You are receiving this email because we believe 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.
Good afternoon everyone,
Jo Koerth, principal’s secretary and admissions-helper-outer, here with the latest in admissions. (I told you you would be hearing from me more often as the deadline looms closer.)
If you’re wondering what happened with info emails 1 through 4, you can find them on our Application Updates & Announcements blog. This email may make more sense if you’ve read the previous ones, but it’s a lot of reading so I don’t blame you if you just want to start here!
If you missed the last of the LASA Info Nights, have no fear, it was recorded and there is a link to it on our Admissions Calendar under the “LASA Info Nights (Presentation)” heading. Here is the handout we were giving out during the in-person presentations. It’s got some pretty good information in it, if I may say so myself. (Yes, I’m the one who put it together.)
I hope as many of you as possible are able to join us at tonight’s Showcase. Starting at 6 PM we open up the campus for prospective students and their families to meet teachers, current students and their families, as well as attend presentations and/or performances and ask any questions you might have. (Don’t forget, we have an Enroll Austin representative on site if you need help!)
RANKING
I know, you’ll get sick of me blabbing on about this, but it’s super important.
Since students are asked to decide which school they most want to attend by the deadline, we want you to have as much information available to you as possible so you can make an informed choice. Our Info Nights, Shadowing, and the LASA Showcase are all part of that.
While we of course will be honored if that choice is LASA, we don’t know what is best for your student and your family. We want you to rank the schools and/or programs in the order of best fit to good fit. Best fit/dream school is number one. Next best fit is number two and so forth. You can rank up to seven schools/programs.
Remember, if you get into your first ranked school, you cannot change your mind and go to one you ranked 2-7. You can, however, decline the offered seat and attend your home school. That is always an option.
Some schools/programs have waitlists. LASA does not. I wish I could tell you more about how the waitlists work, but honestly, since we don’t have one, I don’t know the details.
There is no strategy or “gaming” the system. Just gather as much information as you can about the different options and rank them as you or your student most wants to attend them. That’s it. If a student does not get into their first choice, they will be considered for their second choice, and so forth.
You have until February 4, 2025 to finalize the ranking.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I think each year, this may be the most stressful part of applications for families. Likely because it is completely out of your control. All you can do is ask the teacher for a recommendation, send the link, and then wait.
Waiting is hard, y’all. I hate it too.
But remember, the teachers also have until February 4th to submit their recommendations. You know, in between the teaching and the grading and all the other things they have to do. So please be patient.
As most of you may already know from the previous email, parents can go back into Enroll Austin at any time and check the status of the teacher recommendations. Click edit under your student’s name and then select “NEXT STEPS” on top of the screen. Then click the teacher recommendation button. If it says “COMPLETE”, they’re done. If it still says “SENT” they are not. Last year, Enroll Austin also sent out an email when a teacher submitted a recommendation.
If a teacher says they haven’t gotten an email, it’s a good idea to go back in and check the spelling of the email address. Especially the domain name (after the @ symbol). I cannot begin to tell you how many times I’ve accidentally typed austinsid.org instead of austinisd.org!
I recommend that students (not parents!) check in with teachers to make sure they received the link to the recommendation form. If you must check in with them about completing the recommendation I would approach the conversation with kindness and gratitude. (And breakfast tacos never hurt either, I’m just saying!)
Remember that we understand that you have no control over what teachers do (or don’t do, as it were!). As long as the recommendation form was sent through Enroll Austin before the deadline, we can work with teachers if a student is missing one or both recommendations. (But don’t tell your teachers that!)
Finally, some teachers are having issues with the link to the form. If they reach out to you, please ask them to try these three things (one of them should fix it!)
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Sometimes the link has the words “about:blank” in front of it when it opens. Delete those two words in the address bar so the link starts with “austinisd”. That should do it!
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If that doesn’t work, try copy pasting the link from the email into the address bar of the browser.
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Finally, try a different browser (like Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, or what have you) or a different device (ie computer or cellphone).
If they still can’t make the link work, send an email to LASAadmissions@austinisd.org
RESIDENCY
If your primary residence is in AISD, your instinct may be to skim this section. But, bear with me for a moment. This year, our residency and address verification process is a little more stringent than previous years and I want you to understand why.
LASA is a public high school in the Austin Independent School District. Per district policy we cannot accept transfers. This means only students whose primary residence is within the boundaries of the school district by the deadline are eligible to apply.
Sadly, each year there are families who try to get around this requirement and every time the students are who suffer the most. It’s cruel to make a student put in the time and effort to apply to a school they’re not eligible to attend. And if we don’t catch these families in time they may end up taking a spot that would have otherwise gone to an eligible student in AISD.
I am hopeful that all families this year are on the up and up, but sadly this is a consequence of the behavior we have seen in previous years.
For fairness, we are putting all families through the same address verification process. Don’t worry, I won’t walk you through the whole thing, it’s much too dull and time consuming. I just want you to be prepared for what I may need from you.
Please make sure that you have uploaded a valid (aka-not-expired) parent ID to Enroll Austin. A driver’s license is preferred.
I may ask for clarification if the name on the proof of residence doesn’t match the parent/legal guardian name I have on record. Since Enroll Austin only gives me one parent/legal guardian name, this very well might be the student’s other parent/legal guardian but I often have no way to know for sure. In those cases, just email LASAadmissions@austinisd.org
Please don’t email me the second parent name pre-emptively! I understand the compulsion, but I may already have the second name. Either because students are in AISD and I am able to look them up. Or, because they filled out the LASA Interest form, listing both parents. So please don’t give me the extra work unless I ask for it!
Of course we understand that some families may have more complicated living arrangements. If asked, please just email the explanation to LASAadmissions@austinisd.org
In some cases, I might reach out and request additional information (mostly a lease or mortgage statement). This is not because I suspect a family of not living in district. It’s just because in order to “verify” an address, I need to tick certain boxes. Once asked, the sooner you upload it to the LASA Upload form (which is linked in the email with the request), the sooner I can complete the verification process and move on.
Believe me, if I don’t have to request further documentation, I won’t. Each time I do, it’s extra work for me. I also wish I didn’t have to do all of this, but again it’s a sad consequence of previous years. I am super grateful for the grace and patience you give me when I ask for clarification or more documents. Again, no one is being singled out. Everyone is taken through the same process.
There is one exception for all of this, and that’s for students whose parent/legal guardian works for the district. Sadly, substitute teaching does not count. While most substitute teachers I know work basically full time, someone could easily sign up to be a substitute and then never work a day for the district.
Students of AISD employees should upload a picture of their parent’s AISD badge, or a document with their parent’s employee number and austinisd.org email address, as proof of residence.
COMMUNICATION
I can’t tell you how much I tried to figure out a word beginning with R for this section. If I didn’t have so much to do, I probably could have made it work. But, if you can think of one, please mentally strike out “COMMUNICATION” and change it to that word in your head.
Tomorrow (Friday, January 17), I aim to send out another application status update email to the applicants who have submitted their supplemental materials form. It will for sure go out to those who submitted the form by 8 AM this morning, I’m going to try to catch everyone who submits by 8 AM tomorrow morning as well. But it depends on how many there are.
As a reminder, these emails are individualized and automatically sent. They will show all required items as either RECEIVED or PENDING. Remember, pending doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t submit it. I manually check everything that is submitted to make sure it opens/follows guidelines. So pending can mean that I just didn’t get to it yet. It can also mean there are issues. If there are issues, there will be a note in red explaining what the issues are and what to do.
If you received last week’s status update, don’t be surprised if something still shows as PENDING even though you followed instructions and resubmitted. I go back to the upload form and Enroll Austin as I am able, but I have to prioritize the students who are submitting everything for the first time so they get the same chance to resubmit before the deadline.
I promise I will come back around and review your resubmitted materials. But as long as you followed instructions when you resubmitted, you should be fine.
Thank you for your patience and understanding!
The email is sent from admissions@lasahighschool.org. If, by Saturday morning, you haven’t received an email (and you submitted the supplemental materials form before 8 AM today, Thursday, January 16, 2025), please search your inbox for an email from admissions@lasahighschool.org
Good news, I (finally) received the report with AISD grades, so I’ve been able to update AISD report cards from PENDING to RECEIVED. The only thing is that this report isn’t automatic. It has to be generated and sent out and it only has grades for the students who had a submitted Enroll Austin application when it was generated.
District will send an updated grade report every Friday, starting next week. This will include the grades of the students who submitted their Enroll Austin application (ranking LASA as one of the schools/programs they would like to attend) since the last report was run.
So if you only have grades from an AISD school, and your Enroll Austin application was submitted today, I won’t be able to see your grades until next week (Friday 1/24). In the status update email, your report cards will show as pending until then. There’s absolutely no need to worry about that. You know you have grades. As long as your Enroll Austin application is submitted by 11:59 PM on Tuesday, February 4, 2025, I will be able to access them.
There is absolutely no need to upload AISD report cards. I will get your grades eventually.
Even better news: The first applicants should start receiving the “ALL COMPLETE” email today or tomorrow. It’s being sent from donotreply@lasahighschool.org
If you get this email, that means you are all done with the application. Nothing to do, but wait for decisions to come out. You don’t even have to read these emails until after the deadline!
COMMON QUESTIONS
When will I know if I am allowed to shadow on the date I requested?
Plan on shadowing on the date you requested. You will get an email with all the information you need for shadowing about a day or two before your requested date. If there’s an issue with your request or you won’t be allowed to shadow, we will let you know ASAP.
I signed up for the parent help session this weekend, what’s the zoom link?
This session is parent run, so I don’t actually have the zoom link. It was sent out on Wednesday (1/15) and will be sent again on Friday (1/17) night, and Saturday (1/18) morning. (If you signed up for Saturday, February 2, 2025 you will receive the zoom link that week.)
What’s this parent help session you’re talking about?
Parent volunteers who have been trained by our principal are available to help students:
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Edit their short answers
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Proof their creative project or answer questions about it
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Practice some CogAT questions
Parents/legal guardians can also sign up for help with Enroll Austin. An Enroll Austin representative will be on hand and available to answer questions. However, no one who works at LASA will be there.
If you’re interested, you can sign up HERE.
REMINDERS!
The accommodations request form is due on Monday for students who normally receive accommodations and are planning on taking the CogAT on Saturday next week (January 25).
If you have a question, please try to answer it yourself by using the many resources available to you on our website: lasahighschool.org/apply
The best way to get your question answered, if you can’t find the information on the website, is by emailing LASAadmissions@austinisd.org. You’re more than welcome to call me. BUT, if you end up leaving a voicemail, please know that I am terrible at voicemails during application season. Email really is your best bet.
Best of luck everyone and I hope we’ll see you at the Showcase tonight!
All LASA Info Emails will be available on the Application Updates & Announcements blog within 24 hours of being sent.
UPCOMING IMPORTANT DATES
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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) & Enroll Austin Help
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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
IMPORTANT LINKS
- Enroll Austin
- LASA Supplemental Materials
- Admission FAQ
- Admission Calendar
- Application Checklist
- Application Rubric
- CogAT Admission Test
Jo Koerth (she/her/hers)
LASA ADMISSIONS