Watkins or Maury?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I'm an Air Force family relocating to DC. My child initially secured a spot at Watkins through military preference, but we've recently been offered a spot at Maury off the waitlist. As newcomers to DC schools, we're seeking advice. For a rising 1st grader, which school would you recommend and why? We're open to insights about both Watkins and Maury.

[Anonymous]

Where are you living? Maury has many families from the immediate neighborhood attending the school, while Watkins has more families from other neighborhoods attending. Are you at Bolling Air Force Base? I believe there is a contingent of people there who go to Watkins so your child may like that?

[Anonymous]

Moving to JBAB next month.

[Anonymous]

Maury. This is based on the fact that you dont actually live in either boundary and your child is new to DC schools.

[Anonymous]

The only military preference is for Learn DC: https://www.myschooldc.org/faq/key-terms#preference

If you will still be here for middle school, Watkins feeds to Stuart-Hobson and is further along the gentrification path. But Maury has higher test scores and a wealthier population for elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only military preference is for Learn DC: https://www.myschooldc.org/faq/key-terms#preference

If you will still be here for middle school, Watkins feeds to Stuart-Hobson and is further along the gentrification path. But Maury has higher test scores and a wealthier population for elementary.

*Stuart-Hobson is further along the gentrification path than the destination middle school for Maury (Eliot-Hine).
Maury also has a considerably larger student body than Watkins.
If you need before and after care, you should factor that in--availability and cost can vary quite a bit across DCPS elementaries!

[Anonymous]

Maury is the extremely easy answer to this question. Maury takes only a handful of OOB kids; Watkins clears its lists and is only like 30% IB. Test scores are much better at Maury. The only factor that even tilts the other way is middle school, but since you’re military, that might not even be relevant. And even then, I would put SH over EH now, but EH is definitely improving.

[Anonymous]

I live on the Hill, basically between these two IBs. My kids are ES age and attend another local school. Maury 10 times out of 10.

[Anonymous]

I would not give much weight to the middle school factor. The feeder middle schools are already pretty similar and which one is generally considered to be more highly thought of could change in 6 years. You might also lottery out for a different middle school option.

[Anonymous]

That’s not accurate. DC learn obviously has military preference because it’s located on JBAB. However, the military school liaison office is able to get active duty military families into dc schools with military preference through a back channel.

Anonymous wrote:The only military preference is for Learn DC: https://www.myschooldc.org/faq/key-terms#preference

If you will still be here for middle school, Watkins feeds to Stuart-Hobson and is further along the gentrification path. But Maury has higher test scores and a wealthier population for elementary.

[Anonymous]

It's not a back channel

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/enrollment-for-students-of-military-families#:~:text=For%20military%20families%20in%20need,%40k12.dc.gov.

[Anonymous]

We loved Maury and EH! There are always a handful of military families. If you can move to the neighborhood that will be much better for your kids because it’s very walkable and kids go back and forth to each other’s houses when they get old enough.

[Anonymous]

Have you used military placement into a DC school? We have a school liaison office who sole purpose is to connect military families with schools in DC.

Anonymous wrote:It's not a back channel

https://dcps.dc.gov/page/enrollment-for-students-of-military-families#:~:text=For%20military%20families%20in%20need,%40k12.dc.gov.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill, basically between these two IBs. My kids are ES age and attend another local school. Maury 10 times out of 10.

Exact same geographical situation here. The drive will be slightly more annoying to get over to Maury versus Watkins from JBAB but I think most people you poll who are in this area would go with Maury anyway. I think in some years there's been a JBAB shuttle to certain Hill schools, so perhaps not an issue, but I don't know the specifics. One other caveat is, as someone else mentioned, if you need before/aftercare. You'd want to check with Polite Piggies to see if they have space (it does fill up and usually quickly) or try to join another setup/enrichment/whatever. Someone at Maury would know better on where that stands. A big perk of Watkins is its contract with FLEX that doesn't cap enrollment. I also wouldn't put stock in middle school feeder patterns or scores right now as a lot can change before then, not just with the schools but also with where you live.

I know people can have very strong feelings on Hill elementary schools and where they would/wouldn't send their children. I think it's largely overblown and nitpicked -- they are all environments where kids can thrive, especially with parent support, which sounds like yours has. At the end of the day, I would probably pick Maury for my kid. The schools are equally convenient to us, Maury recently went through a modernization and we have a good network of friends there. But you really can't go wrong with Watkins, Maury, Payne, LT, Brent, Chisholm, JO, etc. It's a good problem to have, OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live on the Hill, basically between these two IBs. My kids are ES age and attend another local school. Maury 10 times out of 10.

Exact same geographical situation here. The drive will be slightly more annoying to get over to Maury versus Watkins from JBAB but I think most people you poll who are in this area would go with Maury anyway. I think in some years there's been a JBAB shuttle to certain Hill schools, so perhaps not an issue, but I don't know the specifics. One other caveat is, as someone else mentioned, if you need before/aftercare. You'd want to check with Polite Piggies to see if they have space (it does fill up and usually quickly) or try to join another setup/enrichment/whatever. Someone at Maury would know better on where that stands. A big perk of Watkins is its contract with FLEX that doesn't cap enrollment. I also wouldn't put stock in middle school feeder patterns or scores right now as a lot can change before then, not just with the schools but also with where you live.

I know people can have very strong feelings on Hill elementary schools and where they would/wouldn't send their children. I think it's largely overblown and nitpicked -- they are all environments where kids can thrive, especially with parent support, which sounds like yours has. At the end of the day, I would probably pick Maury for my kid. The schools are equally convenient to us, Maury recently went through a modernization and we have a good network of friends there. But you really can't go wrong with Watkins, Maury, Payne, LT, Brent, Chisholm, JO, etc. It's a good problem to have, OP!

FLEX is TERRIBLE. I was so happy when our school ditched it. It can do no cap enrollment because they were frequently out of compliance with required staffing minimums. I would choose Maury over Watkins in a heartbeat... but FLEX would be additional reason to do so.