Of the 32,000 students that the Recovery School District placed in its schools this year through its new centralized application process, only 4 percent were unhappy enough with their assignment to submit an appeal, according to data provided by district officials.

Just more than two-thirds of those who appealed ended up getting into one of their top three choices, the figures show.

The appeal decisions, which went out last week, are a final step in the district’s first effort at a common application process, designed to lift the parent burden of completing multiple applications for some of the district’s nearly 70 schools.

The 32,000 include families who did not complete an application, but who were still placed at a school, and the 25,000 who did apply to schools, a district spokeswoman said.

Gabriela Fighetti, the district’s student enrollment director, said that it’s too soon to tell what changes need to be made, if any, for next year’s enrollment.

“We’re only just at the point where we will begin discussing with our schools what worked and what didn’t,” she said.

The first round of applications ended March 31, and the second, for appeals and new applicants, ended May 23.

On the first round of applications, 84 percent of entering kindergarten and rising ninth-grade applicants got a top school choice; 68 percent of pre-kindergarten applicants got a top choice; and 76 percent of students in other grades got a top choice.

Though application due dates have passed, some schools, such as Pierre Capdau Charter School, were advertising open slots as late as June 5. The district is working with those schools to help fill those seats, Fighetti said.

Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams stays on top of the city's loosely organized collection of public schools, with a special emphasis on charter schools. In 2011 she was recognized by the Press Club of New Orleans for her...