elementary schools with the best community

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

What’s the budget? Ross is absolutely the right answer. It’s quaint and idyllic and a model for how small schools create awesome communities. But without knowing your actual budget we don’t know what the best community you can afford is.

[Anonymous]

Just goto Sela and/or Takoma Elementary. Whittier - but swing space may be complicating factor.

[Anonymous]

Powell

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Community is fleeting. Move where you have a solid MS and HS path. It will save you a ton of angst and anxiety down the road.

[Anonymous]

You need to look long-term if you are planning to stay in the area through high school. “Community” in a ES without a good middle school feed starts to crumble as parents start looking ahead and leaving for places that offer access to good MS/HS. Why don’t you start where you are until the youngest is ready for K, when you can move anywhere?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Why not stay at Takoma? They are early action for pre-k3 so you are guaranteed a spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need to look long-term if you are planning to stay in the area through high school. “Community” in a ES without a good middle school feed starts to crumble as parents start looking ahead and leaving for places that offer access to good MS/HS. Why don’t you start where you are until the youngest is ready for K, when you can move anywhere?

+1 community is fleeting and crumbles by the time your kid hits upper elementary where the achievement gap is real and you are looking for a way out and with no option for middle and high school.

If you don’t get lucky in the lottery, move to a good school pyramid that gets you k-12

[Anonymous]

Is your current housing in Takoma adequate or not? If it is but I you’re going to move, why not move later? I know lots of people with kids at Takoma who are happy. See how it goes. Move if you don’t like it. And then if Ida B Wells MS - which is on the rise - meets your needs, you can go, but if not, you can move then. And so on.

I think it’s one thing if someone is moving to DC for the first time with kids or has to move because they are outgrowing their soace. It’s another I think to leave housing you are happy with just because 6 or 9 years in the future you have an education need that may be unmet.

There’s too much of a DCUM drumbeat saying you have to go through the angst of figuring out MS or HS at K or PK. If moving is an option, it’s still an option 6 years from now, and maybe things change and it’s not needed even then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

What’s the budget? Ross is absolutely the right answer. It’s quaint and idyllic and a model for how small schools create awesome communities. But without knowing your actual budget we don’t know what the best community you can afford is.

Ross is absolutely not the right answer for someone who really wants their preschooler to attend school with their older sibling starting at pk3. Staying at takoma or picking a different school zone with the early action guarantee for in bounds pk3 is the best option.

[Anonymous]

Ross does have a great community (many families move to smaller apartments in order to afford to live IB), but it no longer has PK3. Perhaps try for Francis Stevens? The building should be done by next year.

[Anonymous]

Stoddert is very tight knit, and if you don't want to pay for a townhouse there are lots of apartment buildings and condos.

[Anonymous]

From what you said OP, it sounds like you are looking for a DCPS inbound where you can enroll your rising K kid as a matter of right, and that has PK3 for your younger child next year? Ward 3 schools don’t have PK3 so those won’t help much. In Takoma I would say Breakthrough or Sela among charter schools but of course we are post lottery. As other posters said Takoma Elementary has guaranteed PK and folks really like Whittier. Shepherd doesn’t have guaranteed PK 3 but siblings have a much better chance. I’m not 100 percent certain but there may be some apartments in bound for Shepherd (houses inbound are $$).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Rent a place inbounds for Ross and send the pk3 kid to Marie Reed until they can go to Ross for pk4.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I need to stay in DC long enough to take advantage of the free pre-K for my youngest, who is now 2. I also have a five year old who will be going into Kindergarten. Currently in Takoma. Need to not break my budget here.

Why not stay at Takoma? They are early action for pre-k3 so you are guaranteed a spot.

+1 Seems like moving would create the problem, not fix it.

[Anonymous]

Ross.