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Catoosa County holds public pre-K lottery; two schools retain openings
Summary
Catoosa County conducted a public drawing to assign pre‑K seats. Director Gina Haynes said names were drawn from sealed ballots, twin/triplet placement rules were applied, most classes filled and Tiger Creek and Wood Station still had openings; remaining applicants were placed on wait lists and will be notified by phone and email.
Gina Haynes, director of elementary education for Catoosa County, opened a public pre‑K enrollment drawing, saying, “Good morning, and welcome to the Catoosa County pre k drawing. My name is Gina Haynes, and I'm the director of elementary education.”
Haynes described the selection process: “All the names have been put on ballots, from your applications, and we keep this well, we have it sealed. We'll take that off. And then I just spin the wheel and we pull the names.” She also noted the county’s twin and triplet rule: “This year, we have 1 set of triplets and 6 sets of twins,” and said that if a classroom has spots for all siblings they will be placed together; if not, those children are placed first on the wait list.
The drawing proceeded by spinning a selection wheel and reading names aloud; staff confirmed assignments to families’ stated first-choice and second-choice schools. A staff member characterized the method as a game of chance: “That's the old timey bingo game. It's truly the luck of the draw.” When a child’s first-choice site was full the child was assigned to the family’s second choice; when both choices were full the child was placed on the wait list. Haynes said families whose children earned spots will receive both a phone call and an email to confirm acceptance.
By the close of the drawing, Haynes and staff reported that most classes across the participating sites were full and that two locations still had available seats. Specifically, Haynes stated that all classes at Boynton, BPS, RPS and Cloud Springs (and other named sites) had closed; Tiger Creek and Wood Station still had openings and continued to accept assignments. Children whose first choices were full and who had no second choice were placed on the wait list; staff said the county will pull from that list as families decline or defer spots.
Haynes reiterated procedural safeguards intended to ensure fairness: sealed ballots derived from submitted applications, a single public drawing, and a stated policy to keep siblings together when space permits. At the end of the session she confirmed that all names on the list had been drawn and reminded families they would be contacted to confirm any offered seats.
The county did not provide a total count of applicants or the precise number of seats available by site during the public reading; those totals were not specified on the record. The drawing record does show at least one set of triplets and six sets of twins were included under the county’s sibling placement rule.
Staff said the wait‑list process will continue until available seats are filled: if a family declines a spot, the next child on the wait list for that site will be offered the seat by phone and email.
