What school are we likely to get PK3- Cap Hill edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

Langley fills up its PK3, they can't add another class. Preschool rooms are subject to Head Start regs and there are a lot of rules about things like square footage and being on the ground floor. You can't use just any room in the building.

If DCPS were willing to use part of the Emery building as a stand-alone preschool that would help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.

CHML is not a charter. It is a DCPS school with no IB preference.

While this is true, CHML operates like a charter for purposes of the lottery. If you actually go there it's important to understand that it's an all-city DCPS. But in terms of the lottery, it is best to think of it like a charter because it helps you organize your thinking about where you are likely to get in or how waitlists might move. Because no IB preference, CHML should be grouped with charters for lottery purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

Langley fills up its PK3, they can't add another class. Preschool rooms are subject to Head Start regs and there are a lot of rules about things like square footage and being on the ground floor. You can't use just any room in the building.

If DCPS were willing to use part of the Emery building as a stand-alone preschool that would help.

+1

They are also required to have bathrooms adjacent to the room and I think these bathrooms are required to be age appropriate (either outfitted with child-height plumbing or safely adapted for preschoolers). Schools can't just magic up a PK classroom on a whim.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any intel on the other number of classes for PK3 around the hill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

Langley fills up its PK3, they can't add another class. Preschool rooms are subject to Head Start regs and there are a lot of rules about things like square footage and being on the ground floor. You can't use just any room in the building.

If DCPS were willing to use part of the Emery building as a stand-alone preschool that would help.

+1

They are also required to have bathrooms adjacent to the room and I think these bathrooms are required to be age appropriate (either outfitted with child-height plumbing or safely adapted for preschoolers). Schools can't just magic up a PK classroom on a whim.

Yes. Tiny toilets can be obtained, but the ground floor space can be a very hard and expensive problem to solve. Sometimes schools move administrative functions to the second floor to free up some space.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar list a few years ago and only got into Appletree Oklahoma. My child had an excellent experience there.

[Anonymous]

I’m hesitant to consider AT OK due to location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So here is what people need to understand about doing a PK3 lottery on Capital Hill: your options are IB, charters, and a handful of less in-demand DCPS schools.

You will never, ever get into the following schools OOB/no sibling for PK3: Brent, Maury, Peabody, Ludlow-Taylor. Ever. There is not point in putting them down. I understand why people do, but you need to understand when you do that you could pull a lottery number of #1 and still not get into those schools because they have more IB kids than they can accommodate for PK. The end.

The charters are what they are. If your number is good, you stand a chance at ATLP, SWS, CHML. Due to the small class size for PK3 at ATLP, CHML is your most likely. They also often have a fast moving waitlist because their PK classes are large plus the mixed-age Montessori style means that they can sometimes offer a PK3 spot if the lose a PK4 or K kid. But still a long shot if you don't get a good lottery draw.

Payne, Tyler, and Miner: you stand a good shot of getting spots at one of these with a middling lottery draw. It can vary a lot year to year though -- you just never know how many IB kids they will have and then it depends on what their lottery draws are. For Miner, for instance, a lot of IB parents play the lottery for charters. If it's a year where a lot of IB parents get lucky at lotteries, you will almost certainly get a spot via the lottery. But if it goes the other way, you will wind up on the waitlist (with a very good spot at getting in of WL for the same reason -- Miner parents are very motivated to find spots at an alternative school because Miner still does not have good buy-in for upper grades from their IB families). But they have a great PK program. I assume Payne and Tyler are similar if a bit more challenging.

I expect your lottery assignment will be AT OK, if I had to guess. You will definitely get in there off the WL otherwise -- they always have spots in June and August because it's a lot of people's backups choice.

Agree with everything this poster said (especially about not putting schools that you have no shot of getting into), except you will not get into SWS with a good number. SWS is harder to get into than Maury, so if your number isn't good enough for Maury with no sibling, it's definitely not going to be good enough for SWS.

My guess is if you have a decent to great number, I think you're going to Cap Hill Montessori. If you have a not great number, you're going to Oklahoma Ave.

Also, this is the site people keep referencing: https://enrolldcps.dc.gov/node/61

[Anonymous]

Why is SWS harder than Maury? Is it due to being city wide, or are they anticipating a lot of siblings?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

Langley fills up its PK3, they can't add another class. Preschool rooms are subject to Head Start regs and there are a lot of rules about things like square footage and being on the ground floor. You can't use just any room in the building.

If DCPS were willing to use part of the Emery building as a stand-alone preschool that would help.

DCPS only has Head Start at a handful of schools this year. Langley isn’t one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is SWS harder than Maury? Is it due to being city wide, or are they anticipating a lot of siblings?

the key difference is SWS has no location preference. So in some ways maury is easier, and in some ways it's harder.

maury is easier if you're IB, because you have the IB preference. you probably have a 25%-33% chance of getting in, depending on how many siblings there are and how many other IB parents applied.
maury is harder if you're OOB. if you don't have the IB preference your chances of getting in are literally 0% -- it's impossible

If you don't have a child already at SWS it doesn't matter who you are or where you live, your chances are basically 3-5%. Very hard, but not impossible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m in a similar spot OP but with Peabody.

I wish the schools could just accommodate all PK.

They could, if the boundaries were redrawn. But people IB for Maury would rather go to AT or stay in day care for PK than be reassigned to Miner for K-5. Browne and Wheatley and Langley and Walker-Jones could take more kids.

Other possibilities: if CHML became PK3-5 (the middle school could go to a wing at Brookland MS where kids from Langdon and Nalle Montessori could have programmatic feeder rights too) that would create more PK space on Capitol Hill right away. And what happened to the plans to offer standalone infant-pk4 classes at Old Miner? https://dcps.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser-announces-child-care-provider-thaddeus-stevens-early-learning-center IIRC, there were plans to do something similar with the former Joy Evans space at Van Ness Elementary too. Each of those would help a bit.

Langley fills up its PK3, they can't add another class. Preschool rooms are subject to Head Start regs and there are a lot of rules about things like square footage and being on the ground floor. You can't use just any room in the building.

If DCPS were willing to use part of the Emery building as a stand-alone preschool that would help.

DCPS only has Head Start at a handful of schools this year. Langley isn’t one of them.

Yes but they might want to bring Head Start back in the future. And there are still city regs, fire regs, etc. That's why you very seldom see preschool classrooms anywhere but the ground floor of buildings. In all the schools I toured for PK3 I can't think of even one that was upstairs. Creative Minds had them slightly below grade but that's it.

[Anonymous]

Toured Payne last week. Principal basically said unless you are inbounds you have zero chance. So much for a safe school lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Toured Payne last week. Principal basically said unless you are inbounds you have zero chance. So much for a safe school lol

THIS. I am stunned Payne keeps getting mentioned as a school where any OOB families have a chance of getting in (there must be some seriously ill-informed folks on these boards relying on outdated data to make these assumptions). The year my kid got in (we are in-bounds), over 2 dozen in-bound families were waitlisted.

And it is only going to get harder in all the non-charter Cap Hill schools for OOB kids. But let’s keep up the illusion that only Brent, Maury and Peabody are the only “good” schools on the hill that are hard to get into OOB or IB.

[Anonymous]

I have a feeling Ludlow Taylor is likely also impossible.

It’s just so depressing that the schools cannot accommodate all preschoolers that are inbounds.


Not to mention the amount of fraud taking place when you see a fourth grader roll up in a car with MD plates. I will no doubt complain if a preschooler hops out too that could have taken a spot for my inbounds kid.