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DC Public and Public Charter Schools
How long are you planning on staying in DCPS or charter?
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Anonymous
I agree with this. Hardy is the no-go option here. I've also seen that b/c all the kids go in different directions for MS, our elementary school community suffers. There are the St. Alban's legacy families who are very confident that their DS's will get in; there are the Catholic school families who snipe behind each other's backs about how Holy Trinity is better than Little Flower; there are the charter families that are so desperate to get into their preferred choice; there are families who need financial aide to make private school an option who get increasingly desperate as the year goes on. These cliques undermine what was supposed to be the community feel of our little ES. Underneath the surface, there is so much competition and back-biting. That makes me sad and makes me think the system is pathetic. |
Anonymous
I agree with this sentiment also, but I feel like the angst dwells with the parents, not the kids. I fuss over the possiblity that my kids will not have life long friends because after elementary the kids will disburse, but I think this is a minor concern in the whole scope of things for a couple reasons. First, I moved around to different schools and yet still maintained friendships. and this was pre-Facebook age, so i think my kids will have an even easier time holding on to those friendships that they value. Second, as a kid I really loved the opportunity for a "Fresh start" when changing to a new school. It was exciting! I think it is likely my kids will feel the same way when they get older. YMMV. Oh, and I have a 3rd grader at Brent and anticipate staying at Brent through 5th, but of course re-evaluate obsessively. At this point Jefferson/Eastern has a 50/50 chance in my book. Private or charter is certainly a possibility, but we are unlikely to move to the suburbs. |
Anonymous
| The middle school bottleneck is also a key force driving us out of the local elem school toward charters. The local middle school is a no go, so then we have to get our DC into a charter at... PK3 or PK4. People just opt out early. Our local elem school is struggling to do better, but it doesn't even get the chance to win fence-sitters over. |
Anonymous
| I plan to keep my ds in KIPP thru 8th grade. I have several years before I need to consider high school options. |
Anonymous
| We're still in the early years, but I think its highly likely that we'll do DCPS (either Deal or Latin if that works out) for middle school, and I give it a 50/50 chance that we'll go private for high school. |
Anonymous
| We are in a language immersion program for now, but will go private around 5th grade. |
Anonymous
This. While we love DC acquiring another language, we're afraid of falling behind in other subjects like math, science, etc. in our unproven charter at the higher grades. Also, the private high schools we're considering all have entrance exams which we are not confident about DC being able to do well on if we stay til 8th. |
Anonymous
| we're currently doing JKLM for elementary, hope to do Deal for middle and then...???? Maybe Wilson, maybe private, maybe different city entirely. |
Anonymous
|
ditto. School is supposed to build to middle school, but based on what I've seen so far, not much thought is going into the process.
We'll probably stay until 5th, then switch to private with the knowledge that we'll have to supplement the English instruction if DC is going to make it into a competitive private at 6th grade. |
Anonymous
| are the language immersion parents above at Yu Ying? My DC is there, and I'm concerned about middle school, but taking it a year at a time. Plan on staying at least thru 5th. |
Anonymous
| I am a Yu Ying parent planning to stick through the end of the 8th grade, and don't understand why parents would be more concerned about middle school than they would when they enrolled at the very beginning? Do you think it *counts* more? If anything, the school will have more experience, more knowledge of each child, and smaller class sizes (due to natural attrition since they won't admit past 2nd). Since the planning process hasn't started yet, why the pessimism? |
Anonymous
|
13:46, glad you are confident. Some of us aren't too sure we want to be part of the learning curve and a middle school that has only 50 children across 3 grades is not economically viable. Moreover, the school has yet to demonstrate skill in teaching science or advanced math.
Lots of ifs out there, but if it works for you, great. |
Anonymous
| I'm also a YY parent and will probably move my children out by 5th grade. I'm just not sure they will be able to offer the programs that I want for my children in middle and high school. I of course could be convinced otherwise, but we'll have to wait and see. I agree with the previous poster, if it works for you, great! |
Anonymous
| Those are valid concerns, but still, I'm unclear why pessimism instead of optimism? I'm not sure what all the solutions to the [valid] worries you have, but unless my kids are unhappy and actively want to leave, I'm not sure why I would take them out of a school just because it is middle school and not elementary. |
Anonymous
| Staying at my current language immersion school until 5th then planning on going to KIPP until 8th (but will keep other schools on my radar just incase KIPP doesn't panout). Not even thinking about High school yet. |