When you think about it...getting shut out for PK

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PK3/4 has helped DC retain high income (and tax-paying families). The city should make the program more accessible due to its popularity.

It was created for low income residents. To help the kids get school ready. It is/was a better option than head start. And most truly high SES don't even stress about PS lottery. We just keep our kids in private and move along.

It seems popular with people in so-called gentrifying areas and/or can't afford private school options. The truly high-income people ie. Ward 3 don't seem to participate at similar rates as the rest of the population. Look at the popularity of charters with certain types of whites.

Anyone who opened a good private school in NE would make a killing. I've thought about starting a good charter school just so my kids would be guaranteed admission somewhere respectable. We're certainly not Upper Caucasia rich, but far too comfortable to qualify for any assistance at a good private. Got completely boned in the lottery.

[Anonymous]

In areas where the IB school is good, preK is a nice to have. Where you do not have guaranteed access to a good elementary school, it is one of a few paths for getting into a good elementary school, so losing out on the lottery is also losing out on one of a family's few opportunities to get into a good school. The solution if you strike out repeatedly is to move and it becomes clear that the choice provided to DC families is only a choice if your family is lucky. That must be incredibly disheartening.

the complaining by those that have good elementary options by right do not generate much sympathy from me but there also is this larger issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In areas where the IB school is good, preK is a nice to have. Where you do not have guaranteed access to a good elementary school, it is one of a few paths for getting into a good elementary school, so losing out on the lottery is also losing out on one of a family's few opportunities to get into a good school. The solution if you strike out repeatedly is to move and it becomes clear that the choice provided to DC families is only a choice if your family is lucky. That must be incredibly disheartening.

the complaining by those that have good elementary options by right do not generate much sympathy from me but there also is this larger issue.

We're willing to stay until K and keep trying at the lottery. But beyond that, no. We're moving. I have a special needs child. We don't want to move; this is our home and we are very invested in it. But if we are going to get shut out of schools where he can flourish for the sake of maintaining some b.s. illusion of "choice" and "equality," f this town. Congrats to those who won, but I lost and so did a lot of others. I'm sick of hearing "oh, something will work out" or "I've heard that so-and-so is an up and coming school" when they got into basically a publicly-subsidized private school.

[Anonymous]

^you sound very sour grapes. Why don't you put that energy into improving your neighborhood school? Oh, let me guess it's not good enough for your snowflake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^you sound very sour grapes. Why don't you put that energy into improving your neighborhood school? Oh, let me guess it's not good enough for your snowflake.

You know what, you are a jerk. It is not the responsibility of any individual to send their child to a failing school out of some obligation to the general public. Our first responsibilities are to our own children and if the options are bad then we make hard choices. No one should be made to feel guilty for not fixing a problem they did not create at the cost of their child's education.

[Anonymous]

^ the problem is all of ours to fix, including yours, Ms. entitled. Maybe if some of you pretend do-gooders would actually do some good, ie help improve your by-right neighborhood school you wouldn't be whining about your lottery losses now. this not in my backyard bullshit where you complain about your kid unless you get what you want has to stop. Stop being so whiny and entitled.

[Anonymous]

What is different in DC vs the burbs is that your tax dollars are paying for your neighbor to go to a free pre-k program that you -- based on bad luck -- did not get into. I'd happily pay taxes to support programs for low income kids. But hearing about a wealthy neighbor taking a fancy vacation with the $$$ he saved from free preschool or pre-k when you were shut out is different.

- parent of a kid shut out of 12 schools for pre-k, including four Title 1 schools, one of which was our in-bounds school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In areas where the IB school is good, preK is a nice to have. Where you do not have guaranteed access to a good elementary school, it is one of a few paths for getting into a good elementary school, so losing out on the lottery is also losing out on one of a family's few opportunities to get into a good school. The solution if you strike out repeatedly is to move and it becomes clear that the choice provided to DC families is only a choice if your family is lucky. That must be incredibly disheartening.

the complaining by those that have good elementary options by right do not generate much sympathy from me but there also is this larger issue.

This. I think school "choice" is a farce and a scam. Unless you are rich enough to live IB for one of the good schools or lucky enough in the lottery, you are SOL. That's not choice, that's either wealth or good luck. We tried the lottery for one year, hated the charter we went with, and the thought of playing the lottery game again on top of all of the other negatives about DC was more than I could bear. So we bailed. Our IB school was crap. I feel for my friends who are still there trying to make this work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^you sound very sour grapes. Why don't you put that energy into improving your neighborhood school? Oh, let me guess it's not good enough for your snowflake.

You know what, you are a jerk. It is not the responsibility of any individual to send their child to a failing school out of some obligation to the general public. Our first responsibilities are to our own children and if the options are bad then we make hard choices. No one should be made to feel guilty for not fixing a problem they did not create at the cost of their child's education.

Amen. And then we you do try you are called an elitist, gentrifying snob for presuming that you have anything to offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is different in DC vs the burbs is that your tax dollars are paying for your neighbor to go to a free pre-k program that you -- based on bad luck -- did not get into. I'd happily pay taxes to support programs for low income kids. But hearing about a wealthy neighbor taking a fancy vacation with the $$$ he saved from free preschool or pre-k when you were shut out is different.

- parent of a kid shut out of 12 schools for pre-k, including four Title 1 schools, one of which was our in-bounds school

instead of the hate the rich sour grapes why don't you try to be like them? The energy you spend on jealousy and envy towards rich people would be better spent bettering yourself and your own pocketbook.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In areas where the IB school is good, preK is a nice to have. Where you do not have guaranteed access to a good elementary school, it is one of a few paths for getting into a good elementary school, so losing out on the lottery is also losing out on one of a family's few opportunities to get into a good school. The solution if you strike out repeatedly is to move and it becomes clear that the choice provided to DC families is only a choice if your family is lucky. That must be incredibly disheartening.

the complaining by those that have good elementary options by right do not generate much sympathy from me but there also is this larger issue.

I have to agree. Honestly I'd be fine if there wasn't free pk here or if it was reserved for needy families. I just want to get my child into a decent school by 1st grade. Based on my lottery results the last few years, looks like the only way we'll get it is stretching for a bigger mortgage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is different in DC vs the burbs is that your tax dollars are paying for your neighbor to go to a free pre-k program that you -- based on bad luck -- did not get into. I'd happily pay taxes to support programs for low income kids. But hearing about a wealthy neighbor taking a fancy vacation with the $$$ he saved from free preschool or pre-k when you were shut out is different.

- parent of a kid shut out of 12 schools for pre-k, including four Title 1 schools, one of which was our in-bounds school

What grade and WL numbers? If Bridges or Appletree CH on your list you will get a slot and those are both great options for PK. Assume you were trying for PK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is different in DC vs the burbs is that your tax dollars are paying for your neighbor to go to a free pre-k program that you -- based on bad luck -- did not get into. I'd happily pay taxes to support programs for low income kids. But hearing about a wealthy neighbor taking a fancy vacation with the $$$ he saved from free preschool or pre-k when you were shut out is different.

- parent of a kid shut out of 12 schools for pre-k, including four Title 1 schools, one of which was our in-bounds school

instead of the hate the rich sour grapes why don't you try to be like them? The energy you spend on jealousy and envy towards rich people would be better spent bettering yourself and your own pocketbook.

I don't hate rich people - I'm surrounded by them here in Logan Circle and and doing fine financially myself. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to have the $$$ I may have to spend on private preschool because of bad luck in the lottery. Overall, I do tell myself that I'm no worse off than I would be in the suburbs and on one level that is true. But at the same time, it is different because we are all paying taxes for free preschool and yet it is not really available to all and is allocated based on luck and presence of an older sibling - I don't think it's unreasonable to think that could lead to some frustration from those who got bad luck in the lottery. Like I said, I'd happily pay taxes to support free pre-k for all low-income kids. I accept that I am paying taxes to pay for free pre-k for neighbors who are just as comfortable as me but had better luck - but I don't think it makes me crazy or bitter that I'm not thrilled with the way scarce resources are being allocated under the current situation.

[Anonymous]

Why can't free pre-K be universal? The demand is there. This lottery system sounds dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^you sound very sour grapes. Why don't you put that energy into improving your neighborhood school? Oh, let me guess it's not good enough for your snowflake.

No, it's not good enough for my child. And I'm very certain you wouldn't think it was good enough for yours either. That doesn't make us snobby; it means we have standards on what our childrens' educations should look like and we want to see them met. It's not "sour grapes" to think it's unfair to be forced into a trailblazer position that you don't want. My presence at a school will not change bad parenting, systemic poverty, or anti-intellectualism. There are kids showing up to school with needs so great that the school barely has time to teach because they're working against so many external factors. Tragic? Yeah. Does it need to be fixed? Absolutely, and I'd love to hear proposed solutions other than "sacrifice your kid, but not mine." I can't fix it, and neither can you. If I can avoid exposing my kid to it, I will.