By Ellen Icolari, Founder
Staten Island Community Charter School

For the second time since receiving our charter from the New York State Board of Regents in December, 2009, SICCS conducted its annual admissions lottery on Thursday, April 14 — a ritual performed at this time each year by charter schools throughout the five boroughs.

This year, SICCS received more than 470 applications from Staten Island parents seeking one or more of a total of 75 seats that will become available in our kindergarten, first- and second-grade classes for school year 2011-12.

Despite the fact that their attendance was not mandatory — and had no bearing on whether their children’s applications were or were not chosen —approximately 60 parents attended the midweek event, many with their children in tow.

The official witness of the drawing, conducted in the school cafeteria, was Staten Island Advance editor and Mud Lane Society board member Marjorie Hack, a Stapleton resident who generously contributed her time to certify the lottery’s accuracy and impartiality.

As the lottery proceeded, with Principal Pauline Frank reading aloud the name of each winning applicant as his or her name was selected, some parents were obviously pleased at the outcome but remained calm when their children’s names were called.

But for others, the news of a child’s assured enrollment at our school next fall prompted a wave of emotion. Gesturing with the SICCS brochure she held in her hand, one mother smiled broadly yet fought back tears as she told another parent sitting nearby,

“My son needs this school. We had to get him in here.”

(Photos: Osiris Stephen)