Help navigating the Capitol Hill school situation
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
The school situation is not great and you're right to be thinking about it now. We just wrapped up two years at Peabody and while my son loved it, we're moving and are not intersted in Watkins. We will miss the Hill but the K lottery didn't work out for us and I don't want to play ti every year - some people do and it ends up great for them!
We loved Peabody. It's a very sweet little school just focused on ECE. Pre3 teachers were overall wonderful, prek4 was uneven. I was not impressed with school leadership and found then uncommunicative. Going into K, a bunch of people are leaving for School Within a School, a bunch for Maury (with proxmity preference), and at least one for Ludlow (proximity preference) and there may be others I don't know about. One is leaving for Capitol Hill Day and I know of a handful of people who applied to St Peter's for K but were rejected. With the surrounding schools getting more competitive, without proxmity preference, you may be increasingly unlikely to be able to lottery in to another boundary schools. Schools like SWS and CHML don't have boundaries. I would make a list and next year begin to understand the options. There's also no guarantee you'll get in (chances are good but there are inbound kids who don't get it, you can look at the lottery data Tableau for more info). Also look at Miner, JO Wilson, Payne, Tyler etc to see what your shot is. Apple Tree. Two Rivers (just for ECE, elementary looks like it's off the rails). The other challenge is that the private school options on the Hill aren't awesome. Hill Preschool is good for preschool but Capitol Hill Day is fine, and I don't know about St Peter's but it's tiny and impossible if you're not a parishoner. I know a few people who commute to Potomac and Burgundy Farms. I would also dig in to the details of the school budgets. People seem to love Maury, but just like Watkins, their budget was cut this year. Watkins budget cut led to the Spanish teacher being let go (world language isn't a requirement in elementary school). I'm glad we tried DCPS but while I loved Peabody, I couldn't handle the on-going stress of being concerned about Watkins and then worrying about the middle and high school paths. We are sad to leave the Hill but are excited about having more certainty (as much as one can as a parent). There's a thread below which got very intense about people leaving the Hill and having regrets. We may have them, the Hill is a great place to live, but the school situation is hard and real and I will not regret leaving some of the worry and uncertainty behind. |
Anonymous
| No personal experience with this school - so take this with a grain of salt - but I would second the suggestion to look at CHML, based on positive experiences from more than one close friend through upper elementary. One friend plans to stay through middle so it’s a potential longer term option. |
Anonymous
+1000 |
Anonymous
+1001. Get the move over with now. Your future self will thank you. |
Anonymous
| It's easier to move when your kid doesn't understand it. Just make it happen now. |
Anonymous
| Agree with others. Best to move sooner rather than later |
Anonymous
There are many families I know who live near Safeway or the cemetery and go to Payne with proximity preference. That boundary is so wacko, kids right across D St from the Payne fields are in bounds for Peabody/Watkins. Something else to think about factor in - starting next year Tyler is going to transition into fully Spanish immersion (Starting with ECE and adding a grade every year). Depending on how you feel about Spanish, that might mean there are more spots and more available immersion options. However, as you can see in other parts on this thread, there aren't a ton of immersion middle schools at least for right now, so that would only be through Elementary if we you were interested in Spanish. Second, the DME Boundary and Facility Studies are happening right now, so in 1-2 school years there may be tweaks to boundaries/programs/building use that would impact this area too. Nothing you can do about that now besides log on to their townhalls if you want, but just to keep in mind that lots can change. |
Anonymous
| If you’d be OK with a parochial HS later on, and could afford one, it’s worth staying. You won’t get stuck w/Catholic school as your parachute. Public middle school is manageable from CH even if you don’t get lucky at BASIS or one of the Latins. HS can be the deal breaker. |
Anonymous
Same here. My kids are older, we also dug in our heels, but I feel consistent pangs of guilt that they would have gotten a better education in the burbs. |
Anonymous
| 3 blocks from Watkins means w/in a mile of a lot of elementary schools. I actually think the elementary schools in this area are mostly pretty good with relatively small class sizes etc. I would myself for elementary school choose one of the most convenient: Payne, Tyler (transitioning to fully Spanish immersion), or even Watkins (because you are so close). SH is the best of the DCPS CH middle schools to be zoned for and you can also obviously lottery for other options like Latin or Basis for 5th with it as your backup. |
Anonymous
| Unless you really love the Hill and couldn't consider (or afford) living elsewhere, move now. Or stay at Peabody with a move in the near-term future. If your love for the Hill outweighs your concerns about school, stay and it might work out that you have an ok place to send your kids to school. There are no public or charter options on the Hill past 5th grade that are great. And I'd argue that even the popular public elementaries are just good to ok, not great. |
Anonymous
This. We did OK with Brent and BASIS for middle school. Eldest rejected the BASIS HS so we're paying for SJC (Saint John's College, 20K) for HS. If we couldn't afford SJC, we would've moved. We're not religious, not Catholic, but SJC doesn't force our girl to attend Mass and she loves the school. She was a B student at BASIS but scored so high on the SJC entrance exam that they admitted her. |
Anonymous
ECE parent here. That’s our tentative plan though we know a lot can change. Think we may have found a solid enough prek-8 path in DCPS, assuming no lottery luck in middle, then banneker/mckinley/walls if DC can get in. Building up DCs 529 in case the selective high schools or charters don’t work out and Eastern hasn’t changed much by then. You can use 529 for both k12 and college. |
Anonymous
Ok, but BASIS is close and very easy to get to both driving and public transport and Latin has a bus from the Hill. So if you get lucky, you can stay. |
Anonymous
The chance of getting lucky decreases every year and OP has many years to go. I would not depend on luck for something so important as your kids education. Now is the best time to move to the burbs and not only do you get a guarantee good pyramid but also elementary school much better than what is available on the hill with G and T. Reality is elementary schools in the hill are mediocre at best |