SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
The Learning Choice Academy
Two programs. Three campuses. Thirteen grade levels. Hundreds of new inquiries every year...The Learning Choice Academy doesn’t follow a traditional model, and that’s exactly why families love it.
For this charter school in southern California, enrollment is a personalized path for every family, and that path needed a system flexible enough to keep up. But with more students, more choices, and limited staff, the school needed tools that worked as hard as they do.
The Learning Choice Academy (TLC) serves more than 1,000 students through a personalized hybrid and homeschool model. With multiple campuses across San Diego County and a District Office in Santee, the school’s programs are designed for families looking for an alternative to traditional public education.
"We offer families a 100% homeschool program or a hybrid program with three days on-site and two days at home,” explained Kacie Desmond, special projects officer at TLC. “Our model is flexible, supportive, and focused on each student.”
At a Glance
TLC is a TK-12 public charter school in Southern California. Offering homeschool and a hybrid homeschool programs, TLC creates a nurturing community with a focus on strong academics and character.
But as enrollment increased and interest grew, the tools the team relied on were falling short, and with multiple sites, program types, and grade levels, complexity grew with every enrollment cycle.
The Challenge: Growing Enrollment Without Adding Staff or Confusion
By 2020, TLC had reached a tipping point. “Our enrollment was growing, but our tools weren’t keeping up,” Kacie shared. “We had a basic registration portal, but we couldn’t track prospective families or communicate with them in a meaningful way.”
The school needed a way to better manage the complexity while still maintaining the personalized support their families expected.
“We were doing a lot manually,” said Kacie. “We needed something that could scale with us.”
At the same time, TLC knew its school story needed to shine more clearly online. “We wanted to professionalize our branding and messaging. Our website needed to be a good experience and introduce the quality of what we offer,” said Kacie.
“Our enrollment has totally transformed. We could not have handled the volume we’ve been handling without Finalsite."
KACIE DESMOND
SPECIAL PROJECTS OFFICER
The Solution: A System That Matches TLC’s Structure and Style
TLC first partnered with the Finalsite team and Finalsite Enrollment to bring structure and strategy to its enrollment process back in 2020.
“Our enrollment has totally transformed,” Kacie shared, adding that in just the last three years, TLC saw a 20% enrollment increase. “We could not have handled the volume we’ve been handling without Finalsite,” Kacie said. “It’s been huge.”
From inquiry to registration, the team gained tools that matched the school’s flexible, multi-program approach.
“Families choose between two different programs and three different school sites,” Kacie explained. “Sometimes they change their minds, or they’re not sure what they want yet. With Finalsite, we can easily track that, make updates, and communicate based on what each family needs.”
Segmented communications became a key strength. “We organize messaging based on where a family is in the process, whether they’ve submitted an inquiry or they’re a registered applicant. And we personalize everything with grade level, program, and site information. That level of detail helps families feel supported and reduces confusion.”
The team also leaned into automation. “We were getting a lot of phone calls about the same things, so we added automated reminders to answer those questions up front,” Kacie said. “It saves time, and it’s better for families."
Kacie also praised how easy it was to adapt the waitlist process: “We needed more details about why students were being waitlisted—whether it was program or site-related. We added extra checkboxes to track that, and now we can easily pull reports.”
In the case of filled grades or limited program space, updates are quick: “It’s easy to pull up everyone interested in, say, 10th-grade hybrid at La Mesa and notify them. We also adjust automated emails to include real-time capacity updates.”
And later, when it came time to refresh the school’s website, the choice was easy. The charter migrated its content management system (CMS) to Finalsite Composer for an even more streamlined process, start to finish.
“Our experience with Finalsite Enrollment had been so good that partnering again for our website made complete sense,” Kacie shared. “The website is a big part of our marketing strategy. It helps us tell our story and show who we are. It’s where a lot of that first impression happens.”
The Result: Growth & the Tools to Manage It
Since adopting Finalsite Enrollment, TLC has grown enrollment, going from just over 900 students to over 1,100. “And we’ve done that with the same staff,” said Kacie. The platform has also helped the team work smarter, not harder. “We haven’t gained more hours in the day, but we’ve been able to process way more,” she said. “That alone speaks volumes."
Data That Drives Decisions
TLC uses Finalsite to analyze campaign performance and staffing needs. “We can compare inquiries from this year and last year during specific campaigns. And for staffing, we can look at pending applications by grade and program.”
At just over 20 years old, the school still has a number of founding staff members on its team. “That speaks to the commitment and our motivation to retain and support staff members,” Kacie noted. “Multiple staff members are able to work together at different stages in the process. I can leave notes or set reminders in the system, and it keeps us connected.”
Real-time reporting also drives smarter staffing and planning. “We get a lot of students with IEPs or English learner needs,” Kacie shared. “Our assistant director needs to know what’s coming so we can prepare staff. Now, we can pull data by grade, program, and site to get those insights.”
The benefits extend to family communications as well. With integrated translation and reduced reliance on phone support, bilingual staff have more time to focus where it matters most. “Before, our office managers were doing a lot of one-on-one support for Spanish-speaking families,” said Kacie. “Now, the system lets them move through the process more independently.”
Ease of Use, Team Collaboration, and Trusted Support
Multiple staff across different locations use the system daily. “I handle most of the family communications, and another teammate reviews the registrations,” said Kacie. “I can make a note in the system that flags something for her to check. We can coordinate easily without needing a separate meeting.”
When there is the occasional question or roadblock, Finalsite’s Support is there to help. “Any time I run into something I don’t know how to do, I feel completely comfortable reaching out,” Kacie said. “The support team is friendly, helpful, and never makes me feel like I should already know the answer.”
Kacie sums it up best: “We’re constantly improving. Every time we identify a pain point, we can tweak something and make it easier. That kind of flexibility—being able to keep refining the process—makes a huge difference.”
A System That Grows With the School—and the Families It Serves
From better first impressions to streamlined back-end workflows, TLC’s experience with Finalsite shows how the right tools help schools grow without losing their personal touch. “This is who we are. This is what we offer,” said Kacie. “Finalsite helps us communicate that clearly to families, to staff, and to each other.”
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