Several dozen Chula Vista parents spent the night camped out on a sidewalk, loaded with blankets in order to be among the first to receive a lottery ticket that they say will improve the lives of their children.
The parents were lined up around the block outside the Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School Friday morning.
Some of the hopefuls had arrived at 5 p.m. Thursday and bunked down for a cold night.
On Friday, the school was scheduled to distribute lottery tickets as part of its enrollment process.
The school is a so-called “dual immersion” school with an English and Spanish curriculum. Recently, the school added Mandarin to the program and one parent said the chance for her daughter to gain admission to the school was just too great to pass up.
“To be trilingual – English, Spanish, Mandarin,” the woman said. “I just want her to be a little better.”
Despite the camp-out, parents aren’t guaranteed admission. They must be lucky again to have their number drawn in a lottery at a later date.
