Open-enrollment demand triggers weighted lottery for South Granville High, district says

Granville County Public Schools told the board that open-enrollment applications showed strong demand for South Granville High School and that the district will run a weighted lottery for placement.

Ms. Hunt (open-enrollment lead) reported that as of a recent pull of the report the district had 179 responses; by lunchtime the count rose to 215 and South Granville had 91 first-time transfer requests. The open-enrollment window was scheduled to close the day after the presentation.

District leadership explained the lottery will be a “weighted lottery,” not a purely random draw: students earn different odds based on previously agreed criteria. The district said projected enrollment plus first-time transfer requests will exceed the school’s reasonable capacity, requiring the lottery to allocate seats. The district estimated the number of incoming students it aims to enroll is roughly in the “900–950” range overall for targets being discussed, though that figure was presented as an interim projection rather than an exact capacity number.

Hunt said communications to families have included phone calls, social-media posts and reminders and that parents will be notified in February about lottery results and placements; high-school registration is scheduled to begin in early March. The board did not change the lottery criteria at the meeting; staff said they would meet later in the week to finalize the weighted-lottery process and provide updates to the board.

No formal vote was required; this was an operational update and a notice that a lottery will be used for South Granville High School first-time transfer applicants.