The Communicator

The Communicator

The Communicator

The Numbers are Drawn

Community High School’s lottery remains a hands-on tradition, ensuring fairness and transparency for every applicant.
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Byline photo of Anna Straka
By Anna Straka, Journalist
January 13, 2026
Daniel Jacob
Dean Marci Tuzinsky sits in a room surronded by fellow members of the CHS staff. The group was pulling the lottery numbers for the incoming class of 2030. “It is worth the hour and a half it’s going to take us to pull these names to relieve any doubt that it is not truly random,” Tuzinsky said.

Dean Marci Tuzinsky started the lottery at 8:58 am, explaining the rules of the Community High School lottery, which students qualified and how students from different districts can apply to CHS. 

CHS takes 132 students from the district, as well as three foreign exchange students residing full-time with a CHS family. All students past number 132 are placed on the wait list, where if a student does not accept their spot, the next person on the waiting list gets their spot. There’s no legacy program, so if a student had a family member attend CHS, they do not get an advantage in the drawing.

Staff members sit across the room from Dean Marci Tuzinsky. The group was in charge of recording the numbers as they were called. (Daniel Jacob)

Joann Constantindes, Heather Mcclure and April Weber wrote down the numbers on the papers containing the students’ names on a table opposite the drawing. Payton Porter and Kamryn Warner sat to the side and observed the drawing.

Brian Williams, a counselor at CHS, sat at one side of the table, with the student name cards in a black bin next to him. Lisa Durham, CHS records clerk, scheduling and CR secretary,  sat at the other side of the table, with the student number cards on them. Williams and Durham each pull a card simultaneously. Williams read his card first, calling the name, last, then first. Durham pulls a card, reading the student’s number. The people at the table opposite them write down the name and number. Finally, Dean Marci Tuzinsky stapled the numbers and the names, then put them in a separate bin.

The entire process is technology-free, as it has been since the lottery system was started at CHS. 

“I could do a computer and do random numbers like we do for registration, everything else, right?” Tuzinsky said. “Do it in a millisecond. But the question would always be out there: Is it rigged? Did I do something? It’s just not even worth it. It is worth the hour and a half it’s going to take us to pull these names to relieve any doubt that it is not truly random.”

The room held a positive yet serious energy, with Williams successfully pronouncing difficult names. A smile spread through the room with the good numbers, and a sad laugh with the bad.

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About the Contributor
Anna Straka
Anna Straka, Journalist
Anna Straka is a sophmore at Community high school, and this is her second year on staff. In her free time, she loves playing bass, watching and playing sports, and playing with her dog. She is so excited for another year as a journalist and looks forward to what the year holds.