elementary schools with the best community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Rent a place inbounds for Ross and send the pk3 kid to Marie Reed until they can go to Ross for pk4.

Getting into pk3 at Marie Reed when out of bounds is not easy, possibly impossible. But there might be some cbo options near Ross

Yeah that suggestion doesn't make sense- we never got into PK3 for Marie Reed (either English or dual language) even when we were in bounds a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend Shepherd- you wouldn't have to move far, PK3 siblings have historically all gotten in, and has a great neighborhood feel.

[Anonymous]

How many of the apartments have kids in the elementary school? They re too expensive for lower income and not nice enough for higher income. Seems like grad students and singles or couples mostly. Am I wrong?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many of the apartments have kids in the elementary school? They re too expensive for lower income and not nice enough for higher income. Seems like grad students and singles or couples mostly. Am I wrong?

Yeah, a good chunk have young families, but it varies building to building. Like 4000 tunlaw has a ton, as so many of the 6-plex renovations, but like none at the Colonnade. I mean nothing will really beat something like Observatory, Beecher, or Huidekoper. Those rowhome streets in terms of under-18 share are probably the highest in all of ward 3. But Glover Park elsewhere is pretty saturated with kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Honestly, if you are just in it for the free PK, stay in Takoma then move after that. Takoma (and just about all DCPS) have great PK. Then cross the border to TKPK md. Or try to move over the shepherd park. I left my DCPS school and neighborhood with a truly amazing community for this area and even though I miss some things about being closer in the city, I love it out here. good luck either way!

[Anonymous]

Stokes - Brookland for sure!

[Anonymous]

Speaking of Brookland schools- Burroughs for neighborhood kids and families.

[Anonymous]

Heads up, PK4 at Stoddert is no sure bet. Basically zero families win the lottery without both IB and sibling preference, so there are few eldest kids in the one PK4 class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Heads up, PK4 at Stoddert is no sure bet. Basically zero families win the lottery without both IB and sibling preference, so there are few eldest kids in the one PK4 class.

Most Stoddert eldest children seem to be at Communikids for PK3/PK4 (either tenleytown or glover park). Relatively easy to get a spot there.

[Anonymous]

Good luck getting into PK at most of the schools mentioned on this thread. Where are your kids currently, OP? Why not stay and give Whittier another try? It sounds like you weren’t there for very long, and it’s definitely got a strong school community.

[Anonymous]

Elsie Whitlow Stokes has a great community feel. The school promotes communication with and between families. I think friendships with students and their families can be as strong as friendships that develop at a neighborhood school, even though families might live further apart. And, students have the possibility of remaining together through high school if they continue on to DCI.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm confused as to why you're focused on staying in DC for free PK if community and affordability are most important to you and you already know you want to move to MD eventually. I say this as someone who does live in DC and is happy with it, but I know there are tradeoffs. Whatever money you would save with two years of free PK for one kid, you could save by moving somewhere more affordable in MD. Also if community is so important, start building that community now so your older one can have it starting in K.

[Anonymous]

A little annoying that you're looking for a good community school when you are just using it for a few years and already know you'll be bailing as soon as you get a chance. I can't imagine that mindset is good for fostering a community.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stoddert is very tight knit, and if you don't want to pay for a townhouse there are lots of apartment buildings and condos.

The problem with "tight-knit" is that it's also very cliquey. A real epidemic of spoiled rich kids, and if your kid doesn't fit in, it's brutal. That said, that stuff goes year-by-year. As the parent of multiple children who have/do attend, our experience has ranged from lovely to vicious.

I am interested to know/confirm from this poster - Stoddert has been cliquey and at time vicious? Ugh. Can you say more? Was that even in the earliest grades?

There are a lot of wonderful families and kids there, but there are also some very wealthy families and very spoiled children. So, it's a crapshoot depending on where you end up in your class placement. Of the four kindergarten classes when our DC entered, three were harmonious, and one was a snakepit of very nasty children. You write it off as little kids not knowing what they're doing, and for DC things were really nice for 1st-3rd grade, as the core of 5-6 nasty spoiled kids were either in other classes or sufficiently distributed. Fourth and fifth grade, they were all back in the same class and it was just brutal, brutal, brutal. Absolutely relentless bullying about body shape, clothes, athletic ability, shoes, phones... it was unreal, and really hurt our kid, and from talking to other parents we were not alone.

And another parent, who had multiple children different years, confirmed that we weren't crazy, but said some years the class is great and other years its not. That's the flipside of the "tight-knit" thing—you don't need many rotten apples to poison the whole bunch.

What was really galling though, is that the administration did nothing... vague platitudes when we brought it up, assurances that bullying wasn't tolerated and that the kids involved were "good kids", etc. They seem very happy to cruise along as if everything is friendly and kind, because 85 percent of the time it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many of the apartments have kids in the elementary school? They re too expensive for lower income and not nice enough for higher income. Seems like grad students and singles or couples mostly. Am I wrong?

Grad students left Glover Park about 15 years ago. It used to be full of group houses, but they all moved to hipper places. It does mean that there quite a few rental houses, formerly full of students, that families live in. And a lot of apartments have been renovated into high-end condos, mostly two-bedroom but a few three bedroom. Very nice for a single-child family or doable for two kids of the same gender who can share.