Pre-k 3 Lottery: Parent Insight

[Anonymous]

With the lottery ending on March 3, I’m finalizing my list for the upcoming school year. So far, I have the following schools on my list: Apple Tree Waterfront, Apple Tree Southwest, Global Citizens (Spanish & Mandarin), Lee Montessori, Mundo Verde, and Stokes.

Before making my final decision, I’d love to hear from parents whose children attend any of these schools. Any insights or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Don't have experience at any of those schools. But if you are interested in immersion programs you should add Chisolm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't have experience at any of those schools. But if you are interested in immersion programs you should add Chisolm.

Definitely am going to check them out!

[Anonymous]

We sent DC to Lee. It's a good school. DC is engaged and happy and always looks forward to it. DC's self-confidence and independence is much higher than it was. Lee does not do well with the testing, but that's a function of how hardcore they are on Montessori, not so much on how good the school is. I would make sure you're on board with the Montessori method. If you're not, it will be a long, hard road.

We almost sent DC to AppleTree SW - it's a happy school that does an excellent job of what it sets out to do: prep kids for kindergarten. The curriculum is thorough, and I was very impressed by the staff. The main drawback is that we would have had to go through the lottery again in two years. GC was also on our list, and the staff was stellar.

[Anonymous]

What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

[Anonymous]

Why not Amidon Bowen if those Appletrees work for you. Their PK is great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sent DC to Lee. It's a good school. DC is engaged and happy and always looks forward to it. DC's self-confidence and independence is much higher than it was. Lee does not do well with the testing, but that's a function of how hardcore they are on Montessori, not so much on how good the school is. I would make sure you're on board with the Montessori method. If you're not, it will be a long, hard road.

We almost sent DC to AppleTree SW - it's a happy school that does an excellent job of what it sets out to do: prep kids for kindergarten. The curriculum is thorough, and I was very impressed by the staff. The main drawback is that we would have had to go through the lottery again in two years. GC was also on our list, and the staff was stellar.

I think I’m leaning more towards GC because it’s across the street from my job. Can you provide more details on your experience with them? I have an open house scheduled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

Abidon-Bowen is my IB. I assumed that since it was my IB that I automatically could attend. Is that not true?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

Abidon-Bowen is my IB. I assumed that since it was my IB that I automatically could attend. Is that not true?

Oh my goodness. Put it on your list right now. You need a lottery spot for PK -- you'll get in automatically for kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

Abidon-Bowen is my IB. I assumed that since it was my IB that I automatically could attend. Is that not true?

Oh my goodness. Put it on your list right now. You need a lottery spot for PK -- you'll get in automatically for kindergarten.

Doing that now. Thank you for letting me know!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

Abidon-Bowen is my IB. I assumed that since it was my IB that I automatically could attend. Is that not true?

Oh my goodness. Put it on your list right now. You need a lottery spot for PK -- you'll get in automatically for kindergarten.

Doing that now. Thank you for letting me know!

Southwest neighbor: Someone on the other Amidon thread mentioned that Amidon will be in a swing space in Columbia Heights. It will be 2027-2029. So if you get in for PK3, you'd only have to worry about that once K comes around, but just be aware.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is your IB? Why isn't it on your list (even in spot #12)? Where are you located? I recommend commute being a key factor.

Abidon-Bowen is my IB. I assumed that since it was my IB that I automatically could attend. Is that not true?

Oh my goodness. Put it on your list right now. You need a lottery spot for PK -- you'll get in automatically for kindergarten.

Doing that now. Thank you for letting me know!

Southwest neighbor: Someone on the other Amidon thread mentioned that Amidon will be in a swing space in Columbia Heights. It will be 2027-2029. So if you get in for PK3, you'd only have to worry about that once K comes around, but just be aware.

Columbia Heights? Wow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We sent DC to Lee. It's a good school. DC is engaged and happy and always looks forward to it. DC's self-confidence and independence is much higher than it was. Lee does not do well with the testing, but that's a function of how hardcore they are on Montessori, not so much on how good the school is. I would make sure you're on board with the Montessori method. If you're not, it will be a long, hard road.

We almost sent DC to AppleTree SW - it's a happy school that does an excellent job of what it sets out to do: prep kids for kindergarten. The curriculum is thorough, and I was very impressed by the staff. The main drawback is that we would have had to go through the lottery again in two years. GC was also on our list, and the staff was stellar.

I think I’m leaning more towards GC because it’s across the street from my job. Can you provide more details on your experience with them? I have an open house scheduled.

The staff are awesome - they have a clear idea of where they want to take the school. They know that school’s operations very well. They’re open to both questions and feedback. My understanding is that they want to move the school to a site nearish to the McDonald’s on MN Ave, but if you work for DOES then it’ll still be a great location for you. We decided against GC mainly because language immersion ended up being less important to us than when we started the process. Had we decided that language immersion was highly important to us, GC would have been at the top of our list.