How to decide which neighborhoods to look at given the crapshoot DC school lottery system?

[Anonymous]

Down the hill is Ross, they have pre school, but pretty close low odds if you are out of bounds. Not so crazy to spend the extra $$$ for a house in bounds to a good school where you can send both of your kids until you need to send them to middle school. Then what is the next question...

[Anonymous]

5 to 8 years is too short of a horizon for the purchase of a home. Buy based on middle school and high school and you will be okay.

[Anonymous]

OP, we should be friends. We live in Mt P and have a 3 year old and a 16 month old; we're playing the lottery next year to see where our son will go to PS3. We'd be fine with him being at Bancroft initially, though all signs point to it not being a great option by 1st or 2nd grade.

We're just as torn about moving. I love our neighborhood, my commute, and the urbanicity. I'm occasionally tempted by WoTP, but find the homogeneity and car culture a bummer. I don't know what we'll do when the kids are in middle school, but we'll make it work as long as we can where we are.

[Anonymous]

112 year old house screams money pit. Better kiss your vacation money and time goodbye.

[Anonymous]

Bethesda and mclean will solve your problems

[Anonymous]

I have a 10 month old and live on Capitol Hill and this thread is giving me high anxiety. This school thing is so so so stressful.

[Anonymous]

OP, our IB school is not an option. We are applying to charters and 6 'east of the park' OOB DCPS for PS-3. If it doesn't work out, then we will move before the start of PS 4 or PK, probably. But we are not losing out now, since the places where we would consider moving (MD, VA, and perhaps east of the park NW DC, though that's out of our price range) don't even offer or guarantee PS-3. So, if you are interested in staying in your neighborhood and trying OOB or a charter, see what happens for PS-3 and maybe even PK-4. There are a good many decent options for early childhood ed in DC. If you don't get into a school you like, then you move.

I understand the stress, though. Its a nutty system. within a few years, however, charters will make up about 50 percent of the school population in DC, which tells you that people have more or less given up on most of DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go Charter! Don't spend 900K for a small house that needs work just for Janney. They just remodeled and are already over capacity. Not worth it! Honestly at a second tier charter school you can get just as good of an education.

This comment makes a lot of sense to me. We have friends who moved into Janney for K and the classes are huge. We are at a charter - lucky, I know - that is not nearby but our class sizes are set. And we have a bigger house for less $$.

[Anonymous]

I love how the denizens of truxton circle, petworth and mount pleasnt imagine that all the houses inbounds for, say, Murch or Janney "need work" and are "small." Really, petworth?

I'll grant that some of the full house row homes in Columbia hts or Logan are larger than the SFHs that feed into Janney. Or the typical 3 story colonial in Chevy chase.

But we all know you don't own one of those entire 1890s homes all to yourself in Logan. So knock it off with the hating

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:See the thread on "why did you choose to live where you live." If you want to live in Mt. Pleasant-- and don't want to spend the $$ on low-risk/boring JKLM neighborhoods-- then yes, the schools will be a crapshoot. The charters are pure lottery. Most good DCPS schools are impossible to get into OOB.

If I were you, I would hold out until you see if DC1 gets into PK-3 anywhere good. That's only a year from now. If not, then move. Or try again for PK-4.

So agreed. I would never buy a house with kids when schools were such an uncertainty. I had a friend call me in tears when her kid didn't get into private or get a charter by lottery. Truly fucked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See the thread on "why did you choose to live where you live." If you want to live in Mt. Pleasant-- and don't want to spend the $$ on low-risk/boring JKLM neighborhoods-- then yes, the schools will be a crapshoot. The charters are pure lottery. Most good DCPS schools are impossible to get into OOB.

If I were you, I would hold out until you see if DC1 gets into PK-3 anywhere good. That's only a year from now. If not, then move. Or try again for PK-4.

So agreed. I would never buy a house with kids when schools were such an uncertainty. I had a friend call me in tears when her kid didn't get into private or get a charter by lottery. Truly fucked.

And until your kids are actually school aged you won't realize how incredibly important and stressful it is.

Signed,
Somebody that bought in a crappy school district when kids were babies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the denizens of truxton circle, petworth and mount pleasnt imagine that all the houses inbounds for, say, Murch or Janney "need work" and are "small." Really, petworth?

I'll grant that some of the full house row homes in Columbia hts or Logan are larger than the SFHs that feed into Janney. Or the typical 3 story colonial in Chevy chase.

But we all know you don't own one of those entire 1890s homes all to yourself in Logan. So knock it off with the hating

Are you, like, choosing to be dense about it? No one imagines anything like that. Rather, people are being completely realistic that the type of house inbounds for Murch or Janney they can afford is LIKELY to need work and small. If they could afford a big house in JKLM districts, they would have bought it to begin with. Why do you think people bought in Petworth or Columbia Heights? Because they were priced out of better areas. So knock it off with the money glasses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I love how the denizens of truxton circle, petworth and mount pleasnt imagine that all the houses inbounds for, say, Murch or Janney "need work" and are "small." Really, petworth?

I'll grant that some of the full house row homes in Columbia hts or Logan are larger than the SFHs that feed into Janney. Or the typical 3 story colonial in Chevy chase.

But we all know you don't own one of those entire 1890s homes all to yourself in Logan. So knock it off with the hating

Are you, like, choosing to be dense about it? No one imagines anything like that. Rather, people are being completely realistic that the type of house inbounds for Murch or Janney they can afford is LIKELY to need work and small. If they could afford a big house in JKLM districts, they would have bought it to begin with. Why do you think people bought in Petworth or Columbia Heights? Because they were priced out of better areas. So knock it off with the money glasses.

And they have to worry themselves about schools, petty crime, etc. unlike their friends that bought in suburbia or exurbia.

But you've got a few years in which to continue being smug about all the cool things you can do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love how the denizens of truxton circle, petworth and mount pleasnt imagine that all the houses inbounds for, say, Murch or Janney "need work" and are "small." Really, petworth?

I'll grant that some of the full house row homes in Columbia hts or Logan are larger than the SFHs that feed into Janney. Or the typical 3 story colonial in Chevy chase.

But we all know you don't own one of those entire 1890s homes all to yourself in Logan. So knock it off with the hating

Come on! You know the houses that are $700k-$800k in Janney or Murch are shacks. I know because I lived in one. Many of the houses in the same price range EotP are huge in comparison. We were not looking forward to living in a small shack just to send our kid to an overcrowded DCPS elementary school. Thankfully, we got into a private and moved to a larger house. I really recommend renting until you know what is going to happen with schools. Especially, now that Cheh and Henderson are redistricting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:See the thread on "why did you choose to live where you live." If you want to live in Mt. Pleasant-- and don't want to spend the $$ on low-risk/boring JKLM neighborhoods-- then yes, the schools will be a crapshoot. The charters are pure lottery. Most good DCPS schools are impossible to get into OOB.

If I were you, I would hold out until you see if DC1 gets into PK-3 anywhere good. That's only a year from now. If not, then move. Or try again for PK-4.

So agreed. I would never buy a house with kids when schools were such an uncertainty. I had a friend call me in tears when her kid didn't get into private or get a charter by lottery. Truly fucked.

OP--what was your plan when you bought your house? Had you planned on moving before you had kids?