Advice on priorities for PK3?

[Anonymous]

Echoing location/commute. That said, how do you feel about your middle school and high school option? Knowing what I know now, with a middle schooler and an older elementary schooler, I would have moved to NW where the IB school options are decent/good through high school. It's always something we considered, but now we love our community too much to start all over. We have made great friends through our school community. We also underestimated how difficult it would be for our kids to transition to a new school as they got older. Now we are faced with difficult decisions (not happy with our IB middle or high school) and long commutes. We loved our neighborhood elementary school however, and loved walking to school.

[Anonymous]

If this were for K, and you were guaranteed a spot at your IB, would you take it or would you prefer the charters with the commute? If you think you might still prefer the charters, you should still rank them. If you would take the IB spot either way for commute, than just do proximity now because all ECE programs are good.

One other thing you may wish to consider - how many PK4 and K kids does the charter accept? I really wanted my DD to have an additional year or two at our beloved CBO, but the chance of enrolling at our preferred charter was significantly higher as a PK# than later on. We ended up getting in so we took the spot rather than risking getting in later. But for us, our preferred charter is closer than our IB school.

[Anonymous]

Any advice if your IB is going to experience a relocation? Right now for our Prek3er, Whittier -- also our IB -- is closest, and attractive for other reasons, but it's scheduled for modernization in 24-25 and (I think) will be relocated down to sharpe health campus. If it's only a year, we can make it work, but if it'll be several years, it would be much easier commute-wise to choose another Ward 4 dcps or charter school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any advice if your IB is going to experience a relocation? Right now for our Prek3er, Whittier -- also our IB -- is closest, and attractive for other reasons, but it's scheduled for modernization in 24-25 and (I think) will be relocated down to sharpe health campus. If it's only a year, we can make it work, but if it'll be several years, it would be much easier commute-wise to choose another Ward 4 dcps or charter school.

If you're inbound for Whittier and plan to attend eventually, I'd apply for PK3 and brace for the commute. You'd start building relationships, figure out if it's a good fit, and have fewer transitions for your kid. Plus given that you're IB for Whittier, Sharpe is not far at all.

If you're not sure if you want Whittier or a different DCPS or charter long-term, just make your list based on true preferences.