Experiences at Eaton?

[Anonymous]

If anyone is willing to share, I would love to hear about people’s recent experiences with Eaton (lower and upper elementary insights welcome)! My child lotteried in this year (we are out of bounds, EOTP) and we are weighing the pros and cons.

We’ve already considered the commute so I’m not as concerned about debating that bit. I would more like to hear about academics, overall community, and how other OOB families have felt there.

[Anonymous]

Congrats! We’re a long time Eaton family and absolutely love our little community. We are IB but the school has many OOB students who seem to be well integrated. My kids have had playdates and been to birthday parties at homes all over DC.

I’ve been very pleased with the schools academics, but my kids are neurotypical and don’t require any special services, so take that with a grain of salt. There is a strong music program with two music teachers. The building is newly renovated and is really beautiful! I’m sure the front office would be very happy to give you a tour, if you haven’t already been.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Congrats! We’re a long time Eaton family and absolutely love our little community. We are IB but the school has many OOB students who seem to be well integrated. My kids have had playdates and been to birthday parties at homes all over DC.

I’ve been very pleased with the schools academics, but my kids are neurotypical and don’t require any special services, so take that with a grain of salt. There is a strong music program with two music teachers. The building is newly renovated and is really beautiful! I’m sure the front office would be very happy to give you a tour, if you haven’t already been.

Thank you for all of this! Appreciate your thoughts. I'm going to set up a tour

Any other families here have experiences to share?

[Anonymous]

We are a former Eaton family. DC is currently at Hardy. We also lotteried in OOB and had a fantastic experience at Eaton. Heartily recommend!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a former Eaton family. DC is currently at Hardy. We also lotteried in OOB and had a fantastic experience at Eaton. Heartily recommend!

That’s great to hear! It seems like OOB families are welcomed into the community which is a huge plus and alleviates some of my worry

[Anonymous]

NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

Really? We have been at two other DCPS schools and I know the OB/IB status of everyone we know! Not bc I'm particularly nosy, but because we've been to their house, or because they told me "we lotteried in" and also because I know the school boundaries and can't unknow them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

I don’t know this info for everybody, obviously, but it does come up. Sometimes in conversation (“Larlo lotteried into the school in 1st grade.”) Or we get invited to a play date at a house/apartment outside of the school boundaries. If you don’t even vaguely know your schools boundaries, I suppose that won’t help you much.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter to me at all if my kids friends our IB or OOB. I’m just answering OPs question about Eaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

It's also pretty obvious based on when folks start. Obviously new IB families do start mid-stream, but that's when it's totally normal to ask "oh did you just move to the neighborhood" or whatever. Kids who start in PK are virtually always IB.

[Anonymous]

Have a bunch of friends whose kids go to Eaton and they all love it and have really positive things to say.

[Anonymous]

This is all very helpful, thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

Really? We have been at two other DCPS schools and I know the OB/IB status of everyone we know! Not bc I'm particularly nosy, but because we've been to their house, or because they told me "we lotteried in" and also because I know the school boundaries and can't unknow them.

Yes really I have no clue. How would you know the school boundaries that well? I really don’t know where my child’s school boundary cuts off and another school begins. And I know lots of families who live close to us and go to other schools nearby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP and honest question here- how do you know that kids at the school are OOB? I have no idea who at my kid’s school lives OOB and we are pretty active and social with other families. I don’t even know the physical boundaries of in-boundary at the school.

Really? We have been at two other DCPS schools and I know the OB/IB status of everyone we know! Not bc I'm particularly nosy, but because we've been to their house, or because they told me "we lotteried in" and also because I know the school boundaries and can't unknow them.

Yes really I have no clue. How would you know the school boundaries that well? I really don’t know where my child’s school boundary cuts off and another school begins. And I know lots of families who live close to us and go to other schools nearby.

As a potential OOB parent, I'm not really worried about people sussing out OOB/IB status -- not trying to hide that. But when considering joining a public school from a different neighborhood, I'd be curious if there is an open culture of trekking kids to playdates based on students' friendships v. most social gatherings being set up by parents in the neighborhood who are already friends, etc.

Looking at the recent thread on Lafayette, seems like that school *might* be harder to navigate as an OOB family than Eaton (based on an incredibly small sample size of posts, so all taken with a grain of salt).

Also, there have definitely been some DCUM threads in the past where people seemed resistant to OOB seats being offered at WOTP schools. I assume the negative feelings about that are not pinned to the OOB families who gain entrance through the lottery but are instead focused on the city government, but you never know!