You are receiving this email because we think you are intending to apply to LASA. This email is the first of several designed to help you make sure you have all of the necessary pieces to submit your LASA application by the deadline at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, February 4, 2024. If you have changed your mind or don’t wish to receive these emails, please fill out this form.
This is Jo Koerth, again, principal’s secretary at LASA and 50% of our non-existent admissions department. The closer we get to the deadline, the busier I will be, and paradoxically, the more of these emails I will send. You see, my most important job this January is to help all applicants have the best possible chance at getting into LASA.
I want to start with some quick reminders about tomorrow. It’s the first opportunity to take the CogAT Admission Exam on campus. Next opportunity is Saturday, January 25, 2025. Students may only attend one (1) testing session.
The test starts promptly at the listed start times (9 AM for students with last names A-L, and 12:30 PM for students with last names M-Z) so plan to arrive about fifteen minutes early.
There is no need to register for the exam or finish any part of the application before taking it. HOWEVER, we ask that only eligible students (8th-11th grade, with a primary residence in AISD - or a parent/legal guardian who works full time for AISD) take the exam on campus.
Current high school students should let our staff know when they enter the building that they are in high school. This will help us ensure they are taking the correct level of the CogAT.
Student drop-off and pick-up is at the set of doors on the left at the front of the building. Parents will not be able to accompany their students inside.
Please be respectful of our neighbors. Park on the school side of the street or in any parking lot on campus. If you have to park on the neighborhood part of the street, please take care not to block driveways or mailboxes.
While parents won’t be able to enter the school building, they are invited to join the parent panel “Find Your Fit”.
“Find Your Fit” Parent Panel, presented by PFLASA
Is your family torn between two high schools? Still trying to find your fit for next year? PFLASA invites you to hear perspectives from parents who have both a LASA Raptor and a student in another high school. There are a multitude of fantastic programs in our district and beyond. Hear first hand what made LASA the right fit for some of their kiddos and not for others. Panel is in the PFLASA Portable (next to tennis courts) during all CogAT sessions.
Please sign up in advance here: https://www.signupgenius.com/
PFLASA (Parents and Friends of LASA) is a group supporting LASA faculty, staff, students, and parents. Learn more at pflasa.org. Questions? Please contact us at president@pflasa.org.
Enroll Austin Help
Students have to have a submitted Enroll Austin application in by the deadline. If they don’t, we won’t be able to look at their application at all. Even if they did everything else. This happened to applicants last year, and it absolutely broke my heart because there was nothing I could do to help.
This is a district deadline, and we are completely unable to help if you miss it.
So the sooner you submit the Enroll Austin application, the better. If you end up having technical issues on the day of the deadline, it may be very difficult to find help in time.
If you’re having issues, or you’ve been procrastinating on this part, we will also have an Enroll Austin representative on campus during the CogAT test. He will be set up in the same portable as the parent panel. Please take advantage of this opportunity if you need it!
I've attached a map to this email showing the location of the student drop off and pick up and the portable where parents can attend the parent panel and/or get Enroll Austin help.
The First Application Status Email
I am getting ready to send out the first application status email. It will be sent from admissions@lasahighschool.org
Only applicants who had submitted their supplemental materials form by 8 AM this morning will receive this individualized email update.
The email is automatically generated (technology is amazing), but the work that goes into it is not automatic at all.
I go through each applicant and:
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match up their supplemental materials form with their Enroll Austin application
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verify their address (the most time consuming of all!)
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open their creative work to make sure it works
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check their teacher recommendations
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for students who have submitted report cards from a non-AISD school, I open the report cards and make sure they have the information we need
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for students with grades from an AISD school: I match the district report to each applicant’s record and check to make sure no grades are missing. (NOTE: I have not received this report yet so all AISD grades will show as pending for now)
After tomorrow, I will also be matching their CogAT sign in to their application record. This is on top of writing these emails, answering questions, and – oh yes – my regular duties. Phew!
It sounds like a lot, and it is. But this is genuinely my favorite part of my job. I love getting to meet our applicants and their families in this way. This is just to let you know why it may take me a moment to go through everything that has been submitted and why I won’t have time to pause my work and look up an individual student’s application status.
The application status update email will show each required item as either RECEIVED or PENDING. “Received” really means “received and checked”. While “pending” can mean:
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You haven’t sent it yet
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You sent it, but I haven’t checked it yet
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You sent it, I checked it, but there’s an issue with it
If there is an issue, you will see a little note from me on what the issue is and how to fix it.
If you’ve sent it, and there isn’t a note, you likely just sent it after I finished checking that one applicant/one item so give me until you receive the next status update email and it still isn’t listed to ask about it.
A lot of you will see the email and you’ll want to immediately email me with a question. BEFORE YOU DO:
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Read the WHOLE EMAIL
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Check the Application Checklist
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Follow the instructions!
It’s likely you don’t even need to email me at all.
Once you have followed the instructions, I know your knee-jerk reaction will be to email me: “I did it, is it good now?” I know, because that would be my inclination too!
Trust me, I would love to be able to tell you and resolve that anxiety. But see above about my work load. If you followed the instructions, you should absolutely be good! I will loop back around to resubmitted materials and send another status update, but I also want to make sure that everyone who is submitting for the very first time are getting a chance to get that update and feedback. Thank you for being patient.
If, by tomorrow morning, you haven’t received an application status email. Please follow this procedure:
Ask yourself: “did we submit the supplemental materials form by 8 AM yesterday (Friday, January 10, 2025)?”
If the answer is no: You don’t have to do anything. Only applicants with a submitted supplemental materials form will receive status updates.
If the answer is yes: Go to your email inbox (of the email address listed in Enroll Austin and the Supplemental Materials form) and search for admissions@lasahighschool.org
Odds are it ended up in your spam folder or, if you have gmail, one of your other inboxes.
If you still can’t find the email, then you may email me and ask about it.
Also, please note that all AISD report cards will show as PENDING in this application status email. That’s because AISD hasn’t sent me a report with grades yet. There is no need for concern. If you’ve been in AISD this school year and/or last, I’ll get those grades soon and update everyone.
I weighed waiting for the report vs. sending out the email today and I figured people would want to know the status of the other pieces of the application sooner rather than later.
Common Errors
Finally, in going through the materials received thus far, I am noticing some common errors. I wanted to bring them up to give everyone who hasn’t submitted yet a chance to get it right on the first try.
Error 1: Did not upload Parent ID in Enroll Austin
While students who are only applying to LASA do not have to upload test scores, and students who’ve been attending an AISD school these past two years don’t have to upload a report card, ALL families must upload a valid photo ID for one of the parents/legal guardians in Enroll Austin. A driver’s license is preferred.
I am also seeing a handful of uploaded files that just won’t open for me. I am not sure what the issue is, but if I ask you to reupload the parent ID, please try to upload it in another format. (There’s an app called genius scan that will convert photos to .pdfs. That might work!)
Error 2: Did not upload the full first page of the electricity bill
I know this may sound nitpicky, but I really do need to see that whole first page of the electricity bill. I’ve been seeing a lot of photos of just one corner, photos of folded bills, photos of envelopes. Please, just spread the first page out flat and take a picture of the whole thing before uploading it.
Error 3: Uploaded an electricity bill that is too old
In order for me to use an electricity bill as proof of residence, it must be dated within 45 days of submission. So when you grab one, please make sure it’s the most recent one. It’s an easy mistake to make, so please double check the date!
Common Error 4: Name on proof of residence doesn’t match parent/legal guardian name on record.
Well, I hate to call this one an error, really. It's just that Enroll Austin only gives me the name of one parent/legal guardian. For AISD students, sometimes I can look up the second parent/legal guardian name. But don’t be surprised if the application status update email shows the proof of residence as pending if the name on your electricity bill isn’t the name of the parent/legal guardian who submitted the Enroll Austin application.
It’s an easy fix, just email LASAadmissions@austinisd.org
That’s it for today. For those of you testing tomorrow, I wish you the best of luck! You’ve got this!
For everyone else, please enjoy your Saturday a little bit extra and stay warm!
Upcoming Dates
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Jan 11, 2025 - CogAT Admissions Test & “Find Your Fit”- parent panel (sign-up for parent panel)
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Jan 13, 2025 - First day of Shadowing at LASA (available only to those students who have submitted their supplemental materials form and Enroll Austin Application)
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Jan 14, 2025 - Virtual LASA Info Night (in English and Spanish)
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Jan 16, 2025 - LASA Showcase
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Jan 18, 2025 - Virtual Help Sessions by our parent organization, PFLASA (sign-up required)
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Jan 20, 2025 - Last day to request accommodations for the 1/25/25 CogAT Admissions Test
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Jan 25, 2025 - CogAT Admissions Test & “Find Your Fit”- parent panel (sign-up for parent panel)
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Feb 1, 2025 - Virtual Help Sessions by our parent organization, PFLASA (sign-up required)
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Feb 4, 2025 - DEADLINE! Also, last day to shadow at LASA, and last day to make any changes in Enroll Austin
All LASA Info Emails will be available on the Application Updates & Announcements blog within 24 hours of being sent.
IMPORTANT LINKS
Jo Koerth (she/her/hers)
LASA ADMISSIONS
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