Yu Ying Questions

[Anonymous]

Disagree with 11:24. I believe when the lottery is held in ~March all applicants are randomly sorted. Siblings of current students and founder's children come to the top. All other applicants go below. Some are admitted, the wait list is then maintained in the lottery generated order.

If you miss the lottery deadline, and are added to the wait list after the deadline, you go to the bottom of the wait list.

[Anonymous]

New Poster here - Sorry to hijak, but I have a question for folks - Do people ever join Yu Ying (or other charters) mid year? For example, people that move to DC from elsewhere in Jan of a school year? If there are open spaces, can they be enrolled, or do those spaces go to the folks on the waitlist (even if the year is half over)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couple of other things that might be relevant. I believe that applying early to Yu Ying gives you a higher number on the waitlist in case you don't get in through the lottery. And, if your son will be preK 3, there is a nice preschool right next door to Yu Ying that an increasing number of Yu Ying younger sibs are starting to attend. At leat one Yu Ying Chinese teacher also has a child there. So, your son could make some friends that would be in his class the next year and possibly have a few Chinese speakers to hang out with.

YY parent here. I have heard a lot of negative feedback about Potomac Lighthouse's pre-school. OTOH, there seem to be a number of YY families at Bridges and, I think, Appletree for Pre-K3 (pre-school).

[Anonymous]

11:24 here. I'm not talking about Potomac--I'm talking about Scrilli.

[Anonymous]

To 12:10. The economics of charter schools. Count the kids once, in the fall. The per pupil payment is made based on that count. Accepting a mid-year student, even if there is a mid-year withdrawal, does not generate any more funds for the school. So, there is no economic motivation for the school to accept kids mid year.

Also, charters need to keep a wait list. I believe the regs require every wait listed child to be offered a place in order. Each child gets some time period (say 72 hours, maybe 24 hours or 48 hours) to accept/reject.

My conclusion. Seems unlikely to get a mid-year acceptance. But anything can happen. Call and see what the schools you are interested in say.

[Anonymous]

12:10 poster here - Thanks so much to 12:58 poster. I will check directly with the charter schools to find out what their policy is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the OP...thanks to everyone for the very helpful information! It gives us a lot to think about. Yu Ying certainly sounds like it has heaps of committed people behind it and the FLAP grant is great news. I think establishing Chinese levels would be helpful, because what will Yu Ying do if there's only two classes per grade and some kids depart, but new kids can't enroll past 3rd (without that proficiency)? I'm feeling torn between keeping up Chinese, being around Chinese expat kids and native-speakers (which sounds like would prob have more of at Layfayette), the IB curriculum (which is a fantastic program that really suits my oldest), and going with the neighborhood school which sounds easy during a time of transition and culture shock. At least I feel like we have the option for him to transfer into third grade, say if he goes with Layfayette our first year back. (If we were to continue him with a Saturday school Chinese in the meantime, I assume there are some? Will have to ask our Chinese friends who lived in DC for a while.)

If anyone is still reading....how do I do the Pre-K lottery for my youngest? In March, can I multiple lotteries?: one for second grade Yu Ying, one for sibling Pre-K4 Yu Ying, and one for sibling Layfayette Pre-K4? Can I only invoke one sibling preference? And, if we're not yet enrolled in Layfayette (just moving back into our in-bounds house) how will they know it's sibling preference? I'm still trying to get over that my boys 26 mos apart (oldest, sep birthday, youngest nov) will be three years apart in school and that if I don't get a pre-K4 spot he will go from full-time pre-k (this year) to being home with me (unless I enroll him in private?). But, then again, he is my baby and it will be a big transition back. Finally, if we don't get Yu Ying lottery or choose Layfayette (for second grader), is there a deadline to apply?

In the meantime, I'm going to check out WIS (public?) and Thomson.

I appreciate any wisdom since I won't go back to look at schools until we move back in August. Thanks to all!!

OP, there are a few Lafayette families at Yu Ying so you might be able to carpool as those numbers are sure to increase. If you're looking to support your son's Mandarin, you're going to have a hard time finding something more substantial than Yu Ying anywhere - there are less than 20 such programs (Mandarin Immersion IB) in the entire country. The school's goal is for the children to be bilingual and biliterate in Chinese by the time they're in middle school. Only you can decide if that intersects with your goals for your child, but if you think the transition from China to the U.S. might be challenging wouldn't it be easier to be at a school where he'd speak Chinese every other day? In any case, the person to talk to at Yu Ying about whether or not he could enroll after 2nd grade is Mary Shaffner. She would be the one to know about whether or not the charter permits that or if it can be amended to do so. It's true that your younger one will have much better odds getting in if the older one attends. And of course, yes there are Saturday schools in the area to support Mandarin, I'm sure they would love to have your son.

As for lotteries, each charter school holds their own so you can enter as many charter lotteries as you find schools to which you would apply. Because each school is independent they have their own deadlines as well. It's a little different with DCPS, you can enter up to 5 schools via the OOB lottery. Only a few of them offer Pre-K 3 and none of those are in your neighborhood, though there are also some charter schools which offer Pre-K 3. Most schools will work with you regarding their documentation and the lottery process, you are not the first local family to return to the area and need to deal with the school bureaucracy. If I were you I would call them and make sure to talk to the Director and explain that you own a house in DC, will be living in DC for the 2010-2011 school year, but you need to be able to manage the lottery and enrollment from elsewhere.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

OP here, THANK YOU everyone! I really appreciate all your information and advice!

[Anonymous]

FYI, for any interested parents:

There is an Open House at 6:30pm tonight at Washington Yu Ying. If you'd like to learn about the International Baccalaureate PYP program and how Mandarin Immersion works at Yu Ying, please attend.

http://www.washingtonyuying.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=25&Itemid=39&lang=en

[Anonymous]

I think Yu Ying has a deadline for admission of sometime in October. They felt that if the students hadn't been involved in the immersion program by October or so it would be too late.

As for coming in from other Mandarin immersion courses, I suspect this might be something Yu Ying will have to re-examine in the future. Many folks in DC get relocated back and forth from DC to other places like Beijing or Singapore or whatever and have kids who are 'keeping up' with the Mandarin and I suspect there might be some opportunities for them in the future.

[Anonymous]

As of today (October 9th), Washington Yu Ying is officially accepting applications for the fall of 2010. You can apply online in English or Mandarin at the link below:

http://www.washingtonyuying.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=64&lang=en

[Anonymous]

As a previous poster mentioned, for weekend Chinese classes go to the Hope School. There is one in Rockville at Walter Johnson High School, and I believe another in Virginia somewhere. It is where all the Chinese ex-pats (who are not diplomats - the embassy has classes for their employees) send their kids on weekends. I have a few friends whose children attend. It's the Chinese system of education (pretty intense from what I'm told!) that offers classes for kids from 4 up to 12th grade, I believe.

Good luck!