Good schools EoTP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

That's more Banneker than Walls. They are accustomed to kids coming in from private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Personally, I am a big fan of being somewhere for ES where there is a guaranteed acceptable path through HS. (We did the Hill for the older - many years ago- and NW for the younger 2 and I wish we would have moved to NW sooner than we did). Especially if private school is not in the plans/budget. But even in NW, the band breaks up. Kids peel off for privates. So I really don't think there is anywhere in DC where you can get that experience that you would get in a small town where everyone goes through the same schools together. People just leave for different reasons in different parts of the city. And really like PPs have said, it is ok. Perhaps less traumatic to a kid here than elsewhere because it is so much the norm. (And prepares them well for future changes where they have to make new friends such as college). Agree that the friendships made in ES remain strong even if kids are at different schools, as long as their houses are still relatively geographically convenient.

But if you're on the Hill and move, generally you're gone forever. People move to MoCo, NOVA, NW ... those friendships don't stay. If you don't care, you don't care. But it's a pretty big deal when you're facing it.

Well for those of us EOTP, we already go to Ward 3 and MoCo for activities and outings. It’s not all or nothing for many of us.

you do? That’s weird…

Well for the families that lotteried into Wilson feeders, it makes sense. As a Ward 3 family, I'll be honest, we barely cross 14th street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

That's more Banneker than Walls. They are accustomed to kids coming in from private schools.

Sounds like you haven’t heard the plan for better ward representation at Walls so if you are in ward 3 or 6, your chances are lower.

You will be further dinged coming from a private school because you have the means to send your kid somewhere else. Equity is here to stay in DCPS weather you like it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense that your kid will be with "much higher performing peers all the way thru elementary" if you move from DC to a suburban school rather than EotP, other than perhaps in the case of super-duper test-in GT programs in MoCo and Fairfax for 4th and 5th grades (very hard to crack). Total BS where Brent, Maury, SWS and even Ludlow Taylor, Tyler Spanish Immersion and Watkins are concerned. My kids have not been short on seriously high-performing peers in DCPS EotP all the way through elementary, UMC kids who do math two grade levels ahead and read all the Harry Potter books in 2nd or 3rd grade.

We looked at public elementary schools in MoCo and Northern VA where at-risk percentages were higher, sometimes a lot higher, than at our DCPS ES EotP. In these suburban schools, we saw classes where a single teacher taught as many as 30 kids. We've never had more than around 23 students in any DCPS ES class for our kids, generally with two teachers in the room at least half the day. Just not worth moving to the burbs for ES anymore.

Ok ... but your kids will get older, and they will have to go to MS, and all your "high performing peers" in elementary school will go to Basis, Latin, or move to NW or MoCo.

NP but I don’t think MoCo schools have the same shine they used to for DCPS parents. The schools just aren’t that impressive, it’s the SES of those schools that makes them still have the reputation they have.

Get back to me when the alternative is your IB MS with the majority of kids score 1s and 2s on PARCC! Then we'll see what kind of shine MoCo has.

I don't deny that staying in your "wonderful Title I EOTP elementary" is appealing; we certainly did it. But I'm now exactly in the situation you are brushing off as NBD and I'm here to tell you that it actually is a big deal. I'm not sure if I would have changed our decisions, but it is a really big deal to have to move when your kid is in MS.

The thing about it, though, is that a lot of people move. It's not like if we had stayed at our IB, all of DD's friends would be there too. All of her friends were leaving. Some of them went with her to the new school. I'm not saying it's a small school, but I'd look at it as if you attended a school that didn't have a specific middle school feeder. You just have to accept that the band is breaking up.

Right. The point is - if you move to a neighborhood where the kids go to their IB MS and HS, then more of a chance of continuing friendships and less disruption.

Not convinced. Suburban neighborhoods are much more spread out than ours, Capitol Hill. It seems to me that one's chances of keeping in-boundary DCPS ES friendships going are good in a high-density area if you make the effort. My middle school students' ES friends mostly still live a short walk from us. Their DCPS pals may have scattered to the four breezes for middle school, but we still see their closest friends from PS3-5th grade regularly, e.g. at Girl Scout meetings, parks, our church, block parties etc. We take care of their families' pets and plants when people go on vacation. One day, I feel like we'll be glad that we stayed. When our kids are in their 20s our lively, walkable neighborhood will surely be more of a draw to them than some staid suburb would have been. Maybe our kids will actually bother to come home to see Mom and Dad.

By that standard the best neighborhoods are Glover Park and Mt Pleasant.

[Anonymous]

By the time hill kids are in late ES or MS their families are venturing into ward 3 and the burbs a lot. There is less of a need for ward 3 families to to the reverse. Ward 6 has built up an infrastructure for young families but has less for older kids. Schools, sports, the arts, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

Okay, so you bought on the Hill 20 or more years ago then? How old are your kids!

Most people with elementary aged kids on the Hill bought 10 years ago or less, because most of us didn't buy a house at the age of 22. No one is getting even an 800 sq ft 2/1 on the Hill these days for less than 600k, so unless you have some kind of windfall that enables you to put down more than 50%, you'll be paying a lot more on your mortgage than $1k.

It's easy to say "schools aren't the be all and end all for us" when your kids are mostly grown and your house costs less than a lot of people spend on groceries.

And I say this as someone who lives on the Hill. Please shut up.

I'll shut up if you stop whining. Sorry that you only bought 10 years ago.

Getting back to the point here … someone with a toddler deciding where to live in DC is not in the position to have bought a house 20 years ago on the Hill …

This. People are getting defensive about where they live and therefore ignoring obvious downsides. Sure, Capitol Hill is great if you managed to buy before the prices skyrocketed. But in that case, you've already decided that's where your' going to live. Most people don't have that chance.

We are a Capitol Hill family in a condo and like the elementary schools and the neighborhood, but are not fully committed to staying longterm because no way is our kid going to Eastern (sorry, it's just not going to happen), plus I increasingly think the odds that we can eventually move into a row home get slimmer every year because of prices. Together, those things make it likely that we will move by the time DC hits middle school. It's not about disliking the neighborhood, which we really love, but given the cost of living here, we need a viable high school option. Maybe we'll get lucky in the lottery and find the commute to a school like Latin okay. But if not, we'll move. I'm not sacrificing my kid's high school education for a cool neighborhood. There are other cool neighborhoods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

“socially and spiritually” giant eyeroll.

You sound very jealous of parents in a position to make their lives on the Hill and stay there. Lots of that sentiment to go around on this thread. Fact is, plenty of the newcomers to the Hill these days have the dough for private middle school and high school. That's what people who buy 1.5 to 2 million $ houses do.

[Anonymous]

Except $$ is not the only barrier to private. There are also logistics. Not many private options on the hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the time hill kids are in late ES or MS their families are venturing into ward 3 and the burbs a lot. There is less of a need for ward 3 families to to the reverse. Ward 6 has built up an infrastructure for young families but has less for older kids. Schools, sports, the arts, etc.

Why would I go to Ward 3 except to go to the zoo once a year? I live on the Hill for a reason. We did send our DS to a camp in W3 but it was such a pain to get to, will not do it again. We tried the Wilson Aquatic Center once, but honestly prefer Deanwood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

That's more Banneker than Walls. They are accustomed to kids coming in from private schools.

Sounds like you haven’t heard the plan for better ward representation at Walls so if you are in ward 3 or 6, your chances are lower.

You will be further dinged coming from a private school because you have the means to send your kid somewhere else. Equity is here to stay in DCPS weather you like it or not.

I'm aware but just went thru the process. So I'm speaking from first hand experience. We are coming from a private school. I'll let you guess which of the two didn't contact us at all which is akin to "denied".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

Why not just move to Arlington in the good school pyramid, save 11k a year for college, have a bigger space, and your kid doesn’t have to deal with commuting, and can easily take the school bus. Not to mention dealing with after school activities and what leave at rush hour which is even worst.

Then what are you going to do if kid doesn’t get into high school? Continue paying for private and dealing with the commute. You just easily paid for 4 years of college in addition to putting unnecessary stress on you and your kid. Plus parochial schools are not even that good.
L

. We’ve both been on the Hill for more than 25 years. We pay less than $1,000/month on a mortgage to live in a 5 bedroom house we renovated from a brick shell, putting in huge sweat equity in as we went. We live a short walk from Metro stations serving 4 lines. Our closest friends are here. We love our church of 15 years. Schools aren’t the be and end all for us. Our children don’t want to move any more than their parents do. Our commute to school is en route to my office in VA and takes just 15-20 mins. We’re prepared to sacrifice to stay home, where we belong. For those who aren’t dug in on the Hill socially and spiritually, moving makes much better sense.

“socially and spiritually” giant eyeroll.

You sound very jealous of parents in a position to make their lives on the Hill and stay there. Lots of that sentiment to go around on this thread. Fact is, plenty of the newcomers to the Hill these days have the dough for private middle school and high school. That's what people who buy 1.5 to 2 million $ houses do.

Ok great! OP - if you have the dough, come by my broke down house on the Hill for 1.5 mil and send your kids to private MS. I wholeheartedly agree on that plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do have feeder rights. That’s the whole point.

Correct, today.

They have feeder rights because they were admitted OOB in the lottery. That does not apply to kids who enroll IB and then move OOB. And, I repeat, that is the policy TODAY under the 22-23 policy handbook. That policy is subject to change. While I think it unlikely that political will can ever exist to make that change, it is in theory possible so you aren't 100% set through HS just because your kid matched OOB in K.

I would note that in the last 5-10 years the rules on this have changed. It used to be principal's discretion whether kids could continue through terminal year and it is non-discretionary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

The interviewers don’t ask where kids go to middle school and the kids don’t usually offer up the info so that actually isn’t a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not unusual for Capitol Hill families who stay after elementary to go with affordable parochial middle schools in DC and Arlington. That's been true for decades.

We're not Catholic but we're fine with a good parochial middle school in Arlington enrolling many non Catholics that runs us 11K/year. We carpool with 2 other Hill families. Everybody in the car pool is hoping that our children will test into Walls or Banneker eventually.

There is no longer testing into Walls and Banneker. It’s GPA then interview for Walls.

Yes and your chances of getting in are likely going to be much lower not even going to a public/charter school in DC for middle.

+1

The change to the admissions process favors DCPS’ ‘leniant’ grading policies.

It’s more than that. They will know in the interview and from grades that PP did not invest in DC schools so why should those competitive spots go to her and not a family who did.

The admissions policy now is subjective and you can bet there is going to be bias and opaque.

That's more Banneker than Walls. They are accustomed to kids coming in from private schools.

Sounds like you haven’t heard the plan for better ward representation at Walls so if you are in ward 3 or 6, your chances are lower.

You will be further dinged coming from a private school because you have the means to send your kid somewhere else. Equity is here to stay in DCPS weather you like it or not.

Weather!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the time hill kids are in late ES or MS their families are venturing into ward 3 and the burbs a lot. There is less of a need for ward 3 families to to the reverse. Ward 6 has built up an infrastructure for young families but has less for older kids. Schools, sports, the arts, etc.

We are bound for DCI and no need to go anywhere. Lots of clubs, extracurriculars, and sports. Just pick up after the above or kid can take public transportation home. Easy, just like the bigger schools in the burbs with similar offerings.