In a significant change to the long-established admissions timetable for Lakewood’s girls’ schools, registration will henceforth commence only on Rosh Chodesh Shevat, under a new agreement reached by the town’s roshei mosdos.
The move is intended chiefly to spare girls and their families the lengthy period of uncertainty that has accompanied the admissions process in recent years. With registration traditionally beginning immediately after Sukkos, parents could find themselves spending months awaiting a definitive answer as to where their daughter would be attending school the following year.
Following extensive deliberations involving local rabbanim, askanim, parents and school administrators, the roshei mosdos agreed that delaying the process would considerably shorten that difficult interval and provide a more orderly admissions period for all concerned.
The initiative was undertaken after lengthy and detailed consultations regarding the challenges presented by the existing system.
Under the arrangement, schools may not begin registration before Rosh Chodesh Shevat. Moreover, any commitment or acceptance offered to a prospective student prior to that date will be regarded as having no validity.
A limited dispensation has been made for new schools due to open for the 2027–28 academic year. Those mosdos will be permitted to commence registration from the 15th of Teves, recognizing that a newly established school requires additional time to assemble its classes and make the necessary preparations without the infrastructure and systems already available to established institutions.
Askanim believe that the revised timetable will produce a fairer and considerably less burdensome process for the schools and parents alike, whilst placing particular emphasis on the wellbeing of the girls at the center of the admissions process.
