Looking at schools

On January 15 one of two things will happen. Either Hannah will receive her first school rejection letter, or she will be accepted for one of six coveted spots in Montessori 1st grade. We are really, REALLY hoping for the latter. However, since there are only SIX spots and about 25 kindergartners, the odds are not in our favor. How, pray tell, does the school decide which children are chosen for Mr. R's (the absolute coolest, most innovative teacher I've ever met) class? Here's what the school says,
" The teachers have concluded, after several meetings, that evaluation of students' personal characteristics is necessary in matching children's individual learning styles to appropriate environments. We do not imply that a child's intelligence or mastery of works in the preprimary classroom affects his or her placement in the elementary program, but rather that certain personal characteristics seem to allow a child to thrive in the elementary class. These personal characteristics are as follows:
-Self-motivated worker
-Age appropriate maturity/self-control
-Actively seeks challenging work
-Responds well to direction/redirection
-Gets along well with peers
It was also decided that volunteerism, especially from those who go "above and beyond the call of duty", cannot be overlooked...
Lastly, if all else is equal the date of your child's initial registration will be used to determine a child's enrollment into the elementary class."

Because of all this, I have started looking at other schooling options for Hannah. The public schools here are significantly better than Oklahoma, but I don't feel like that is a good fit for Hannah. There are not a lot of private school options here either. We have two good options, E'ville Day School and E'ville Christian School. Hannah and I will be touring ECS next week to see what it's like. So, wish Hannah luck so she can keep going to Montessori, then we can start this process all over again for 4th grade.