Sibling preference question

[Anonymous]

My PK3 son was offered a spot at his in-bound school. We have a kindergartener who is currently in the same school (which gave the younger one a sibling and in-bound preference), but may take up a spot at another school (another DCPS or private). Can my PK3 child keep his spot? Supposing that in-bound preference was not enough to secure his spot, would the school “take back” his spot after enrollment? Thank you for your advice!

[Anonymous]

Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

How do you tell of your child was matched because of inbound or sibling preference?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

This question comes up a lot, and yes sometimes the school does "take back" the spot. But not always, so you might get lucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

How do you tell of your child was matched because of inbound or sibling preference?

The preferences are stacked, with in-bound + sibling being given a higher preference that just in-bound (and both of those higher than just sibling). Is this a school that generally doesn't have space for all incoming in-bound students? You may find yourself out of luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for your advice. We will continue debating what we’d do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone for your advice. We will continue debating what we’d do.

A few things to look at -
how many IB are on the waitlist? Would you get in without the sibling enrolled priority anyway? Or is it a school that typically has a waitlist of siblings?

if you are moving your child to another DCPS/DCPCS, your neighborhood school will know very quickly that you are taking advantage of the sibling priority that no longer exists. It is easier for the school to "adjust" this in the next month and myschooldc adjust your child to where they would have been if there was no sibling priority.

If you are moving to private - you can re-enroll your child and then tell the school in August that you decided to go private. At that point in time - I would highly doubt they would modify the enrollment.

[Anonymous]

enroll the prek3 child. you presumably also could have gotten in as an in-bound non-sibling. sending the other child elsewhere is not something you were fully able to plan on. therefore nothing is likely to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

This. Once you register the younger one they can’t pull back the offer. Getting the sequence right is critical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

This. Once you register the younger one they can’t pull back the offer. Getting the sequence right is critical.

I don't think this is correct. I remember a thread from last year where a family did this and the school unenrolled the younger kid. Tread carefully, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

This. Once you register the younger one they can’t pull back the offer. Getting the sequence right is critical.

Yes they can - and they have.
You do not get sibling enrolled priority if the sibling is no longer enrolled. That is why there is a master #

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, he will only be able to keep his spot if he would have gotten the spot without the preference. The school will definitely take it back.

I dont think so. Register the PK kiddo, then pull the older one.

This!

[Anonymous]

Depends on the school. You can call MSDC to ask (they are incredibly helpful) but your younger child CAN be unenrolled if your older child left. What sort of numbers does your younger child have at other schools? That should give you a sense of whether they would have gotten that spot without the sibling preference.

See here - https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/556117.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends on the school. You can call MSDC to ask (they are incredibly helpful) but your younger child CAN be unenrolled if your older child left. What sort of numbers does your younger child have at other schools? That should give you a sense of whether they would have gotten that spot without the sibling preference.

See here - https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/556117.page

Man, the story in that thread is a bummer.

I understand we don't want people to game the system, but if it's the week before school starts, both your kids are enrolled in a school, and then one kid gets off a wait list, that should not impact the other kid. That isn't gaming the system, that's just... life. And in that story, this all happened a WEEK before school started? Come on.

The problem with booting the other kid out of his enrolled school is that he's missed his chance at all the schools lower on the list. Heck, he lost his spot at whatever school he was in the year before, since he already enrolled at the new school! Once a kid is enrolled at a school, he should not be removed because of a change in sibling preference. The only way to do that that would be fair would be offer that kid a slot at whatever school he would have gotten into without sibling preference... say it would have been his #5 or #6 choice school. But in order to do that, you'd need to boot a different kid out of that school! No fair. Just let the kid stay in if he's already enrolled.

I don't rule the world, but if I did, that's what I'd do.