outside the district and attend a feeder SMFCSD preschool five days a week.
13. New Interdistrict Transfer Students – all other out-of-district transfer requests.

SIBLINGS

Siblings of concurrently (at the same time) enrolled students attending a school on an intradistrict transfer will receive sibling priority in the intradistrict transfer lottery at the requested school if space is available. If requesting concurrently and one sibling is approved through the lottery process, additional siblings will have sibling priority added to their transfer request.

SAN MATEO-FOSTER CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT STAFF

Children of district employees working 20 hours or more per week or at least 50 percent of 1.0 (one) FTE at the time of application and during the year for which the application is made will receive priority in the transfer process provided they submit a transfer request by the posted transfer deadline and space is available. Employment status must be verified annually.

For a full listing of intradistrict transfer regulations, please see SMFCSD Board Policy 5116 .1 and Administrative Regulations.