Opinion on: Relocating to DC with a rising PK4 and 2 y/o

[Anonymous]

We are planning on relocating to DC in August from TX with a rising PK4 and a 2 y/o who will be eligible for PK3 in 2027. We are currently sub 10 on the waitlist for MV Cook and hoping for a spot by the time we need to prove residency in August. We plan on renting for the first year while we figure out what neighborhoods we like. To avoid downsizing significantly, our budget for renting and buying would keep us east of the park. My question is, would it be worth downsizing to a 2 bed apartment in a Deal/Jackson Reed feeder for a year to transfer our rising K and and have IB/sibling preference for PK3? We've never been super lucky people, so having a solid feeder from the start seems ideal. DCI not being guaranteed is stressful, but so is a guaranteed commute. This year seems like the best time to do it, before my youngest enters PK3 and while my kids are small enough to share a room.

[Anonymous]

If you get a call from the waiting list before you will have days or weeks to prove residency, so I don't know that mv is going to work out for you.

If you plan to move to a JR feeder (other than Bancroft or Oyster) I don't know that it makes sense to put one kid in bilingual school for a year of pk anyway, with kids who are mostly either native Spanish speakers or who already did a year of bilingual preschool. But perhaps your kid already speaks Spanish, in which case it could make sense.

[Anonymous]

If you live in bounds for a Jackson-Reed feeder for your older kid's kindergarten year and then move out, your younger kid will have sibling but not in bounds preference by the time your younger child enters pk4. The only j-r feeders that have pk3 are shepherd and Bancroft, so you would need to focus on those (and I am not sure all in bounds sibs will get pk3 spots, especially at Bancroft where language preference is higher) or stay til your kids are in 1st and pk4 (and even then you might not get a space... could be until 2nd and k). Even then, dcps policy is that if you move oob you are only entitled to stay in your school until the terminal grade; you don't have feeder rights to the destination middle and high school. That isn't well enforced now but you should not expect to spend a year in bounds with a kindergartener and get them through 12th grade and a younger kid pk3-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you get a call from the waiting list before you will have days or weeks to prove residency, so I don't know that mv is going to work out for you.

If you plan to move to a JR feeder (other than Bancroft or Oyster) I don't know that it makes sense to put one kid in bilingual school for a year of pk anyway, with kids who are mostly either native Spanish speakers or who already did a year of bilingual preschool. But perhaps your kid already speaks Spanish, in which case it could make sense.

Our kids go to a Spanish immersion daycare in TX with 90% native Spanish speakers which is why MV seems like a good fit. We fully understand that we may get offered a spot before August and then we'll have to figure out alternate plans. When I talked to DCPS, the best approach was to hope for an August WL offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you live in bounds for a Jackson-Reed feeder for your older kid's kindergarten year and then move out, your younger kid will have sibling but not in bounds preference by the time your younger child enters pk4. The only j-r feeders that have pk3 are shepherd and Bancroft, so you would need to focus on those (and I am not sure all in bounds sibs will get pk3 spots, especially at Bancroft where language preference is higher) or stay til your kids are in 1st and pk4 (and even then you might not get a space... could be until 2nd and k). Even then, dcps policy is that if you move oob you are only entitled to stay in your school until the terminal grade; you don't have feeder rights to the destination middle and high school. That isn't well enforced now but you should not expect to spend a year in bounds with a kindergartener and get them through 12th grade and a younger kid pk3-12.

This is exactly the insight I needed. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you get a call from the waiting list before you will have days or weeks to prove residency, so I don't know that mv is going to work out for you.

If you plan to move to a JR feeder (other than Bancroft or Oyster) I don't know that it makes sense to put one kid in bilingual school for a year of pk anyway, with kids who are mostly either native Spanish speakers or who already did a year of bilingual preschool. But perhaps your kid already speaks Spanish, in which case it could make sense.

Our kids go to a Spanish immersion daycare in TX with 90% native Spanish speakers which is why MV seems like a good fit. We fully understand that we may get offered a spot before August and then we'll have to figure out alternate plans. When I talked to DCPS, the best approach was to hope for an August WL offer.

I think you should look to rent in the Oyster Adams zone, so you have Spanish and a JR feed.

[Anonymous]

Can you rent in Woodley Park and do IB for oyster? That’s what I would do. Great community and a lovely place to live.

[Anonymous]

Just know that oyster doesn't have pk3 and you aren't guaranteed a slot for pk4, even if in bounds and/or with a sibling. And if you move out of the boundary, DC policy is that you don't have a right to Jackson Reed. Not sure if it will be enforced a decade from now. Also not sure how it works with the shift from oyster to Adams if you live out of bounds then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just know that oyster doesn't have pk3 and you aren't guaranteed a slot for pk4, even if in bounds and/or with a sibling. And if you move out of the boundary, DC policy is that you don't have a right to Jackson Reed. Not sure if it will be enforced a decade from now. Also not sure how it works with the shift from oyster to Adams if you live out of bounds then.

They currently don’t keep track of how you entered a school. If you lottery in, you continue to JR, but if you are IB and then move out you don’t. But they don’t know how you entered after the first year so they don’t enforce it.

[Anonymous]

what is your housing budget and what area of tx are you moving from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are planning on relocating to DC in August from TX with a rising PK4 and a 2 y/o who will be eligible for PK3 in 2027. We are currently sub 10 on the waitlist for MV Cook and hoping for a spot by the time we need to prove residency in August. We plan on renting for the first year while we figure out what neighborhoods we like. To avoid downsizing significantly, our budget for renting and buying would keep us east of the park. My question is, would it be worth downsizing to a 2 bed apartment in a Deal/Jackson Reed feeder for a year to transfer our rising K and and have IB/sibling preference for PK3? We've never been super lucky people, so having a solid feeder from the start seems ideal. DCI not being guaranteed is stressful, but so is a guaranteed commute. This year seems like the best time to do it, before my youngest enters PK3 and while my kids are small enough to share a room.

You need to prove residency as soon as you are called off the waitlist. You get about 7 days, and then your spot is gone. So August is too late. Note that the inbound DCPS elementary schools west of Rock Creek Park generally do not have PreK3. DCI is not guaranteed for Mundo Verde, but pretty much everyone who has wanted to get in from a feeder school has gotten in so far.

[Anonymous]

You can also look into immersion programs in nearby suburbs, like rock Creek forest elementary in Montgomery county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can also look into immersion programs in nearby suburbs, like rock Creek forest elementary in Montgomery county.

Arlington and Alexandria also have immersion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can also look into immersion programs in nearby suburbs, like rock Creek forest elementary in Montgomery county.

The full immersion programs are lotteries which closed April 10 and also required you to enroll in your home school and prove residency. Then you enter the lottery with your student ID number.

There are some bilingual schools that are not special programs but are school wide, like Oakland Terrace, you just need to live in the boundary.

[Anonymous]

You will likely get offered a spot in May. I myself have a prk4 spot that I'm probably turning down. That list moves so be prepared.