Entry into DCI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can any of the feeders host a 6th grade class for lottery losers? That might buy them some time or maybe they could join DCI at 7th.

That doesn't seem at all likely; they'd need to amend their entire charter, find space for the extra classes, hiring, ceiling increase, etc.

[Anonymous]

I understand the risk aversion of people who are lottering into these schools now, but please keep in mind that there are new options opening every day, including DCPS schools that are showing promise -- and perhaps even a test-in middle school in teh building that now houses Banneker.

Latin is actively considering a replication, a Montessori middle school is close to a proposal to open that in all likelihood, have to accept students at 6th from outside any of the Montessori feeders (same as DCI does).

Finally, Stokes and LAMB graduated students for several years before DCI was even open, and all those students landed somewhere (mine is one of them, and is now graduating from a charter high school and is accepted to several colleges with significant merit scholarships at all but one).

I know that the number of students is larger now, but so are the better performing DCPS and charter options and I have no doubt that by the time your 3/4/5/6-year-olds are 10-11 there will be more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the risk aversion of people who are lottering into these schools now, but please keep in mind that there are new options opening every day, including DCPS schools that are showing promise -- and perhaps even a test-in middle school in teh building that now houses Banneker.

Latin is actively considering a replication, a Montessori middle school is close to a proposal to open that in all likelihood, have to accept students at 6th from outside any of the Montessori feeders (same as DCI does).

Finally, Stokes and LAMB graduated students for several years before DCI was even open, and all those students landed somewhere (mine is one of them, and is now graduating from a charter high school and is accepted to several colleges with significant merit scholarships at all but one).

I know that the number of students is larger now, but so are the better performing DCPS and charter options and I have no doubt that by the time your 3/4/5/6-year-olds are 10-11 there will be more.

+1. Thanks, PP. My kid is in PK3 at a DCI "feeder," and this is my mentality, too. I am hopeful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the risk aversion of people who are lottering into these schools now, but please keep in mind that there are new options opening every day, including DCPS schools that are showing promise -- and perhaps even a test-in middle school in teh building that now houses Banneker.

Latin is actively considering a replication, a Montessori middle school is close to a proposal to open that in all likelihood, have to accept students at 6th from outside any of the Montessori feeders (same as DCI does).

Finally, Stokes and LAMB graduated students for several years before DCI was even open, and all those students landed somewhere (mine is one of them, and is now graduating from a charter high school and is accepted to several colleges with significant merit scholarships at all but one).

I know that the number of students is larger now, but so are the better performing DCPS and charter options and I have no doubt that by the time your 3/4/5/6-year-olds are 10-11 there will be more.

I agree with this, plus there will also be tremendous pressure on DCI to expand to meet demand. 4+ years is still quite a bit of time for them to get their model right, as they have stated. I can imagine the DCI middle and high school separating into two different buildings, as an example. I have a PK4 child at LAMB and I am not (yet) worried about this in any way.

[Anonymous]

Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand the risk aversion of people who are lottering into these schools now, but please keep in mind that there are new options opening every day, including DCPS schools that are showing promise -- and perhaps even a test-in middle school in teh building that now houses Banneker.

Latin is actively considering a replication, a Montessori middle school is close to a proposal to open that in all likelihood, have to accept students at 6th from outside any of the Montessori feeders (same as DCI does).

Finally, Stokes and LAMB graduated students for several years before DCI was even open, and all those students landed somewhere (mine is one of them, and is now graduating from a charter high school and is accepted to several colleges with significant merit scholarships at all but one).

I know that the number of students is larger now, but so are the better performing DCPS and charter options and I have no doubt that by the time your 3/4/5/6-year-olds are 10-11 there will be more.

+1. The other MS/HS options are getting better each year. We're at a DCI feeder and already some kids have peeled off for Basis and Latin. We're deciding between Deal and DCI for our oldest and we know some other families in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Why would you think parents supported expansion in any of the cases? Parents have very little influence on these decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Why would you think parents supported expansion in any of the cases? Parents have very little influence on these decisions.

+1. The PCSB encourages Tier 1 schools to expand, especially those that offer immersion, which is what so many parents say they want. That puts pressure on the schools, but usually, the plan is cooked (with the school's own board approving the plan) by the time parents are informed.

Adding to that, the feeder administration and boards have little to no influence on DCI's decisions. They really are six totally separate organizations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Good point. We're leaving our DCI feeder in the Fall to go to our IB DCPS, but we voted against expansion in the survey for this very reason. It's a shame that kids would spend 8 years in an immersion elementary then have to literally win the lottery towards the end of 5th grade to continue their language program. Of course our school just announced they're expanding anyway, but it makes me sad to look at the younger kids knowing some of them won't continue on to DCI if they get a bad lottery number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Good point. We're leaving our DCI feeder in the Fall to go to our IB DCPS, but we voted against expansion in the survey for this very reason. It's a shame that kids would spend 8 years in an immersion elementary then have to literally win the lottery towards the end of 5th grade to continue their language program. Of course our school just announced they're expanding anyway, but it makes me sad to look at the younger kids knowing some of them won't continue on to DCI if they get a bad lottery number.

DCPS has several options for those who want to continue past ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Why would you think parents supported expansion in any of the cases? Parents have very little influence on these decisions.

They may not care, if they live IB for Deal/Wilson or are planning to go elsewhere for whatever reason.

Most of the current parents are not affected by the expansion anyway.

[Anonymous]

And really the number of seats requested for DCI were chosen by the feeders, not DCI. Feeder leaders set their own number and gave that number to DCI. It may be that they underestimated DCI's appeal and did not factor in their own growth plans. They could have chosen a higher number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And really the number of seats requested for DCI were chosen by the feeders, not DCI. Feeder leaders set their own number and gave that number to DCI. It may be that they underestimated DCI's appeal and did not factor in their own growth plans. They could have chosen a higher number.

Yes, but the number had to be grounded in each feeder's then-current enrollment ceiling. Even if a feeder was still growing toward 5th (as MV and DCB were at the time), the PCSB had approved a ceiling and the feeders then asked for a number of DCI seats that did not exceed their enrollment ceilings. The projections for each charter was reviewed by PCSB staff, and if, say MV had sought 80 more seats than they were then-approved for, and DCI went with that number, it would have been rejected by the PCSB and amended to reflect the MV ceiling.

When DCI sought its own charter, the asked for a ceiling that would accommodate all of those students AND additional seats for students who could lottery in (up through 9th). The PCSB demanded that DCI create seats for non-feeder kids when the application was moving through the process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Good point. We're leaving our DCI feeder in the Fall to go to our IB DCPS, but we voted against expansion in the survey for this very reason. It's a shame that kids would spend 8 years in an immersion elementary then have to literally win the lottery towards the end of 5th grade to continue their language program. Of course our school just announced they're expanding anyway, but it makes me sad to look at the younger kids knowing some of them won't continue on to DCI if they get a bad lottery number.

DCPS has several options for those who want to continue past ES.

Only for Spanish, not Mandarin or French.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would any parents in the feeders support expansion if it means cutting their chances of getting into DCI?

Why would you think parents supported expansion in any of the cases? Parents have very little influence on these decisions.

+1. The PCSB encourages Tier 1 schools to expand, especially those that offer immersion, which is what so many parents say they want. That puts pressure on the schools, but usually, the plan is cooked (with the school's own board approving the plan) by the time parents are informed.

Adding to that, the feeder administration and boards have little to no influence on DCI's decisions. They really are six totally separate organizations.

The parents can’t collectively raise a stink, a vote of no confidence in leadership or take it public? Charters hate public fights from parents?