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Parent’s Deadline for Area Cooperative Educational Services’ (ACES) Magnet School Parent Choice Lottery Fast Approaching

February 11th, 2019


(North Haven, CT. February 11, 2019) Parents who want to enroll their children in Area Cooperative Educational Services’ (ACES) Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School (WIMS) located in Hamden or Thomas Edison Middle School (TEMS) located in Meriden have until 3:30p.m. on February 28th to officially apply for the 2019-20 school year. ACES Magnet School Parent Choice is coordinated by ACES and families in any non-partner school district can apply to a lottery for open seats to the two ACES magnet schools. Families provide student transportation, with a travel subsidy provided by ACES. Interested parents can learn more and easily apply online by logging on to www.aces.org/parentchoice.

“The online process is simple and fairly quickly to complete. Parents must complete their child’s application to be eligible for the lottery which will be held on March 7th with initial placements made the following day,” said ACES Executive Director Thomas Danehy. “The notices of acceptance are then mailed to the student’s families on March 11th and then the parents or guardians have until March 25th to accept or reject the placement.”

After the parents have made their decisions, the tentative student lists are sent to the ACES administrative staff and ACES magnet school principals. Any open seats that are still available will be open to other students who have registered. Partner districts are specific school districts that have chosen to partner with ACES for its magnet schools, and to place and pay partial tuition for a specified number of students each year. If those seats are not filled, the schools then make those seats available to the ACES Magnet School Parent Choice Program for students from non-partner districts (any other district in the state). Partner districts for WIMS are: Hamden, New Haven, Wallingford and Woodbridge. Partner districts for TEMS are: Meriden, Middletown and Wallingford.

WIMS is a K - 8 school that serves more than 630 students is dedicated to educating the whole child through inquiry, innovation, and the arts in a diverse, compassionate learning community. TEMS is an Interdistrict magnet school of 722 students in grades 6th through 8th with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Its mission is to empower students to use technology effectively in order to become knowledgeable, capable, and ethical digital citizens.


About ACES:

Area Cooperative Educational Service’s (ACES) is to transform lives through education, innovation, and leadership. One of six Connecticut regional educational service centers, ACES is the regional educational services center for the twenty-five communities in New Haven and is both a school district and a non-profit services agency. ACES serves 2,300 students from fifty-seven communities throughout Connecticut at its three magnet schools and nine special education schools. ACES service divisions include international educational programs and services, technology, transportation, translation, behavior services and autism programs, extension therapy services (occupational and physical therapy), assistive technology, collaborative programs, professional development, human resources and financial services, and ACCESS, a vocational and life skills program for developmentally and physically challenged adults. ACES also runs the Open Choice program for New Haven County as well as a magnet school parent choice program for its Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School and Thomas Edison Middle School. Additionally, ACES runs the Middlesex County Early Head Start Partnership program. For additional information, go to www.aces.org.

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