By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – Just getting into Ory school each year is like a parent, or a child, getting their best Christmas present.

Once a year, the waiting list to attend Ory Magnet School is about 350 to 400 students, of which about 100 are added, said Principal Teri Noel.

The school takes applications during the year, then holds a public lottery in May, announcing the winners in June. Due to graduation from the eighth grade, Noel said the largest number of new children naturally start in kindergarten.

The school has a first-preference for siblings of children who are already there, but after those children are allowed in, the lottery drawing is the next way to join in.

&#8220I don’t enjoy this part of it because we have people crying and begging for us to let them in,” she said. &#8220But I have never done anything except follow our system to select the kids.”

Noel said she has yet to be offered an actual bribe of any sort to get a child in the school, but she has certainly had many heartfelt pleas from friends, other faculty members, school administrators and of course, many parents.

&#8220There is a lot of begging, but I have a reputation that I don’t do anything like that, so the calls seem like they’ve gotten to be less over the years,” she explained.

She said the only glitch in the system came one year when they missed one sibling, and had to do the entire drawing process over.

&#8220It still comes down to the luck of the draw,” she said. &#8220That’s the best thing I can promise anyone.”