Roberto and Yolania Estevez celebrate after their son, Geremy, 5, wins a spot at Times{+2} Academy.

PROVIDENCE — Lottery Day in the state’s public charter schools yesterday brought anxiety and hope to thousands of families waiting to hear whether their children would be among the lucky ones. At Paul Cuffee Charter School, the lottery unfolded in a low-key manner.

A handful of school administrators sat around a table in a second-floor conference room, picking names from a bright green bowl. More than 200 thin bits of paper — each with the name of a student vying for one of just 25 open kindergarten slots — were tossed in the bowl like lettuce leaves. Head of school David Bourns carefully read aloud each name.

Samantha, Sierra, Francesca and Laura made it. So did Damien, Sean, Kazim and Taylor.

A few parents, too anxious to wait for the news, had shown up for the lottery in person, and they eagerly leaned forward each time Bourns dipped into the bowl.

They were disappointed. Their children were not among the 11 girls and 14 boys selected for this fall’s kindergarten class. Another 23 spots had already been given to siblings of current students.

Amy Greenwald left the room while administrators were reading the names of children who would be placed on a wait list. She knew her 5-year-old daughter, Ella Boyan, didn’t stand a chance because her name was too far down on the list. “I did think this would happen, so I am not surprised, but it is frustrating,” Greenwald said in the hallway. Greenwald liked Cuffee’s smaller classes of 16 to 18 students for kindergarten, compared with 26 in Providence public schools. “I have a lot of resources at my disposal,” said Greenwald, a computer science professor at Brown University. “And yet I wish I could provide what I view as the best education for my daughter, and that’s not available to me.”

YESTERDAY WAS charter school lottery day in Rhode Island. Statewide, the 11 charters received 4,154 applications for just 501 openings, said Steve Nardelli, executive director of the Rhode Island League of Charter Schools, the most applications received since the first charter opened in 1997.

Charters have grown in popularity in recent years. Parents say they like the smaller class sizes and sense of community that charters cultivate. Several schools focus on themes, such as literacy, cultural diversity or the arts. Some have uniforms. Many boast higher test scores than the districts where they are located.

Nine charters received so many applications this year, they held lotteries yesterday. Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy held its lottery March 26, and New England Laborers’/Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy usually fills its spaces without a wait list, so does not hold a lottery, Nardelli said.

As they expected, three families featured in a Sunday Journal article about the growing popularity of charter schools failed to get in yesterday.

Sara Nerone, who has tried for several years to get her daughters Sophie, 9, and Phoebe, 6, into Compass School in South Kingstown, found out that once again, her girls were not accepted. “We have a lot of friends who have their kids there and they like the school a lot,” Nerone said. “It’s always a little disappointing, but I knew there were no spots.”

Compass School received 254 applications for just 19 spots, 12 of which automatically went to siblings, under federal guidelines that encourage charters to keep families together.

Mirna Gonzales, 14, hoped to attend Blackstone Academy, which serves high school students from Central Falls and Pawtucket. She found out in the afternoon that she did not get in, but had been placed third on the wait list.

“I felt sad at first, and then I was like, at least I’ve got a chance,” Mirna said. If she doesn’t get into Blackstone, Mirna says she will go to Central Falls High School, a place she told her mother she never wanted to go to. Now she said she will make the best of it.

“Well, if people want to do something with their life,” she said, “they will do it.”

YESTERDAY AFTERNOON at Times ² Academy, Joan Ryan-Castillo sat in the bleachers of the school’s gymnasium with her 5-year-old son, Delfin, waiting to see if his name was called in the kindergarten lottery. With her were about 70 other parents and children.

“Some people are elated with the results, and some are disappointed,” the school’s executive director, Stanley Thompson, told the audience. “What we want everyone to know is we have done everything in an effort to be equitable.”

Two years ago, about 700 people showed up to hear whether their child had been accepted. Last year, 400 people came, said admissions director Joanna Scarnato.

At Times ², students’ names were written on cardboard disks and placed in a wooden drum, which was spun several times before school administrators opened it and began pulling out names.

Thompson told the crowd that this year, Rhode Island charters would hold two lotteries, one for boys and one for girls. In past years, Times ² had held several “mini” lotteries based on ethnicity, in an effort to ensure the school’s demographics reflected that of Providence overall — 59 percent Hispanic, 22 percent black, 12 percent Caucasian, 6 percent Asian, and about 1 percent Native American. Other Rhode Island charters followed a similar system.

Last week, state education officials advised schools to stop that practice, in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court case. The state is awaiting further details from the federal government, said Deputy Education Commissioner David V. Abbott.

Ryan-Castillo applied to three charters — Cuffee, Highlander and Times ² — knowing her son would most likely not get into any of them. She said she does not want to send her son to her local public school because it fares poorly on state tests.

At Cuffee, Delfin reached number 6 on the wait list, out of 119 boys.

Highlander received 620 applications for just 32 openings, 20 of which were for kindergarten. Of those, 19 spots were taken by siblings, said Ada Rojas, Highlander’s admission director. Not surprisingly, Delfin did not get the one open spot.

At Times ², Ryan-Castillo didn’t wait to hear where Delfin would be on the wait list. She listened as the names of the first 15 of 79 male applicants were read, and then to the first 15 boys placed on the wait list. Delfin’s name was not called. She leaned down and told Delfin to put on his jacket, and they quietly left the gym.

“I was praying. I was nervous,” Ryan-Castillo said outside. “At least now I know this isn’t an option.”

jjordan@projo.com