CHAMPAIGN – The Champaign school district will hold two kindergarten lotteries this year for families with children entering school next fall.

Parents who want their children to attend either Garden Hills or Washington elementary school next year, when both will become magnet schools, will need to register between Jan. 26 and Feb. 28. That includes not only incoming kindergarten students who choose either Garden Hills or Washington as their first choice school, but also children who will be entering the first through fifth grades next fall and want to attend one of the magnet schools.

The district is holding an earlier lottery for those schools in order to know the number of staff the schools will need, said Doretha Simmons, director of the district's Family Information Center.

Washington Elementary School will have a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math theme, and Garden Hills will have an international education theme, with foreign language offered, and a secondary focus on fine arts. Both schools are being expanded.

Those families choosing schools other than Garden Hills or Washington as their first choice will participate in the lottery during March, as usual.

Parents who will have a child entering the school system next year can learn more about the schools through upcoming open houses and community forums on the district's Schools of Choice system.

Families can visit the elementary schools on Monday and on Feb. 7. The schools will offer tours at 9 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. on those days. All of the 11 elementary schools will have open houses and tours on Feb. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. as well.

The district will hold three community forums to explain the Schools of Choice system.

The system allows parents to indicate their preference for an elementary school for their children. A computer program then makes school assignments according to a number of factors, including parents' preferences, the number of seats available in a school, whether the family has other children already attending a particular school, geographic proximity to the school, and income level. Families aren't required to provide any documentation of income. The district uses data on eligibility for free or reduced price lunches.

The goal is to place as many families as possible in their preferred school, while also maintaining economic diversity within the schools and improving the achievement of low-income students.

The community forums are scheduled at the following dates and places:

– 6 p.m. Jan. 25 at Temple Baptist Church, 1100 Broadmoor Dr., C.

– 6 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Savoy Recreation Center, 402 W. Graham Dr., Savoy.

– 6 p.m. Feb. 24 at Mount Olive Baptist Church, 808 E. Bradley Ave., C.

The forums will include a showcase of schools, where parents can meet with staff members and ask questions about the schools' programs.

Parents of fifth-grade children can visit the middle schools during scheduled open houses in April. The dates for the middle school open houses are:

– 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 5 for Jefferson Middle School.

– 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 11 for Edison Middle School.

– 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. April 12 for Franklin Middle School.

The registration periods for the 2011-12 school year are:

– Magnet school registration for kindergarten through fifth-grade students who want to attend Washington and Garden Hills elementary schools, Jan. 26 to Feb. 28.

– Kindergarten registration for all other schools, March 1-31.

– Sixth-grade registration for Stratton and Washington elementary school students, April 11-15.

– Elementary and middle school transfer requests for first through eighth grades, May 9-31.

For more information, contact the district's Family Information Center at 351-3701.