4th grade wait list movement
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Anonymous
OP here. I wanted to add that the reason we are lotterying for these schools is that I have a new job and they are on my commute now. In earlier years, it would have been a logistical nightmare to get DD to any of them and then get to work, but now I am literally driving by them at drop off time and more or less around dismissal time as well, so it made sense. I was surprised that the wait list numbers were as low as they were since I knew it was a total long shot. Our IB is working just fine. DD is not stressed but like any kid wants to know if she's returning to the same school or going to a different one. She has reasons she wants to switch and reasons she wants to stay. Not everything has to be a dramatic crisis. It's good to have options. |
Anonymous
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For the most part - class lists are being finalized this week across the schools you mention (or they are already final).
The schools probably will not know if there are any additional spots available until after the school year starts. These are typically stable school populations. I would call each of the schools and ask what they thought your chances were. You also probably will not get a call that there is a spot until after the school year starts. If your IB is good enough - and you are not concerned with middle school - you might just want to stay where you are. If there is the slightest chance that you need a stronger MS option, I would take a spot if you get the call. Most of these schools do not offer spots in 5th grade as it is a year that is focused on transition and they do not want to bring a new child into the cohort. |
Anonymous
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We got this message today for Thomson, which feeds to SWWFS:
Hello DCPS Waitlist Family, Happy Summer, and almost start of the new school year! DCPS has shared with Thomson a list of possible waitlisted families across the city. We are reaching out to you with an opportunity to fill one of our vacant seats in first/fourth grades. If you are interested in one of these seats, please let us know, then apply for Thomson through www.myschooldc.org in order for us to offer the seat to you. You can access additional information about our school community here: Our Website https://www.thomsondcps.org/ DCPS website http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/Thomson+Elementary+School Best of luck in the coming year, and we look forward to hearing from you. Best, Carmen S. Shepherd Principal |
Anonymous
Wow, I am amazed they hit waitlist zero. |
Anonymous
| My DC is a rising 4th grader. We were waitlisted #1 for all of the schools you listed and another one not on your list. We turned down offers from two of them this Summer (one was Eaton). We haven't heard anything from Lafayette, Hearst, or Murch. |
Anonymous
For the schools where you have not received an offer, would you accept a spot if offered? If yes - OP - your chances are slim. |
Anonymous
| As a 4th grade parent at one of those listed schools, where our classes are already 25/26 kids, I would be unhappy with more students coming from the OOB list. It’s too many kids. |
Anonymous
My assumption would be that your school will not be offering OOB spots. 2 years ago my 4th graders at a WOTP school had 21 kids in the class. Clearly - they would have offered a spot or two BUT ....... people need to think through the entre picture. What does that mean for Deal? Does anyone care? |
Anonymous
| We are at another school. They actually accepted more students- a few, not too many- in order to ensure that an entire additional class could be added in order to avoid class sizes of 26/27. So now there is an additional class, and the enrollment has held steady allowing for approximately 22 kids or so in each room for our cohort. |
Anonymous
OP here. Overcrowding at Deal and WOTP gets discussed ad nauseam on other threads. Based on the data I've seen and the projections I've read, it seems to me that it is simply a matter of time before Deal feeders do not offer any OOB seats. Of the schools on our list, Murch is 77% IB, Lafayette 86% IB, and Hearst 59% IB. (Eaton feeds to Hardy, so that's not relevant to the Deal situation.) I strongly suspect that if you look at PK4, K and 1st grade, what you will see is few if any OOB students. I have thought for some time that the issue of OOB feeder rights will likely sort itself out as more and more in-bounds families choose their local school over some other option. As those schools become more and more crowded with IB kids, I believe that a major boundary revision combined with opening new schools to accommodate the number of kids involved will be necessary. I fear that this will not happen in the next boundary review because the political will is not there, which is unfortunate for the kids involved. |
Anonymous
| No one at DCPS or the elementary schools care — because sometimes they need to meet a threshold number of students to break them into two classes. Principals are invented to take care of their school, not think about what happens down the road at another school. |
Anonymous
Meh. Hearst offered 7 waitlist 4th grade spots last year, Lafayette offered one, and Much offered one. There's another school on our list that offered 12. The odds could be worse. |
Anonymous
The list already moved 11, and her kid is still 5th on it. At least 1 of the 11 slots that appears to be a WL offer was someone taking themselves off the WL. Perhaps they will get to 16...but I agree that chances are slim. |
Anonymous
Last year's Hearst 4th grade had 18 kids per class. Very different than the rest of the grades. Principal will have some explaining to do this year with 25-kid classes already |
Anonymous
DP here. We were also listed at #1 or 2 at many WOTP schools and so far have turned down, among the schools you listed, Eaton. Haven't heard back from Murch or Hearst; Lafayette wasn't one of our choices. |