PK4 - what do you think of this list?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Thank you for the feedback! Peabody is our in-bound school.

PP -- since Peabody is your IB, I would move LT below Brent and Maury.

This advice is plain stupid. The only reason governing your rankings should be your preference for each of the school. Whether a school is your IB school should have absolutely no bearing on where on the list you place that school. Putting it at the bottom or at the top has no impact on your chances to get into any other school but it will impact whether you are or not taken off the list of schools in case you do get matched.

With all of this in mind, you're essentially asking us to weigh in on your selection and preferences.
- Preferences: How could we without knowing your criteria to establish those? It sounds like proximity is one so make sure you bring that to bear on your rankings. Take all of your criteria and "grade" each option according to them, weigh criteria you find very important higher (e.g. doubling the relevant score), then add up and rank accordingly.
- Selection: My impression is that you're playing the lottery for only the most popular choices (in and around Capitol Hill). You don't seem to be, but if you were desperate to get in somewhere, I would encourage you to swap out some "impossible" choices for some that are more likely to happen.

Since she's not desperate to get in anywhere, why not put some impossible choices in? Someone has to get in to those places.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Thank you for the feedback! Peabody is our in-bound school.

PP -- since Peabody is your IB, I would move LT below Brent and Maury.

Not unless she prefers LT less than Brent and Maury. She should list in order of actual preference

[Anonymous]

I also don't quite understand why you would list Peabody so low, except maybe for where you live. Unless you have some well thought out preferences for Montessori, I'd prefer Peabody over Logan Montessori for sure. If it's because you have some qualms about Watkins, I'd say take another look and keep in mind it'll be brand spanking new by the time your 1st grader gets there.

[Anonymous]

You will absolutely not get into Brent or Maury. You may get into Ludlow, but I'm not sure how much better Ludlow is compared to Watkins. Please go on a tour of Capitol Hill Montessori- it's a disaster. I've never met a parent who was truly happy. My friend is a special needs tutor who frequently works at CHML. She told me to run away far and fast. Mundo Verde is not a neighborhood school by any stretch, although I am guessing that you could take the Union Station Metro. If you're going that far i would consider other DCI feeders for a long term goal. What about Two Rivers Young? Too far?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP in your neighborhood with older kids -- is LT your inbound? If so, I would put Peabody above it.

Thinking longer term, many families are happy with Watkins (your eldest could take the bus back to Peabody when your younger children attend) and LT is still a work in progress in the upper grades. I am yet to meet one family who makes it to 4th grade at Logan or Two Rivers who isn't desperate to get out. Maury or Brent would be better as older grade transfers (and Maury is farther away than it seems). I have no opinion on MV.

Maury is a 10 minute walk down C street but you won't get in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live right above Stanton Park. Commute is a priority because we have younger children and our nanny will need to pick our child up with a stroller on some days (but we might be able to figure out a parent mid-day pickup for the right school). IB is Peabody. I realize Brent and probably Maury are pointless but I have extra spots. Thoughts?

1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Maury Elementary School
5 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
6 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
7 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
8 Peabody Elementary School

I know of many people who carpool between Capitol Hill and charter schools. Yu Ying has a bus. I'd definitely put Stokes, Yu Ying, and Mundo at the top of your list for a good long term option. I'd also consider Lee Montessori and Inspired Teaching. I'm not blown away by any of those two but they're better than Watkins and a lot of Hill parents go there (carpool!). Maury, Brent, and Ludlow are wastes of a spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live right above Stanton Park. Commute is a priority because we have younger children and our nanny will need to pick our child up with a stroller on some days (but we might be able to figure out a parent mid-day pickup for the right school). IB is Peabody. I realize Brent and probably Maury are pointless but I have extra spots. Thoughts?

1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Maury Elementary School
5 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
6 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
7 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
8 Peabody Elementary School

You probably should add Van Ness Elementary....


1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Van Ness Elementary School
5 Maury Elementary School
6 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
7 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
8 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
9 Peabody Elementary School

[Anonymous]

I would not put down Montessori. I do know a parent who loved it, but most people are unhappy. I've heard about lack of supervision. I would personally put Ludlow beneath Peabody/Watkins. I have spent a lot of time at Ludlow and it certainly has strengths, but it is a mixed bag. We started our child at a not well thought of hill DCPS not on your list, and found it superior to our excellent, expensive private preschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not put down Montessori. I do know a parent who loved it, but most people are unhappy. I've heard about lack of supervision. I would personally put Ludlow beneath Peabody/Watkins. I have spent a lot of time at Ludlow and it certainly has strengths, but it is a mixed bag. We started our child at a not well thought of hill DCPS not on your list, and found it superior to our excellent, expensive private preschool.

What school is that? Sounds like something the OP might want to consider. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live right above Stanton Park. Commute is a priority because we have younger children and our nanny will need to pick our child up with a stroller on some days (but we might be able to figure out a parent mid-day pickup for the right school). IB is Peabody. I realize Brent and probably Maury are pointless but I have extra spots. Thoughts?

1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Maury Elementary School
5 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
6 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
7 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
8 Peabody Elementary School

I know of many people who carpool between Capitol Hill and charter schools. Yu Ying has a bus. I'd definitely put Stokes, Yu Ying, and Mundo at the top of your list for a good long term option. I'd also consider Lee Montessori and Inspired Teaching. I'm not blown away by any of those two but they're better than Watkins and a lot of Hill parents go there (carpool!). Maury, Brent, and Ludlow are wastes of a spot.

This. Except I actually prefer those charters (MV, Inspired, and Stokes, no interest in Mandarin) over any school on the Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We live right above Stanton Park. Commute is a priority because we have younger children and our nanny will need to pick our child up with a stroller on some days (but we might be able to figure out a parent mid-day pickup for the right school). IB is Peabody. I realize Brent and probably Maury are pointless but I have extra spots. Thoughts?

1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Maury Elementary School
5 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
6 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
7 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
8 Peabody Elementary School

You probably should add Van Ness Elementary....


1 School-Within-School
2 Capitol Hill Montessori School @ Logan
3 Brent Elementary School
4 Van Ness Elementary School
5 Maury Elementary School
6 Two Rivers PCS at 4th Street
7 Mundo Verde Bilingual PCS
8 Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School
9 Peabody Elementary School

I would put Van Ness down, but at the bottom. It's farther away from you and all the other schools listed are better. I'd also put Miner down as a safety. Not that far from you and great ECE program, Reggio inspired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also don't quite understand why you would list Peabody so low, except maybe for where you live. Unless you have some well thought out preferences for Montessori, I'd prefer Peabody over Logan Montessori for sure. If it's because you have some qualms about Watkins, I'd say take another look and keep in mind it'll be brand spanking new by the time your 1st grader gets there.

+1 Peabody would be first for me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don't quite understand why you would list Peabody so low, except maybe for where you live. Unless you have some well thought out preferences for Montessori, I'd prefer Peabody over Logan Montessori for sure. If it's because you have some qualms about Watkins, I'd say take another look and keep in mind it'll be brand spanking new by the time your 1st grader gets there.

+1 Peabody would be first for me

OP here. The reason it is so low is because I have qualms about Watkins. It makes me nervous that the people in boundary for Watkins don't seem to be staying. And I would prefer a smaller school. If I'm going to send my kid to a borderline school I would prefer one that we can walk to. And if it's a hike I would prefer a school that might solve our middle school issue (eg MV).

But maybe I'm being irrational.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also don't quite understand why you would list Peabody so low, except maybe for where you live. Unless you have some well thought out preferences for Montessori, I'd prefer Peabody over Logan Montessori for sure. If it's because you have some qualms about Watkins, I'd say take another look and keep in mind it'll be brand spanking new by the time your 1st grader gets there.

+1 Peabody would be first for me

OP here. The reason it is so low is because I have qualms about Watkins. It makes me nervous that the people in boundary for Watkins don't seem to be staying. And I would prefer a smaller school. If I'm going to send my kid to a borderline school I would prefer one that we can walk to. And if it's a hike I would prefer a school that might solve our middle school issue (eg MV).

But maybe I'm being irrational.

Then why don't you have MV on your list? Also, ITS is only 6 or so blocks from MV and also has middle.

[Anonymous]

OP did you visit Watkins? You should -- and it will be newly renovated after next year. About 60 1st and 2nd grade kids take the bus each morning to Watkins. Also SH is really improving with an increasing IB cohort -- many SWS families are going there this year. We love having fellow neighborhood kids - you can't beat the commute.

It will also guarantee a spot for your youngest in PK3 as an IB.