JKLM residents are killing elementaries in lower NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP's original post was about families IB for JKLM rather than the Hill.

Yes, but the question is why it would matter, if the situation is the same, i. e. going OOB for prek and then using your IB school.

I do think it matters, the difference between Ward 3 and the Hill. Here's why: up and around* this way, there are many, many excellent options for preschool ages 1-4. The handful I toured a few years ago, including NCRC, the Gan, St. Columba's, Temple Sinai, Lowell and CCBC, were each better than what DCPS (Murch) offered. Each in their own way, fwiw.nty

I have no idea what the Hill does or does not offer in the way of preschools. Just taking PP's word for it that there is a dearth, and contrasting that with Ward 3 / B-CC

* asterisk to show that very close-in Bethesda and CCMD (20815, 20816) are included for the purposes of this discussion, since the drive is < 12 minutes to many preschools B-CC.

It still doesn't matter. These options are all very expensive. There is no reason why parents in Ward 3 should not be allowed to play the lottery just like parents in other wards, if they want to take the commute upon themselves. Face it, this is not a widespread "problem", because the vast majority of parents in Upper NW who have the means to pay for these closer (and maybe better) options will do so. It is mainly the (relatively) less affluent and more budget conscious families who will play the lottery, and who are you to begrudge them doing so? This whole debate, especially when initiated and pushed by gentrifiers who aren't any less affluent than many people WOTP, is incredibly hypocritical and nasty. Now you will say that those affluent people EOTP might (might!) stay at whatever school they get into for the long run, and that is the difference. But in reality, as many PPs have made clear, the perception that people in Ward 3 have no problem affording private preschool/daycare plays a crucial role in this unnecessary feud. FWIW, we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw (not to mention Dupont/Logan). For what we paid for our tiny duplex, you couldn't even buy in Petworth or Shepherd Park today. I'm not going to let some smug EOTPer tell me whether or not it's ok to make use of my right to play the OOB lottery. I fully understand the expectation to get involved in the school like I would in my IB, but that is a whole different issue, which OP didn't even raise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP's original post was about families IB for JKLM rather than the Hill.

Yes, but the question is why it would matter, if the situation is the same, i. e. going OOB for prek and then using your IB school.

I do think it matters, the difference between Ward 3 and the Hill. Here's why: up and around* this way, there are many, many excellent options for preschool ages 1-4. The handful I toured a few years ago, including NCRC, the Gan, St. Columba's, Temple Sinai, Lowell and CCBC, were each better than what DCPS (Murch) offered. Each in their own way, fwiw.nty

I have no idea what the Hill does or does not offer in the way of preschools. Just taking PP's word for it that there is a dearth, and contrasting that with Ward 3 / B-CC

* asterisk to show that very close-in Bethesda and CCMD (20815, 20816) are included for the purposes of this discussion, since the drive is < 12 minutes to many preschools B-CC.

It still doesn't matter. These options are all very expensive. There is no reason why parents in Ward 3 should not be allowed to play the lottery just like parents in other wards, if they want to take the commute upon themselves. Face it, this is not a widespread "problem", because the vast majority of parents in Upper NW who have the means to pay for these closer (and maybe better) options will do so. It is mainly the (relatively) less affluent and more budget conscious families who will play the lottery, and who are you to begrudge them doing so? This whole debate, especially when initiated and pushed by gentrifiers who aren't any less affluent than many people WOTP, is incredibly hypocritical and nasty. Now you will say that those affluent people EOTP might (might!) stay at whatever school they get into for the long run, and that is the difference. But in reality, as many PPs have made clear, the perception that people in Ward 3 have no problem affording private preschool/daycare plays a crucial role in this unnecessary feud. FWIW, we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw (not to mention Dupont/Logan). For what we paid for our tiny duplex, you couldn't even buy in Petworth or Shepherd Park today. I'm not going to let some smug EOTPer tell me whether or not it's ok to make use of my right to play the OOB lottery. I fully understand the expectation to get involved in the school like I would in my IB, but that is a whole different issue, which OP didn't even raise.

+1. EOTP = Entitlement Over The Top

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP's original post was about families IB for JKLM rather than the Hill.

Yes, but the question is why it would matter, if the situation is the same, i. e. going OOB for prek and then using your IB school.

I do think it matters, the difference between Ward 3 and the Hill. Here's why: up and around* this way, there are many, many excellent options for preschool ages 1-4. The handful I toured a few years ago, including NCRC, the Gan, St. Columba's, Temple Sinai, Lowell and CCBC, were each better than what DCPS (Murch) offered. Each in their own way, fwiw.nty

I have no idea what the Hill does or does not offer in the way of preschools. Just taking PP's word for it that there is a dearth, and contrasting that with Ward 3 / B-CC

* asterisk to show that very close-in Bethesda and CCMD (20815, 20816) are included for the purposes of this discussion, since the drive is < 12 minutes to many preschools B-CC.

It still doesn't matter. These options are all very expensive. There is no reason why parents in Ward 3 should not be allowed to play the lottery just like parents in other wards, if they want to take the commute upon themselves. Face it, this is not a widespread "problem", because the vast majority of parents in Upper NW who have the means to pay for these closer (and maybe better) options will do so. It is mainly the (relatively) less affluent and more budget conscious families who will play the lottery, and who are you to begrudge them doing so? This whole debate, especially when initiated and pushed by gentrifiers who aren't any less affluent than many people WOTP, is incredibly hypocritical and nasty. Now you will say that those affluent people EOTP might (might!) stay at whatever school they get into for the long run, and that is the difference. But in reality, as many PPs have made clear, the perception that people in Ward 3 have no problem affording private preschool/daycare plays a crucial role in this unnecessary feud. FWIW, we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw (not to mention Dupont/Logan). For what we paid for our tiny duplex, you couldn't even buy in Petworth or Shepherd Park today. I'm not going to let some smug EOTPer tell me whether or not it's ok to make use of my right to play the OOB lottery. I fully understand the expectation to get involved in the school like I would in my IB, but that is a whole different issue, which OP didn't even raise.

Yes, 15K for preschool is no joke. Not to mention that competition for these "great" private preschools is fierce! We got waitlisted at 6 preschools when we applied years ago, and got shut out of our local PreK4 in the lottery. There are a LOT of kids in this area and not enough classrooms. Just look at how the public elementary schools have almost doubled in size in the last 6 years. This is the problem. We need another school; not bigger, more crowded schools.

[Anonymous]

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

NP here. You sound a bit...tightly wound. **Just breathe**

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

Amen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can't have it both ways. Everyone who pays DC taxes can play the lottery regardless of their zip code.

Let's get radical here. How about everyone who pays DC taxes has equal access to all DC schools. Crickets from Ward 3...

If you swapped the Janney student body with one from a failing school, Janneys test scores would plummet. Just one reason of a million why filling NW schools with OOB kids won't help those kids and why a city wide lottery means failure for all kids.

+1. The number 1 reason a school is good is because the students are well-prepared. And not well-prepared by some PreK program, well-prepared by their parents (and their genes). So more high SES kids even for just a year or two in a preK program will be good for that program. It is too bad for the school if they don't stay, but the school isn't any worse off for them having been there. As for the "ill-prepared" kids that might replace them for K, see above: having attended PreK at that school could have only mitigated that so much. It's not a matter of "saving" or "killing" the school. So as PP above said, OP needs to lobby for more high-SES IB parents to choose her school, THAT really is her problem.

The school is "worse off" because when they leave they are replaced by OOB kids who did not attend PK and are not ready for K in the same way as the rest of the cohort.

The point is that that argument is flawed.

+100. The anti-OOB sentiment displayed by some of these PPs is astounding.

Plus the assumption that the OOB kids starting at k haven't been in pre-k or any program prior to entering.

+1. What's behind this assumption?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

NP here. You sound a bit...tightly wound. **Just breathe**

You are right, I do find the self-righteousness displayed on this thread very annoying. And I'm also concerned about the hostility we might encounter when we start preK this fall, about which I frankly had no idea until I happened upon this thread. I do hope that OP and her supporters don't represent the majority of parents EOTP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

Amen

I agree. Do you know how much st Columbas costs?! These schools are not cheap. We bought a tiny house most people on here would call a "shit shack" and we live a modest life. Why are you counting my coins and saying I should pay up because of where I live? How do you know I wouldn't be involved in whatever school I would be in for however long I was there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You are right, I do find the self-righteousness displayed on this thread very annoying. And I'm also concerned about the hostility we might encounter when we start preK this fall, about which I frankly had no idea until I happened upon this thread. I do hope that OP and her supporters don't represent the majority of parents EOTP.

Of course the loudest people on DCUM aren't representative of the normal people you'll meet in real life. Welcome to the internet.

That said, would you really be surprised if other parents are more interested in building stronger friendships with the people who plan to keep their children enrolled at the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You are right, I do find the self-righteousness displayed on this thread very annoying. And I'm also concerned about the hostility we might encounter when we start preK this fall, about which I frankly had no idea until I happened upon this thread. I do hope that OP and her supporters don't represent the majority of parents EOTP.

Of course the loudest people on DCUM aren't representative of the normal people you'll meet in real life. Welcome to the internet.

That said, would you really be surprised if other parents are more interested in building stronger friendships with the people who plan to keep their children enrolled at the school?

Win/ win

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

Amen

I agree. Do you know how much st Columbas costs?! These schools are not cheap. We bought a tiny house most people on here would call a "shit shack" and we live a modest life. Why are you counting my coins and saying I should pay up because of where I live? How do you know I wouldn't be involved in whatever school I would be in for however long I was there?

This is getting out of hand. PP, you do not have to explain yourself to these people, disclose your income or the value of your house. You live in DC and have access to all DC schools (I don't know why other PP had issue with W3 mom going to Appletree when it is citywide charter and only goes to PK4. Anyway, I live EOTP and attend a non-immersion charter. Many families bolt once hey get in via lottery to JKLM or language schools so I know the feeling. We all have to do what's best for our kids and prepare our kids for the transient city that we live in. My kid is in 1st grade and has lost almost 10 classmates alone in last two years out of state (not counting the JKLM/language kids moving). Also, I agree, my EOTP family earns above median for Ward 3 and I would be furious if anyone tried to cut off access or talk shit about me taking a citywide PK spot. Either PS/PK is going to be only FARM eligible or it's going to be citywide for ALL. One city. I will never justify why I don't spend $20k for private whether I have it or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I do think it matters, the difference between Ward 3 and the Hill. Here's why: up and around* this way, there are many, many excellent options for preschool ages 1-4. The handful I toured a few years ago, including NCRC, the Gan, St. Columba's, Temple Sinai, Lowell and CCBC, were each better than what DCPS (Murch) offered. Each in their own way, fwiw.nty

Murch doesn not have a 1-4 y/o option, unless you mean Pre-K for 4-5 y/os (nor does any other JLKM school).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

we bought in Upper NW five years ago, when we were priced out of Mt. Pleasant, the desirable parts of the Hill, U Street and Shaw

Where could this be? ^^^

Why do you need to know? Do you think I'm lying? There obviously weren't too many such opportunities available back then either, but they did exist during that phase after the 2008 crisis. Point being, you cannot generalize that anyone who owns a home and has small kids must have paid over 800K and be rich. There are small homes WOTP, some in crappy condition, and people on budgets equivalent to those of people EOTP have bought here. And even some of the people who did pay that much may be house poor, and it's not for anyone to judge whether or not they should have put themselves into that situation, and whether they must now suck up private preschool as well.

Amen

I agree. Do you know how much st Columbas costs?! These schools are not cheap. We bought a tiny house most people on here would call a "shit shack" and we live a modest life. Why are you counting my coins and saying I should pay up because of where I live? How do you know I wouldn't be involved in whatever school I would be in for however long I was there?

This is getting out of hand. PP, you do not have to explain yourself to these people, disclose your income or the value of your house. You live in DC and have access to all DC schools (I don't know why other PP had issue with W3 mom going to Appletree when it is citywide charter and only goes to PK4. Anyway, I live EOTP and attend a non-immersion charter. Many families bolt once hey get in via lottery to JKLM or language schools so I know the feeling. We all have to do what's best for our kids and prepare our kids for the transient city that we live in. My kid is in 1st grade and has lost almost 10 classmates alone in last two years out of state (not counting the JKLM/language kids moving). Also, I agree, my EOTP family earns above median for Ward 3 and I would be furious if anyone tried to cut off access or talk shit about me taking a citywide PK spot. Either PS/PK is going to be only FARM eligible or it's going to be citywide for ALL. One city. I will never justify why I don't spend $20k for private whether I have it or not.

Amen too.