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METCO APPLICATION: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Application
METCO's purpose is school integration. Boston students will be among a relatively small number of children of color in a school with a mostly white student body and faculty. The long commutes are challenging to children, and make being an engaged parent more demanding than it already would be. Read the METCO Parent Agreement for more information.
But the advantages are also real: excellent resources and quality of teaching, skills in navigating a multi-cultural world, lifelong friendships.
Make an informed decision about what is right for your child.
Get an overview of the process here.
Yes. METCO is only available to students who live permanently in the City of Boston.
No. You will not be asked any information about your income during the application process. METCO is designed to increase racial diversity in suburban schools, so a cross-section of socio-economic statuses is desirable.
Yes. All Boston school-aged students are eligible to apply to the METCO program.
Only a Legal Guardian of a child can complete a METCO application for that child.
You may select up to three METCO partner districts and rank them in order of preference. Then, if your top preference requests an student in your child's grade and your lottery number is up, you will be referred to that district
You may also choose not to do school ranking. In this case, you will be referred to the first METCO district that has space availability when your lottery number comes up.
Applications can be submitted online during our two application windows: July - November and December - May. No applications are accepted outside of these windows.
You only need proof of guardianship (for instance, a birth certificate) and proof of Boston residence. You no longer need to provide academic or attendance records to apply to METCO. Read the list of required documents here.
Yes. All school-aged students must apply every year in order to verify their eligibility.
Referral
First, all eligible applicants in each grade level who have complete and verified documents are assigned a random lottery number.
Then, beginning in January and continuing through September, each of the 33 METCO partner districts determines the available seats in each grade in the coming year.
As each district requests students in a given grade level, METCO Headquarters refers applicants from that grade who ranked that district as preferred, in order of their lottery number.
Districts may conduct an interview, request a teacher recommendation or discipline records, and/or require an orientation to the district before an offer of admission is made.
Referral to a district is not a guarantee that your student will be enrolled; you may be held on “stand-by” in case of a new slot opening up.
For the first time, families are able to indicate three preferred districts. Students are referred to districts as space becomes available in each grade, in order of lottery or status number.
Yes, if the guardian indicates that preference, and if space is available in the district in the sibling’s grade. Siblings are not guaranteed a place in METCO.
Districts enroll students at any time between January and October 1 before school starts. You should move forward with other school plans until enrollment in a METCO district is confirmed.
Yes, but only to limited bus stops in Boston (primarily Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury). Each district arranges its own bus route, and families are responsible for bringing students to a bus stop and picking them up when they return.
No. Each student can be referred to a maximum of one district per school year.
No. METCO does not transfer students between districts once they are enrolled. For enrolled students to be considered for admissions in any other town, the enrolled student must completely withdraw from the METCO program by disenrolling from the current METCO partner school district, and then apply during the next application cycle.
If the student is no longer a resident of Boston at any point during their schooling, they are no longer eligible to participate in METCO and must withdraw from the school. They can enroll in a school in the district where they live.
Boston School Finder is a non-profit organization helping families find and enroll their child in a great-fit school, no matter what type of school it might be. Translated into eight languages, Boston School Finder’s website, online School Finder tool, and comprehensive resource library guides families to make their own school registration and enrollment plans. Visit their website to get started: www.bostonschoolfinder.org.
