How to avoid the September shuffle?

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/dc-school-parents-struggle-with-wait-list-shuffle/2012/09/09/6b10eb26-f2f1-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html?hpid=z5

[Anonymous]

If we can establish a single enrollment database that reflects DCPS and charters then you can solve a lot of the "multiple enrollments" problem...but you can never solve it all because of privates. Families will understandably hold a spot at a public school (for which they paid taxes to support) but may be holding out for a spot on a private school waitlist, or be waiting to make sure they can afford it, or whatever. Families have many, many reasons why they play the enrollment games they do. I agree that it can be disruptive but I don't think it's disruptive to the extent OP infers. We pulled our son from a popular charter three weeks into school because we got a call from the DCPS we really wanted. We weren't holding multiple spots, but we did have preferences and made the jump. It was a little scary having him move schools after he was getting used to the charter, but it was well worth it. And don't forget that charters establish their own schedules. Yes, most of them follow DCPS pretty closely, but they don't have to. Haynes is a year-round so that alone can cause some shuffling and shifting. It is not a perfect system and any effort to limit the number of enrollment spots any child can hold to one would be a good move, but I'd much prefer to maintain the level of choice we now have (up to 6 DCPS, unlimited charters) than diminish that. I know I would be very vocal if any efforts to curb our choice were suggested.

[Anonymous]

agree that the single enrollment database between charters & DCPS is needed. DC has spent a lot of money on the "SLED" database and not gotten a usable product.

DCPS seems to have it down that you can't enroll in multiple DCPS schools, by having you bring a letter from the old DCPS school to the new one.

Charter seems to be starting to resolve, with the summer cross check for multiple charters.

The between DCPS and Charter is where the holes are.

[Anonymous]

I agree that holding spots isn't ideal, but with so many choices, parents aren't realistically able to visit and know the details about every school. You often have only a couple of days to make a decision once called from a wait list and between schedules (the schools and yours), vacations, etc. sometimes there is no choice but to accept and research later. Its just important to be mindful to do due diligence asap and notify the school that is being turned down.

[Anonymous]

Look, this whole situation is what you folks wanted. You wanted school choice because your neighborhood school (and mine) is unacceptable. The school choice movement has created some exciting options, and it's also created an administrative, traffic and environmental nightmare. If you don't like this additional city tax....

This is the game here. The solution is to collectively work toward a great neighborhood-based school system. Until then, the September shuffle will continue.

[Anonymous]

This shuffle also happens because so many charters offer PS3 (which is GREAT), while most DCPS don't. So, lots of families will try to get a PS3 spot with the full intention of leaving for DCPS (or private) once they reach PK or K. The charters bank on getting families in early, selling them on the school in hopes of the families not jumping ship the following year or two. Great option to have PS3 for working families who can't afford private, whose schedules cant accomodate three-hour-a-day nursery schools and who like the idea of getting more learning for their children than daycare would provide. But that PS3 option really sets up the system to be unstable because not every school offers it and PS3 and PK are not compulsory.

[Anonymous]

This is the last line in the Washington Post article above

Linda Moore, executive director of Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Northeast, said the issue will go away only when families feel that there are enough desirable schools to go around.

“Ultimately what would work best,” Moore said, “is if all the schools were good schools.

But I think she is wrong. It is not good or bad schools we are fleeing, it is the poor kids in those schools. Most of us don't really believe that a school that is title one can help middle class schools. I know having left one, I don't think it can in the current environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the last line in the Washington Post article above

Linda Moore, executive director of Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in Northeast, said the issue will go away only when families feel that there are enough desirable schools to go around.

“Ultimately what would work best,” Moore said, “is if all the schools were good schools.

But I think she is wrong. It is not good or bad schools we are fleeing, it is the poor kids in those schools. Most of us don't really believe that a school that is title one can help middle class schools. I know having left one, I don't think it can in the current environment.

I would not trade in my Title 1 school..I would be nice to trade in some of the "middle class" as well as some of "poor" fmailies at the school. Not all, just a couple.

[Anonymous]

No, our family fled a bad school not the children in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This shuffle also happens because so many charters offer PS3 (which is GREAT), while most DCPS don't. So, lots of families will try to get a PS3 spot with the full intention of leaving for DCPS (or private) once they reach PK or K. The charters bank on getting families in early, selling them on the school in hopes of the families not jumping ship the following year or two. Great option to have PS3 for working families who can't afford private, whose schedules cant accomodate three-hour-a-day nursery schools and who like the idea of getting more learning for their children than daycare would provide. But that PS3 option really sets up the system to be unstable because not every school offers it and PS3 and PK are not compulsory.

This is incorrect, most DCPS do offer PS3. There are only a handful of DCPS that do not offer PreS/PS3.

[Anonymous]

West of Park DCPS do not offer PreS 3. None in Ward 3, I'm pretty sure.

so the "most do", "most don't" depends on the area of the city you live in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:West of Park DCPS do not offer PreS 3. None in Ward 3, I'm pretty sure.

so the "most do", "most don't" depends on the area of the city you live in

The poster said DCPS. They did not say DCPS in Ward 6, DCPS in Ward 3, DCPS in Ward 8 or a certain area.

69 DCPS offer PreS.

[Anonymous]

Personally, I'm beginning to understand why private schools do admissions interviews. I always thought it was nuts, but it is a good opportunity for both parents and the school to get a sense for whether the school and the teacher is a good fit for the child. I attended so many open houses I thought my head would spin, but they still don't prepare you for what the reality of a school will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, this whole situation is what you folks wanted. You wanted school choice because your neighborhood school (and mine) is unacceptable. The school choice movement has created some exciting options, and it's also created an administrative, traffic and environmental nightmare. If you don't like this additional city tax....

This is the game here. The solution is to collectively work toward a great neighborhood-based school system. Until then, the September shuffle will continue.

+1 This is what happens when you abandon the public school system. I call it the tyranny of choice. I envy my parents who had one choice - send us to public school, knowing that it is a solid, well-run, well-funded school with decent teachers and a good curriculum. We're getting. . .who knows?

[Anonymous]

anyway, back to the point of this thread...there will continue to be lots of shuffling and so long as we want the amount of choice we have, it will continue. And while the idea of a single enrollment database is a good one (and almost a no-brainer), that will not stop people from abandoning one school they get into when another school they wanted more calls. There aren't multiple enrollments in these cases...it's just about trading up, or perceiving that they are trading up. Plus, the commute is a real issue for many family and the reality of it doesn't always become clear until after school starts and the lighter summer traffic is finished. What starts out as a seemingly doable commute across town or to another quadrant of the city, becomes an insurmountable barrier. And then there are cases where a school you thought you wanted for your child is just not working out. There are so, so, so many factors that could influence a Sept or Oct school change and they will continue to exist.