PK3 list for military family with unique-ish situation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're going to be IB for Leckie since you're living on base, I'd list it. For Montessori, you could do Nalle and Langdon.

Then I'd swap out Hyde-Addison, Bancroft, and Thomson, where you have very little chance. It seems you prefer Montessori to immersion, and Bancroft is immersion.

If you do in fact like immersion, why not the French programs at both Stokes schools?

You should also apply to LAMB, which runs its own lottery.

Langdon and LAMB would be inconvenient for a commute to Foggy Bottom.

Not any more inconvenient that Inspired Teaching or Lee Brookland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey all, recent lurker, first time poster. Backstory: my spouse and I lived in DC from 2010-2016, moved due to military service, and are now moving back (still in the military, got stationed locally). We own a house that's IB for Seaton, but it's currently rented through 1 December (and we're on the fence about moving back there or keeping it rented and renting somewhere else). We'll be living at Joint Base Anacostia Bolling to start, and then either moving to our IB Seaton-home or potentially to a rental that works for my spouse's commute to the Foggy Bottom area and my PK3 son's school. My son has been at a Montessori school/daycare for about 18 months and has really thrived. We also have a 9-month old. We'll likely be stationed here for 4 years, and there's a decent chance that I separate from active duty at that point to stay in the DC area.

Here is our current list. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you!

1. Hyde-Addison
2. Capitol Hill Montessori - Logan (Personally, I think this school is a hot mess. I would put Lee up a lot higher and this down at bottom as if you get in, you will drop below this list).
3. Bancroft (English Dominant) You do know that this is a Spanish immersion? English Dominant just means your lottery preference.
4. Lee Montessori - Brookland
5. MV - P St. (only bilingual on the list, spouse has background in French and I have Spanish/Italian - we've read the posts re: the amount of out of school support for such a program) Think about adding their second location which will be easier to get into this year.
6. SWS
7. Seaton (not IB for this lottery, but potentially future IB/"neighborhood school")
8. Inspired Teaching Demonstration School Personally, I would list this higher than CHM, probably top 3.
9. Friendship PCS Montessori - Armstrong (why doesn't this school get much love on DCUM?) I think this is a solid choice.
10. Thomson I think this is harder to get into than Shining Starts which is Montessori and exact scores as CHML.
11. Two Rivers PCS - 4th St
12. Lee Montessori PCS - East End (we could potentially remain living at Bolling)

I'll be in and out all day, so apologies in advance if I don't immediately respond to questions, I will do so as soon as I can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're going to be IB for Leckie since you're living on base, I'd list it. For Montessori, you could do Nalle and Langdon.

Then I'd swap out Hyde-Addison, Bancroft, and Thomson, where you have very little chance. It seems you prefer Montessori to immersion, and Bancroft is immersion.

If you do in fact like immersion, why not the French programs at both Stokes schools?

You should also apply to LAMB, which runs its own lottery.

Langdon and LAMB would be inconvenient for a commute to Foggy Bottom.

Not any more inconvenient that Inspired Teaching or Lee Brookland.

Only if you're guaranteed NE campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how good your odds are, but if your spouse works in Foggy Bottom, check out School Without Walls @ Francis Stevens.

You're right that SWW would be the closest to school to my spouse's work location. We got the impression that the curriculum at SWW was pretty structured and sort of the opposite of the Montessori model. We couldn't tell whether that was true for PK3 or just the older elementary school kids. Do you know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
2. Capitol Hill Montessori - Logan (Personally, I think this school is a hot mess. I would put Lee up a lot higher and this down at bottom as if you get in, you will drop below this list).

Can you explain why this is a hot mess? I think I saw another thread about an open house that was cancelled at the last minute with no notice to parents. Is that it or is there more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're going to be IB for Leckie since you're living on base, I'd list it. For Montessori, you could do Nalle and Langdon.

Then I'd swap out Hyde-Addison, Bancroft, and Thomson, where you have very little chance. It seems you prefer Montessori to immersion, and Bancroft is immersion.

If you do in fact like immersion, why not the French programs at both Stokes schools?

You should also apply to LAMB, which runs its own lottery.

Langdon and LAMB would be inconvenient for a commute to Foggy Bottom.

Not any more inconvenient that Inspired Teaching or Lee Brookland.

OP here - We did apply to the LAMB lottery. We thought if we got Inspired Teaching or Lee Brookland that we would look for rentals in that area. We're hoping to live on base only temporarily, so we have some flexibility on shortening the home-->school part of the commute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are a military family that left jbab a few months ago. Leckie was good for prek. I’d do leckie for the next two years (or until you move from jbab) and lottery/military preference into K somewhere else.

OP here, this is only tangentially related to the topic, but how is the housing on JBAB? My spouse has seen some reports very recently about concerns over mice and mold, and the reports appear to be more than the standard level of complaining about government housing, but I don't actually know. Any idea if this is base-wide or limited to particular neighborhoods? We'd be in CGO housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hyde-Addison is re-opening this fall. Brand new gorgeous facility. Lots of families left, because they did not want to go to remote temporary campus in Columbia Heights.

This year is literally your best - and perhaps last - chance to ever get in. My DW is pregnant and H-A is our local school. We plan on sending our son in a few years. Lots of other young pregnant couples in our 'hood are going to do the same. Within 5 years, the school will be 90%+ filled with in-bound families.

Put it at #1, if you're willing to make the trek.

OP here, thanks for the insight. I think we'll leave it on the list at this point. The trek is doable based on spouse's job location. As thousands of DC parents tell themselves, someone has to get that spot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a military family that left jbab a few months ago. Leckie was good for prek. I’d do leckie for the next two years (or until you move from jbab) and lottery/military preference into K somewhere else.

OP here, this is only tangentially related to the topic, but how is the housing on JBAB? My spouse has seen some reports very recently about concerns over mice and mold, and the reports appear to be more than the standard level of complaining about government housing, but I don't actually know. Any idea if this is base-wide or limited to particular neighborhoods? We'd be in CGO housing.

I don't know what CGO is. My spouse is enlisted and we chose older housing to save money on BAH. We loved our neighborhood. There were mice problems for sure but there are mice problems all over DC. DC was ranked something like the 3rd rattiest city in the United States. We had issues but housing always fixed them in a timely manner. I'd live there again if we went back.

[Anonymous]

OP I'm a little confused. It seems like you have an array of needs. Spouse commute. Your commute. Public school AND daycare (you have more than one child...). Also, before and after-care??

Unless you LOVE Seaton and the house you own also answers some of the above, I'd leave the tenants in. Then rent in a place that answers as many of the above satisfactorily as possible. If you rent in bounds, your kid is in, done and done. Lots of rentals up and down wisconsin, good elementary schools with good before and after care, easy commute to foggy bottom, and you could take your baby with you to daycare on base? Split the load with your wife?

[Anonymous]

Also, once you are settled many neighborhoods in DC have great yahoo list servers where you can search for babysitters etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm a little confused. It seems like you have an array of needs. Spouse commute. Your commute. Public school AND daycare (you have more than one child...). Also, before and after-care??

Unless you LOVE Seaton and the house you own also answers some of the above, I'd leave the tenants in. Then rent in a place that answers as many of the above satisfactorily as possible. If you rent in bounds, your kid is in, done and done. Lots of rentals up and down wisconsin, good elementary schools with good before and after care, easy commute to foggy bottom, and you could take your baby with you to daycare on base? Split the load with your wife?

OP here. You're not confused, you're spot on! The hang up is we won't be moving until July, so the only place we think we can reasonably establish residency by May 1 is on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling (JBAB) -- we'll be able to show military orders and the fact that we're on the housing wait list at JBAB. So we wouldn't be IB for any of the schools on Wisconsin. I think your overall point is incredibly valid -- finding a way to balance those 4-5 needs and keeping the logistics simple.

We are planning on using on-base childcare for our 1 year old -- I'm trying to find ways to split the load while working for an employer who, for the last 3 years at my current assignment, has been pretty indifferent to family needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP I'm a little confused. It seems like you have an array of needs. Spouse commute. Your commute. Public school AND daycare (you have more than one child...). Also, before and after-care??

Unless you LOVE Seaton and the house you own also answers some of the above, I'd leave the tenants in. Then rent in a place that answers as many of the above satisfactorily as possible. If you rent in bounds, your kid is in, done and done. Lots of rentals up and down wisconsin, good elementary schools with good before and after care, easy commute to foggy bottom, and you could take your baby with you to daycare on base? Split the load with your wife?

OP here. You're not confused, you're spot on! The hang up is we won't be moving until July, so the only place we think we can reasonably establish residency by May 1 is on Joint Base Anacostia Bolling (JBAB) -- we'll be able to show military orders and the fact that we're on the housing wait list at JBAB. So we wouldn't be IB for any of the schools on Wisconsin. I think your overall point is incredibly valid -- finding a way to balance those 4-5 needs and keeping the logistics simple.

We are planning on using on-base childcare for our 1 year old -- I'm trying to find ways to split the load while working for an employer who, for the last 3 years at my current assignment, has been pretty indifferent to family needs.

If you are only here for a couple of years make your life far simpler send your PK kid to Leckie. It is fine/good for ECE (virtually every DCPS is).

Have you looked into the new charter that is opening to better support military families? It is due to open in 19-20, giving you more options for the following year. https://www.dcpcsb.org/blog/board-approves-new-school-military-families.

When you are more settled you can figure out where you really want to live and figure out schools when you are in the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
2. Capitol Hill Montessori - Logan (Personally, I think this school is a hot mess. I would put Lee up a lot higher and this down at bottom as if you get in, you will drop below this list).

Can you explain why this is a hot mess? I think I saw another thread about an open house that was cancelled at the last minute with no notice to parents. Is that it or is there more?

Combination of mediocre test and growth scores and admin. I have close friends that have been and have been less than impressed, particularly with the Montessori instruction as well as overall school strength. Lee seems to have figured it out (in less than 5 years). I am not a parent at Lee but would def rank it way higher than CHML. It used to be known just as Logan if you’re checking old threads. Honestly, I would consider Shining Stars before CHML.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to share, OP, that my kid is in PK4 at Friendship Armstrong this year, and next year DC2 will join and we'll be there for PK3 and K. We love the Reggio program, though I know Reggio is not like Montessori. If you put it as a safety on your list you will likely get in as they have a lot of PK classrooms.