MaST has thousands of applicants, 200 spots for students

Chrissy Poper has been trying to get her eight-year old daughter into popular MaST Community Charter School in Somerton for the past three years.

But with parent demand far outpacing the number of available seats at the school, Poper has been left to play some very long odds.

“I put applications in for her in kindergarten, first, and second grade,” Poper said.

“She just hasn’t hit the lottery yet.”

This year, Poper was one of hundreds of families to show up in person for MaST’s enrollment lottery, held Tuesday afternoon in the school auditorium.  The chances of winning were slimmer than ever.  All told, said MaST CEO John Swoyer, the school received 5,782 applications for just 140 openings.

Poper was disappointed to learn that Abigail wouldn’t even get a shot; 498 families applied for a third grade at MaST, where no open seats were available.

Read the rest of this story about charter schools around Philadelphia trying to expand from our partners at NewsWorks.

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