Capitol Hill - middle school and beyond?
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Anonymous
| What’s your plan? Do you feel lien you can keep your kids in DCPS after elementary? |
Anonymous
|
We are IB for a less in demand ES and SH. We did ES at a charter. We know a number of families in our neighborhood who are at or were at SH and were happy. SH is also where a fair number of the 5th graders end up instead of going to the charter's MS. We kind of sort of considered SH as a "viable option" but I don't know how serious we were. We knee darn well Eastern and other HS were a hard "no". Had we not lucked out in the MS lottery we would probably have moved or looked at private schools. It just didn't make sense to tough it out at SH for 3 years only to have to move or go private anyway.
All of which sucks. |
Anonymous
| BASIS or bust. |
Anonymous
How old are your kids? Your plan depends on how close they are to MS. |
Anonymous
| There are 3 DCPS middle schools different in the Capitol Hill area. Each elementary school has an assigned feeder middle school. There are a lot of similarities but also some differences even between the 3 DCPS middle schools. A lot of people at CH elementary schools during spring of 4th grade participate in the school lottery for the Washington Latin (there are now two) and/or Basis charter schools. Have a 4th grader now and still unsure what we are doing. |
Anonymous
| Inspired Teaching, especially if you live in the Senate side. |
Anonymous
| I guess technically there are 4 DCPS middle schools in the Capitol Hill area: Stuart Hobson, Elliot Hine, Jefferson (in SW), and Capitol Hill Montessori School (a K-8). Then there are charter schools (WL and Basis are both grades 5-12). |
Anonymous
| HS: most people have significant reservations about Eastern. But DCPS has some application high schools. Then there are charter and private hs options. However, it is difficult to impossible to lottery into Latin or Basis for HS if you do not go there for 5th. This further complicates things for some people. |
Anonymous
| Latin takes a few kids for 9th. It's only BASIS that won't. |
Anonymous
But you can try for Banneker and SWW, and I know others who have gone to McKinley Tech and Duke Ellington. |
Anonymous
+1 We got lucky. So our kid is at BASIS. Otherwise we would have moved. |
Anonymous
|
We are moving. We waffled the first few years of elementary because we like the neighborhood and our ES. And we've done the dance with "well SH seems okay, maybe we can put it off."
But then one morning I woke up and decided: I don't want to do this anymore. We are moving after this year ends. Our primary goal in where we end up is solid ES-MS-HS situation, no surprises. I think we have lower standards for what that means than many in this area, but higher than Eastern. We want honors tracking, foreign language, good IB or AP offerings, and a solid extracurricular program. I don't need my kids to go to "the best" high school. I didn't. But I want them to have options, whether they are high achievers or just middle of the road. We are also excited about more space (a yard!), better in state college options, and hopefully a slightly slower paced neighborhood with less crime and general angst. We'll miss the walkability and great transit options, and some of our neighbors |
Anonymous
| We were at SWS and just started SH. We decided to give a try and see how it goes. I’ve met a student who went to Basis last year and switched to SH. We didn’t even consider Basis as I know this school is not for everyone. |
Anonymous
| Have lived on the hill a decade now with no plans to leave - DH is obsessed with being in the city and we can't afford upper NW so for the foreseeable future we plan to stay in our townhouse. Both kids are in a DCI feeder school so we are putting all our eggs in the DCI basket. Will try for one of the Latin campuses in 6th if we don't get into DCI. |
Anonymous
| Don't you have preference if you're in a DCI feeder? Have there actually been people in feeder schools shut out of DCI? |