DCI didn't offer any non-preference seats for 6th grade Chinese or Spanish - What gives?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so there's data on where people live and where they go to school. https://dme.dc.gov/page/sy2020-21-public-school-enrollments-dcps-boundary

I can see from this, for example, that of the 6th-8th grade students living IB for Deal, 81 attend DCI and 24 attend Oyster. DCI has 59 students who are zoned for JR ("Wilson" in this data set).

I can see that 10 students zoned for Bancroft attend Mundo-P St. And 12 zoned for Lafayette. LAMB has 12 students zoned for Bancroft. And these are just the schools that are sending 10 or more students.

So it absolutely is the case that some people do have a choice of more than one good middle school, and we don't really know from the data whether they're choosing Deal or Hardy over DCI. But the choice is there.

Independent of this discussion, the data you linked to is fascinating.

There was a thread about the data: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1110151.page

Data > what I heard from “my social circle” poster

While I did say fascinating above, I am not the poster in the prior thread who used the same description.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so there's data on where people live and where they go to school. https://dme.dc.gov/page/sy2020-21-public-school-enrollments-dcps-boundary

I can see from this, for example, that of the 6th-8th grade students living IB for Deal, 81 attend DCI and 24 attend Oyster. DCI has 59 students who are zoned for JR ("Wilson" in this data set).

I can see that 10 students zoned for Bancroft attend Mundo-P St. And 12 zoned for Lafayette. LAMB has 12 students zoned for Bancroft. And these are just the schools that are sending 10 or more students.

So it absolutely is the case that some people do have a choice of more than one good middle school, and we don't really know from the data whether they're choosing Deal or Hardy over DCI. But the choice is there.

+1. People with good middle school options are choosing DCI and staying at DCI.

But I suspect OP, like many families, don’t have a good middle school option and hoping to get lucky in the lottery to get in as a non-feeder. That luck is going to diminish each and every year and the odds will be lower and lower as more feeder families track to DCI and more non-feeder families who get a spot take it .

This trend has been obvious the past few years. The school has been on an upward trajectory. If that surprises you, then you obviously have not been paying attention.

Also each year the number of families scrambling for middle school

I agree, the trend is for less non-feeder spots. However, the data doesn't tell us how many students gradate 5th at a DCI feeder and then *don't* attend DCI. That would be interesting to know. And I'm also not very clear (maybe someone else knows) on how many feeder spots end up not existing because the feeder didn't have a full 5th grade class. I.e. if someone leaves Mundo at 5th for whatever reason, and Mundo doesn't fill the spot so their 5th grade class doesn't consume their allotment of DCI seats even if everyone matriculates to DCI, do those un-used spots become available to other feeders, or are they non-feeder spots?

They're non-feeder spots according to the person I spoke with at My School DC, which goes to non-feeder kids and kids that didn't get a feeder preference spot. But I think it's pretty unrealistic to think that there would be so many empty seats that there would be any leftover once the expansion classes start to matriculate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so there's data on where people live and where they go to school. https://dme.dc.gov/page/sy2020-21-public-school-enrollments-dcps-boundary

I can see from this, for example, that of the 6th-8th grade students living IB for Deal, 81 attend DCI and 24 attend Oyster. DCI has 59 students who are zoned for JR ("Wilson" in this data set).

I can see that 10 students zoned for Bancroft attend Mundo-P St. And 12 zoned for Lafayette. LAMB has 12 students zoned for Bancroft. And these are just the schools that are sending 10 or more students.

So it absolutely is the case that some people do have a choice of more than one good middle school, and we don't really know from the data whether they're choosing Deal or Hardy over DCI. But the choice is there.

Independent of this discussion, the data you linked to is fascinating.

There was a thread about the data: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1110151.page

Data > what I heard from “my social circle” poster

Both posts are from me, and I find both topics interesting. The data doesn't report numbers less than 10, so we have to be aware of that gap-- if every JR feeder sent 9 kids to each DCI feeder, that would be a lot of kids in total, right? And 1:1 conversation is a way to fill that in. When someone I know opts out of DCI for BASIS, Latin, or whatever, I'm interested to hear their reasons even though it's anecdotal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so there's data on where people live and where they go to school. https://dme.dc.gov/page/sy2020-21-public-school-enrollments-dcps-boundary

I can see from this, for example, that of the 6th-8th grade students living IB for Deal, 81 attend DCI and 24 attend Oyster. DCI has 59 students who are zoned for JR ("Wilson" in this data set).

I can see that 10 students zoned for Bancroft attend Mundo-P St. And 12 zoned for Lafayette. LAMB has 12 students zoned for Bancroft. And these are just the schools that are sending 10 or more students.

So it absolutely is the case that some people do have a choice of more than one good middle school, and we don't really know from the data whether they're choosing Deal or Hardy over DCI. But the choice is there.

Independent of this discussion, the data you linked to is fascinating.

There was a thread about the data: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1110151.page

Data > what I heard from “my social circle” poster

Both posts are from me, and I find both topics interesting. The data doesn't report numbers less than 10, so we have to be aware of that gap-- if every JR feeder sent 9 kids to each DCI feeder, that would be a lot of kids in total, right? And 1:1 conversation is a way to fill that in. When someone I know opts out of DCI for BASIS, Latin, or whatever, I'm interested to hear their reasons even though it's anecdotal.

We live in-bounds for Bunker Hill and Brookland Middle but send our kids to a DCI feeder. It's absolutely nuts (statistically speaking) 1) how many different charter schools enroll kids from Bunker Hill/Brookland and 2) how many children stay out of Bunker Hill/Brookland for the DCI feeder/DCI path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

I suppose it's a policy decision, but if they don't fill with kids wanting to study French, their French program is pretty small. And remember, not all kids matriculating from Stokes are on grade level in French-- some of them may be new to Stokes in the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lots of middle schools in high demand have no seat. Or oyster 5th grade zero seats available but 75 of us are on the waitlist. It would helpful if prior to lottery schools publiczed their anticipated available seats.
DCI is great for the lucky few who get their 5 year old into a feeder. the rest of us stuck in DCPS bilingual only have macrfarland, which is not happening.

The majority of kids in DCPS got their seats simply because of their address. At least the DCI feeder structure provides equal opportunity to all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

Gosh I hope they’ll let kids stack the preferences. Right now we are miserable at a feeder (older kids happy at dci) but are afraid to leave and not get dci feeder preference. Icing on the cake would be not getting in dci despite everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:lots of middle schools in high demand have no seat. Or oyster 5th grade zero seats available but 75 of us are on the waitlist. It would helpful if prior to lottery schools publiczed their anticipated available seats.
DCI is great for the lucky few who get their 5 year old into a feeder. the rest of us stuck in DCPS bilingual only have macrfarland, which is not happening.

The majority of kids in DCPS got their seats simply because of their address. At least the DCI feeder structure provides equal opportunity to all.

+1. I would also add there also are families with other options like ours (move WOTP, private) who are choosing to track into DCI. Friends of DS with older siblings at the school and the families have been happy with their older child’s experiences so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would say DCI is becoming the Deal middle school EOTP although it’s not part of DCPS.

It has a critical mass of grade level and above grade level kids. It’s a big enough school but not too big, with the plus that it doesn’t have the overcrowding issue like Deal. It has great facilities, and a large offering of sports, clubs, and extracurriculars like Deal. It has an IB curriculum like Deal.

Your choices for middle schools EOTP are DCI, Latin, and Basis. We toured Latin and Basis and the facilities are sadly lacking and so are the sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. We are not even going to play the lottery for Latin or Basis although we have a high performing kid. I’m sure many feeder families like us have made similar decisions.

Of the 3 middle schools above, DCI is most similar to your typical suburban middle school with good academics, facilities, sports, and extracurriculars. We had that experience, and it’s what we want for our DS.

DCI has passed the point now where they have buy in from middle and UMC families. And as the overwhelming majority of families track to DCI, the cohort of kids will become stronger and stronger, because the cohort coming up the feeder schools are stronger than what they were just 3 or 5 years ago.

Non-feeder kids won’t have any chance.

Hello Booster. Do you mean that the Spanish feeders will be allowed to consume the extra French seats?

I’m not a booster. What above is not true about my post? We looked hard at Latin and Basis and passed.

As to your question, I don’t know. But what is stopping the school from doing that when the expansion years hit.

I was under the impression that they have to offer some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement. But you seem to be awfully positive about it-- funny because Mundo continues to be a mess, Stokes continues to lag academically, and Latin and BASIS continue to appeal to feeder families within my social circle.

I was also under the impression that they have to offers some non-feeder seats per their charter agreement and (presuming from) prior year lottery data, so I checked. Looks like we were wrong:

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/DCI-Restated-Agreement-2014_0.pdf

"3.2 Enrollment. A. Pursuant to §38-1802.01(c-1) of the Act, enrollment in DCI shall
be open to students in such grades who are residents of the District of Columbia, with priority
given to students who are matriculating from any one of the Member Schools (“Continuing
Member School Students”) in each case to the extent of the number of seats reserved for the
Continuing Students from each Member School. Students who are not residents of the District of
Columbia may be enrolled at DCI to the extent permitted by §38-1802.06 of the Act. DCI shall
determine whether each student resides in the District of Columbia according to guidelines
established by the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (“OSSE”)."


Their five year report advises them to expand enrollment in order to accomodate incoming sixth graders from member schools AND applicants who don't have the member school designation. But, as others have said, there's the question of space.

https://dcpcsb.org/sites/default/files/media/file/2019-2-28-DCI-5-Year-Review_Redacted_0.pdf

"The school has thus far been able to accommodate all students from all member schools
within its enrollment ceiling and has been able to provide appropriate facilities for
incoming students, in addition to having space to admit students applying from schools
other than the five member schools. However, most of the member schools have expanded
since the formation of DCI, and those that have not yet expanded have indicated they plan
to do so in the future. Most recently, E.W. Stokes PCS expanded to offer a campus in Ward
7, the first dual-language public charter school to operate East of the Anacostia River.
These expansions typically begin in lower grades, meaning that larger matriculating
classes can be foreseen in a few years. Therefore, it is likely that in the next several years,
DCI will need to expand its current program to be able to enroll all rising 6th graders from
its member schools and accept students from outside the member schools."

Then what DCI is likely going to do is if there are extra feeder seats not taken say from the French track, then the feeder kids from the Spanish track will have preference and get them and it won’t go to non-feeder kids.

Above is the obvious route as DCI was specifically created to provide a middle and high school path for the feeder school, they have a close working relationship with the feeder schools, and it’s to their benefit to have kids coming in who have had many years of the language.

No, feeder students don’t get first dibs on unfilled feeder starts from other schools. They go into the common waitlist with all of the non-preference kids. That’s current policy and not going to matter soon enough when all schools have more graduates than DCI seats. https://dcinternationalschool.org/about-us/faqs/

Wouldn't the feeder kids be on the top of the wait-list?

No, they would be ranked according to their master lottery number with everyone else. The preference only applies to the feeder school's seats. That's according to the My School DC rep - please call and confirm if you're curious. I would love to know if someone else gets the same answer that I did!

I called MSDC and asked (among other things) about whether sibling preference could be stacked with feeder preference and was told that DCI has not yet decided the answer to this question. Essentially, the language in the charter is ambiguous and DCI has never had to make a decision, and so while DCI is aware that they need to make a decision, the current answer is "we don't know whether students will be able to stack feeder preference with sibling preference."

The logic for stacking preferences really doesn't hold at the middle and high school level. Without a school bus system, it makes sense to prioritize having elementary siblings in one location. But by middle and high school, they can commute on their own and stacking preferences makes it much more inequitable for students that don't have an older sibling already. Stacking preferences means that kids with siblings are guaranteed a seat and everyone else has MUCH lower odds. How is that fair to the school community as a whole?