What’s the best DCPS or Charter ES for making family friends?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Hill DCPSes tend to have very tight communities, but it’s very dependent on living IB or within easy proximity, so it very much depends on where you live.

This. It's the same for JKLM. You 100% have to live in boundary. The out-of-boundary families are always way out of the loop socially just because no parent or nanny (the later who often doesn't drive) will regularly schlep across town for a playdate when they can walk 2 blocks after school.

I’m sure this is the case for some families but many like myself do actually live nearby. For example I’m technically out of bounds but it’s still less than a 15 minute walk to the school.

DCPS’s boundaries are smaller for some schools. I wish the data would show how far out of boundary -sometimes it’s quite deceiving.

I don’t think PP meant people who live right outside of a small boundary. But I know several families who send their kids to schools across thr park and they just don’t socialize that much with families at the school.

On the Hill there is a lot of intermixing of people from different boundaries. Lots of kids IB for Watkins or Miner or JO going to L-T or Brent. Maury is much harder to get into OOB, but Payne also has a decent number of OOB family from nearby zones, including Chisholm (where IB families who don't want immersion get preference for Payne). I also know some families zoned for Wheatley at most of these schools. Plus in addition to people who lottery, sometimes people move around within the Hill after their kids start at one school, so people wind up OOB that way.

There is still some very minimal snootiness about IB versus OOB at some schools, but it usually has to do with the difference between being a family whose kid has been there since PK or K versus coming in a later grade. So even people who move into the boundary can experience this a little, just because friendships are formed. But that varies by grade and cohort and is really not pronounced. As kids get older, the idea of a kid going 8 or 10 blocks to see a friend, as opposed to 2 or 3, is really no big deal. Plus these schools all feed into the same few middle schools, and on top of it you have SWS and CHML pulling kids from the same neighborhoods. In the end it doesn't matter. Half of my kid's friends are through an activity where most of the kids go to other schools (just one friend at our elementary, and she is technically in the grade behind).

OP asked about making family friends. That is not going to happen or at least much, much less if a kid is coming in at 2nd or 3rd grade vs being at the school since prek.

ECE and the younger years are when families interact a lot more, coordinate more, etc… so get to know each other and their kids. They then become friends. Upper elementary there might be some parent coordinating for drop offs and rides but it is not like parents are staying and getting to know each other.

So yes there is a big difference if you want to make family friends with other families and being IB and starting early in ECE greatly facilitates it vs just your kid coming in at 3rd or whatever and having some friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Hill DCPSes tend to have very tight communities, but it’s very dependent on living IB or within easy proximity, so it very much depends on where you live.

This. It's the same for JKLM. You 100% have to live in boundary. The out-of-boundary families are always way out of the loop socially just because no parent or nanny (the later who often doesn't drive) will regularly schlep across town for a playdate when they can walk 2 blocks after school.

I’m sure this is the case for some families but many like myself do actually live nearby. For example I’m technically out of bounds but it’s still less than a 15 minute walk to the school.

DCPS’s boundaries are smaller for some schools. I wish the data would show how far out of boundary -sometimes it’s quite deceiving.

I don’t think PP meant people who live right outside of a small boundary. But I know several families who send their kids to schools across thr park and they just don’t socialize that much with families at the school.

On the Hill there is a lot of intermixing of people from different boundaries. Lots of kids IB for Watkins or Miner or JO going to L-T or Brent. Maury is much harder to get into OOB, but Payne also has a decent number of OOB family from nearby zones, including Chisholm (where IB families who don't want immersion get preference for Payne). I also know some families zoned for Wheatley at most of these schools. Plus in addition to people who lottery, sometimes people move around within the Hill after their kids start at one school, so people wind up OOB that way.

There is still some very minimal snootiness about IB versus OOB at some schools, but it usually has to do with the difference between being a family whose kid has been there since PK or K versus coming in a later grade. So even people who move into the boundary can experience this a little, just because friendships are formed. But that varies by grade and cohort and is really not pronounced. As kids get older, the idea of a kid going 8 or 10 blocks to see a friend, as opposed to 2 or 3, is really no big deal. Plus these schools all feed into the same few middle schools, and on top of it you have SWS and CHML pulling kids from the same neighborhoods. In the end it doesn't matter. Half of my kid's friends are through an activity where most of the kids go to other schools (just one friend at our elementary, and she is technically in the grade behind).

The reality is that in CH lots of kids leave in 4th and 5th if families have options. Some schools more than others. Majority of families on this board don’t send their kids to DCPS middle schools on the hill.