Does anyone on Capitol Hill send their kid to an elementary in upper NW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on the Hill are looking to the new MacArthur HS on MacArthur Boulevard as a back-up if our kids strike out at Walls. With MacArthur coming on line, this business of jumping to an ES in NW to access Deal and JR may become less common. MacArthur opens in fall 2023 and should be a good bet for current 7th and 6th graders OOB, since it won't fill up quickly. DCPS is planning to offer similar academics to those at JR at MacArthur, including dozens of APs, BC calc, multi-variate algebra/college math, dual enrollment language courses past AP at George Washington etc. The commute from the Hill will only be a little longer than to Walls.

The commute is horrific! You can get to Walls on the metro. Totally different.

I disagree. Take the Blue or Orange Line to Farragut, or the D6 bus then ride an e-scooter to MacArthur in 15 mins. It's a 35-min commute from our place in SE door to door. We're at a middle school charter, not BASIS, ready to leave. We've put in for MacArthur in the lottery for fall 2023 as a back-up in case kid doesn't get into Walls. Every good 8th grade student on the Hill doesn't get into Walls so I'm glad that McArthur may be in an option going forward.

Is that a joke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on the Hill are looking to the new MacArthur HS on MacArthur Boulevard as a back-up if our kids strike out at Walls. With MacArthur coming on line, this business of jumping to an ES in NW to access Deal and JR may become less common. MacArthur opens in fall 2023 and should be a good bet for current 7th and 6th graders OOB, since it won't fill up quickly. DCPS is planning to offer similar academics to those at JR at MacArthur, including dozens of APs, BC calc, multi-variate algebra/college math, dual enrollment language courses past AP at George Washington etc. The commute from the Hill will only be a little longer than to Walls.

The commute is horrific! You can get to Walls on the metro. Totally different.

NP. The point, I think, is that with the new HS parents don't need to jump ship to a NW ES or MS, thereby negating the need to commute for 10 years or so. Families can rely on ES they like and try their luck for Latin or BASIS, maybe consider SH and see if it happens and know that a NW HS is an option. Yeah, the commute sucks. But these are HS kids and it is 4 years. Versus 10 years of ES + MS commuting just to secure a spot at JR.

PP's comment comes to this from a juvenile perspective. No one is saying that in a choice between a school on the metro and one that isn't that people would choose the one that isn't. The question is broader and more complicated.

P.S. I just love how you assume everyone lives near a Metro. That's an entitled view that tells us a lot about your worldview.

A NW high school is not an "option." You still need to *win a lottery* to get a spot there. PS most people on the Hill live close to a Metro. But tell me again how entitled I am to believe that you should live in a neighbohood accessible to a school, by school bus? "Entitlement" is also on my Hill Bingo card:

' "Hey, I think it would be nice to have this thing that people all over have for their kids"
"SO ENTITLED! On the Hill we don't have nice things, and WE LOVE IT!"

You are lashing out and you don't even seem to know why or at whom. The point that was being made was that the new NW HS is not expected to be popular with current JR families which should make OOB enrollment at the new HS pretty easy. You can disagree with the premise, but that was the premise on which the discussion was based. If you could take your hate blinders off for a moment you might notice that. No one argued you should not have a HS where you live. No one. That wasn't part of any of the discussion. Not sure where you got that. And, no, "most people" on hill don't live "close" to a metro. Lots live 20+ minute walks away where a city bus would be a much better option. Not everyone lives in Eastern Market my friend.

Someone called you juvenile and you threw a temper tantrum. Not sure that doesn't prove the point.

Yes, call someone "juvenile" when they point out all is not rosy. Sounds like a real bona fide effort to let people know the pluses and minuses of living on the Hill.

The point about JR is a) you still need to win a lottery to get in and b) it will be a PITA to get there.

The Hill is a kind of crappy place to live with older kids.

Why would anyone care about your opinion that the Hill is a bad place to live with older kids when you so manifestly don’t live there?

added to my Hill Bingo card. “Haters are just jealous suburbanites!”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the expectation that mcarthur is going to fill its OOB spots with at-risk kids (through the at-risk preference) not UMC kids from ward 6? I agree it won’t be popular with families who have the option of JR, but I’m not sure it will be the solution for UMC kids outside ward 3.

It will probably have some spots. Transit is actually a huge issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on the Hill are looking to the new MacArthur HS on MacArthur Boulevard as a back-up if our kids strike out at Walls. With MacArthur coming on line, this business of jumping to an ES in NW to access Deal and JR may become less common. MacArthur opens in fall 2023 and should be a good bet for current 7th and 6th graders OOB, since it won't fill up quickly. DCPS is planning to offer similar academics to those at JR at MacArthur, including dozens of APs, BC calc, multi-variate algebra/college math, dual enrollment language courses past AP at George Washington etc. The commute from the Hill will only be a little longer than to Walls.

The commute is horrific! You can get to Walls on the metro. Totally different.

NP. The point, I think, is that with the new HS parents don't need to jump ship to a NW ES or MS, thereby negating the need to commute for 10 years or so. Families can rely on ES they like and try their luck for Latin or BASIS, maybe consider SH and see if it happens and know that a NW HS is an option. Yeah, the commute sucks. But these are HS kids and it is 4 years. Versus 10 years of ES + MS commuting just to secure a spot at JR.

PP's comment comes to this from a juvenile perspective. No one is saying that in a choice between a school on the metro and one that isn't that people would choose the one that isn't. The question is broader and more complicated.

P.S. I just love how you assume everyone lives near a Metro. That's an entitled view that tells us a lot about your worldview.

A NW high school is not an "option." You still need to *win a lottery* to get a spot there. PS most people on the Hill live close to a Metro. But tell me again how entitled I am to believe that you should live in a neighbohood accessible to a school, by school bus? "Entitlement" is also on my Hill Bingo card:

' "Hey, I think it would be nice to have this thing that people all over have for their kids"
"SO ENTITLED! On the Hill we don't have nice things, and WE LOVE IT!"

You are lashing out and you don't even seem to know why or at whom. The point that was being made was that the new NW HS is not expected to be popular with current JR families which should make OOB enrollment at the new HS pretty easy. You can disagree with the premise, but that was the premise on which the discussion was based. If you could take your hate blinders off for a moment you might notice that. No one argued you should not have a HS where you live. No one. That wasn't part of any of the discussion. Not sure where you got that. And, no, "most people" on hill don't live "close" to a metro. Lots live 20+ minute walks away where a city bus would be a much better option. Not everyone lives in Eastern Market my friend.

Someone called you juvenile and you threw a temper tantrum. Not sure that doesn't prove the point.

Yes, call someone "juvenile" when they point out all is not rosy. Sounds like a real bona fide effort to let people know the pluses and minuses of living on the Hill.

The point about JR is a) you still need to win a lottery to get in and b) it will be a PITA to get there.

The Hill is a kind of crappy place to live with older kids.

Why would anyone care about your opinion that the Hill is a bad place to live with older kids when you so manifestly don’t live there?

added to my Hill Bingo card. “Haters are just jealous suburbanites!”

I think your interpretation should cause you to think about why you’re so hung up on hating on the Hill. I didn’t say you were jealous and I didn’t say you were suburban. I didn’t even imply those things.

[Anonymous]

Some inbound kids in Upper NW aren’t always so nice and can be mean. Some of those kids have behavior problems, too.

Commutes can be a pain but certainly your child is worth it. Some kids take long commutes to prestigious private schools in D.C. and the suburbs. No different with public schools. Some parents take long commutes to work. You get used to it and do what you have to do. There’s public transportation throughout D.C. if you don’t want to drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t the expectation that mcarthur is going to fill its OOB spots with at-risk kids (through the at-risk preference) not UMC kids from ward 6? I agree it won’t be popular with families who have the option of JR, but I’m not sure it will be the solution for UMC kids outside ward 3.

Does anybody else remember what happened when Latin Cooper established at at-risk preference? Hardly any low SES families put in for the new school in the lottery. Most of the spots that had been set aside have gone to UMC students from Ward 6. I expect the very same thing to happen with MacArthur. It's not easy to get there from Ward 6 let alone Wards 5, 7 or 8.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have ideas on how to actually fix these issues? We are zoned for Watkins. There are a few great elementary schools on the Hill, but we can all agree that the middle school and high school options need help. What is the solve? We love the Hill. How do we raise our kids here? Who can actually help? Why isn’t this the issue that Charles Allen is working on the most?

[Anonymous]

You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

I am, I have a 3 year old. I’m just so frustrated that it seems like this has been a challenge for 2 decades and still isn’t solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Charles Allen is sending his kid to SH next year. Having spoken to him at length on this topic, I honestly think he doesn't think there's an issue with Hill MS options. (He intentionally lotteried his kids out of Miner and into JOW/LT before moving IB for LT, so I don't think he's a IB-only true believer. But I assume he will try to get his kids into a selective DCPS HS.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have ideas on how to actually fix these issues? We are zoned for Watkins. There are a few great elementary schools on the Hill, but we can all agree that the middle school and high school options need help. What is the solve? We love the Hill. How do we raise our kids here? Who can actually help? Why isn’t this the issue that Charles Allen is working on the most?

Peabody is great, so you're fine through K. Lottery every year for Brent/Maury/LT/SWS and you will get into one -- likely Brent or LT -- by 2nd or 3rd unless you're extremely unlucky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Current parent of a Jefferson seventh grader here. While I strongly disagree with your view of the school (I believe it is, in fact, great) you are entitled to you opinion.

But what I want to know is where did you hear that Jefferson is "half empty." If that were true, then why did 37 of the 98 kids who were waitlisted for the current school year never receive an offer? And why did 65 of the 82 kids who were waitlisted for last year not receive an offer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on the Hill are looking to the new MacArthur HS on MacArthur Boulevard as a back-up if our kids strike out at Walls. With MacArthur coming on line, this business of jumping to an ES in NW to access Deal and JR may become less common. MacArthur opens in fall 2023 and should be a good bet for current 7th and 6th graders OOB, since it won't fill up quickly. DCPS is planning to offer similar academics to those at JR at MacArthur, including dozens of APs, BC calc, multi-variate algebra/college math, dual enrollment language courses past AP at George Washington etc. The commute from the Hill will only be a little longer than to Walls.

The commute is horrific! You can get to Walls on the metro. Totally different.

NP. The point, I think, is that with the new HS parents don't need to jump ship to a NW ES or MS, thereby negating the need to commute for 10 years or so. Families can rely on ES they like and try their luck for Latin or BASIS, maybe consider SH and see if it happens and know that a NW HS is an option. Yeah, the commute sucks. But these are HS kids and it is 4 years. Versus 10 years of ES + MS commuting just to secure a spot at JR.

PP's comment comes to this from a juvenile perspective. No one is saying that in a choice between a school on the metro and one that isn't that people would choose the one that isn't. The question is broader and more complicated.

P.S. I just love how you assume everyone lives near a Metro. That's an entitled view that tells us a lot about your worldview.

A NW high school is not an "option." You still need to *win a lottery* to get a spot there. PS most people on the Hill live close to a Metro. But tell me again how entitled I am to believe that you should live in a neighbohood accessible to a school, by school bus? "Entitlement" is also on my Hill Bingo card:

' "Hey, I think it would be nice to have this thing that people all over have for their kids"
"SO ENTITLED! On the Hill we don't have nice things, and WE LOVE IT!"

You are lashing out and you don't even seem to know why or at whom. The point that was being made was that the new NW HS is not expected to be popular with current JR families which should make OOB enrollment at the new HS pretty easy. You can disagree with the premise, but that was the premise on which the discussion was based. If you could take your hate blinders off for a moment you might notice that. No one argued you should not have a HS where you live. No one. That wasn't part of any of the discussion. Not sure where you got that. And, no, "most people" on hill don't live "close" to a metro. Lots live 20+ minute walks away where a city bus would be a much better option. Not everyone lives in Eastern Market my friend.

Someone called you juvenile and you threw a temper tantrum. Not sure that doesn't prove the point.

Yes, call someone "juvenile" when they point out all is not rosy. Sounds like a real bona fide effort to let people know the pluses and minuses of living on the Hill.

The point about JR is a) you still need to win a lottery to get in and b) it will be a PITA to get there.

The Hill is a kind of crappy place to live with older kids.

Why would anyone care about your opinion that the Hill is a bad place to live with older kids when you so manifestly don’t live there?

added to my Hill Bingo card. “Haters are just jealous suburbanites!”

I think your interpretation should cause you to think about why you’re so hung up on hating on the Hill. I didn’t say you were jealous and I didn’t say you were suburban. I didn’t even imply those things.

Don't reply to the DCUM trolls. This is what they do. Talk sh*t about other neighborhoods, schools, etc. Anyone who says, "I like it here and I am glad to be here" is "wrong". Then they project and pretend like the people who said "I like living on the Hill" are the ones who indicted other people's choices.

It happens every day on DCUM. It's weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You sound new. Charles Allen is just one council member among 18 and has never shown much interest in ed reform (though he certainly talks the talk).

In your shoes, I'd try to lottery into Brent, Maury and Ludlow every year until I succeeded with one of them. I'd try for Latin 1, Latin Cooper, BASIS and Inspired Teaching for middle school.

I wouldn't bother lobbying Charles Allen or lobbying pols. We did that for years with fellow Brent parents and achieved nothing, other than launching an 60 million $ renovation of not-so-great Jefferson Academy (5 years later, still half empty).

Charles Allen is sending his kid to SH next year. Having spoken to him at length on this topic, I honestly think he doesn't think there's an issue with Hill MS options. (He intentionally lotteried his kids out of Miner and into JOW/LT before moving IB for LT, so I don't think he's a IB-only true believer. But I assume he will try to get his kids into a selective DCPS HS.)

His oldest kid is 10 years old. No 5th grade parents have any earthly idea where or what their kids will be doing in or at HS. You are simply adorable for not only knowing what a 10 year old will do in 9th grade, but 10 year old that isn't yours!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some on the Hill are looking to the new MacArthur HS on MacArthur Boulevard as a back-up if our kids strike out at Walls. With MacArthur coming on line, this business of jumping to an ES in NW to access Deal and JR may become less common. MacArthur opens in fall 2023 and should be a good bet for current 7th and 6th graders OOB, since it won't fill up quickly. DCPS is planning to offer similar academics to those at JR at MacArthur, including dozens of APs, BC calc, multi-variate algebra/college math, dual enrollment language courses past AP at George Washington etc. The commute from the Hill will only be a little longer than to Walls.

The commute is horrific! You can get to Walls on the metro. Totally different.

I disagree. Take the Blue or Orange Line to Farragut, or the D6 bus then ride an e-scooter to MacArthur in 15 mins. It's a 35-min commute from our place in SE door to door. We're at a middle school charter, not BASIS, ready to leave. We've put in for MacArthur in the lottery for fall 2023 as a back-up in case kid doesn't get into Walls. Every good 8th grade student on the Hill doesn't get into Walls so I'm glad that McArthur may be in an option going forward.

Is that a joke?

While I may not chose to send my kid on that much of a public transportation trek, as a parent of an 8th grader in a similar situation, you better believe that MacArthur is on our lottery list. The struggle and stress over high school is real.