Capitol Hill - middle school and beyond?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brent doesn't feed into SH. It feeds into Jefferson Academy.

What I don't like about the combined 4th/5th grade classes is that they're sending a message to lower grades parents that it's not worth returning for 5th. 5th grade numbers are v. likely to fall even further as a result of this year's "Upper School" experiment.

Honestly, if you are considering moving for schools at all especially to the burbs, it’s best to do it earlier for everyone involved, your kids and your family. I would say by 1st, 2nd latest because of when advance programming starts with G & T and AAP.

It won’t only be the 4th/5th grade class that is going to see the effects of this. It is going to be felt downstream to lower grades too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason Brent is lumping 5th graders in with 4th graders is because 5th grade numbers are way down after Covid highs. Last year's 5th grade class was a bubble class from the get go, Brent's first fully in-boundary K class six years later. Almost half of the 5th graders stayed at Brent last year, three dozen, many shut out of both Latins and BASIS, with two 5th grade classes. This year, there aren't even enough 5th graders to justify running a single self-contained classroom for them. Brent is reacting to the numbers generated by external forces. City politicians and DCPS leaders don't care.

Wow, that is surprising. Not the case at Maury at all.

[Anonymous]

There's more money in the Brent District. Some parents leave after 3rd, 4th or 5th for private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's more money in the Brent District. Some parents leave after 3rd, 4th or 5th for private school.

I guess so. We had a long, stupid thread a while ago where I was pointing out that the Maury zone is not comprised of $2mil homes everywhere that everyone can just cash out. I guess this may be more true for Brent? Also for Maury, I know there were more OOB spots given in the past few years than usual in order to fill up the post-renovation capacity. Sounds like Brent did not try to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent doesn't feed into SH. It feeds into Jefferson Academy.

What I don't like about the combined 4th/5th grade classes is that they're sending a message to lower grades parents that it's not worth returning for 5th. 5th grade numbers are v. likely to fall even further as a result of this year's "Upper School" experiment.

Honestly, if you are considering moving for schools at all especially to the burbs, it’s best to do it earlier for everyone involved, your kids and your family. I would say by 1st, 2nd latest because of when advance programming starts with G & T and AAP.

It won’t only be the 4th/5th grade class that is going to see the effects of this. It is going to be felt downstream to lower grades too.

I echo that if you're thinking about moving, just do it now. What I would give to have back all the hours of stress, worry, hope associated with trying to figure out schooling. I wish I had been more self-aware about how much uncertainty I could handle and more wise about how much other life stuff can be challenging so when you can mitigate challenges you should.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

And we're talking about changing the feeder rights of Ward 6 elementary schools so they feed into a Ward 6 middle school, so you're proving my point.

Jefferson and Stuart-Hobson are both in Ward 6. Are you saying you don’t want any Ward 6 elementary kids to be zoned for Eliot-Hine, which is in Ward 7?

Pay attention. We're talking about feeding all the Hill elementary schools (which are in Ward 6) into one middle school. People pushed back on that saying that it wasn't politically feasible because it would exclude people from Wards 7 and 8, which is ridiculous, because the city has expressed a desire to have neighborhood schools. You don't have that now, because you're taking all the neighborhood schools and feeding them into three different middle schools.

This conversation is splitting hairs. The new ward boundaries change what ward certain schools are in, but if you forget about wards for a second, you can just think about proximity. Eliot Hine is probably the best in this regard, with it's 3 feeder schools' boundaries adjacent to the school. (Yes I know SWS is technically a feeder, but currently I don't think many kids matriculate to EH from there). Stuart Hobson is in a good location for it's feeders except for the strange arm of the cluster boundary up by the cemetery. Jefferson is the tricky one, but it is closer to Amidon and Van Ness - so if you closed that school, it would give those kids no choice but to travel a lot further for school. In the end of the day, having one middle school would not work - it would become over crowded. Having there middle schools with increasing buy-in from feeder patterns is the best solution, and things are already trending in that direction. Yes - many families are not choosing Eastern right now, and that may or may not change, but in a city with various high schools that have different focuses, I do not think that is a bad thing. High school students are able to travel independently, so if a high school student wants to travel to an arts school, or a STEM school, a charter school, or a private school, they can. And from what I have seen online, Eastern has it's largest IB cohort so far this year -- if that program continues to grow, it could potentially draw kids from other feeder patterns as well.

This. Sorry, PP, you need to accept that the instant you create a well-functioning middle school it will be overcrowded. Because more people living IB will attend. I don't know why this isn't obvious! Three buildings is needed just on baseline population growth, even if quality doesn't increase much.

And people don't actually love the idea of sending their kids to a ginormous middle school btw.

This response is idiotic. We shouldn’t try to create a well functioning middle school because too many people might want to go there???

I can’t stop giggling at this now. No we can’t create a good middle school because OTHERWISE people would like it too much!

Not PP, but you’re both apparently missing the point.

There isn’t room in any of three existing middle school buildings to fit all of the existing students from all three schools. Yet you apparently want to reduce the number of schools from three two one for the express purpose of attracting even more students.

Just think one step ahead: If you were to actually succeed in attracting more students, then the ultimate outcome would be the need to re-open the very schools that were closed, putting us back to where we are now — with people on DCUM complaining that not all Capitol Hill kids are assigned to the same middle school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:The Cap Hill middle school system is broken not because of Eastern but because DCPS insists on feeding the strong elementary schools into multiple different middle schools, even though those schools are all in close proximity to each other, because “equity.”

I used to think this too but I disagree because I've watched as all three middle schools have improved and gotten more IB buy in. It's changed a lot.

Eastern is the problem. Even if you consolidated these middle schools so that the more advanced students at each could have a larger cohort, I don't think you'd see the cohort moving on to Easter. Most of them would still depart for application schools, private, and the suburbs.

Part of the issue is stakes. MS is something you have to get through, ideally with your kid getting the preparation they need to do well in HS. But HS is make or break in terms of college. So some families are willing to send their kid to a MS that has overall weak scores, as long as they can be assured their own child will be in a tracked class with more advanced instruction. But the trust isn't there for HS, and the ability of a family to use outside enrichment or supplementing to address deficiencies is low. You can put a 7th grader in math enrichment and get them on track. Best of luck finding something that will replace AP physics when it turns out the HS doesn't have a teacher for it or the class is simply not meeting minimal expectations to prep your kid for the exam or college.

Eastern is the problem, it's just that some of you are still living in the denial of "HS will work out if I can just solve MS." I've been there, but eventually you realize that figuring out MS is the least of your worries.

I think you're both right & wrong. I think it will always be hard to get a cohort of kids to make the jump from CH MSes to Eastern for a variety of reasons, but if Maury/Brent/LT/SWS all fed to 1 MS (+ whichever other schools you want; I'd actually love for all Hill schools to feed to a pan-Hill MS), it would immediately be academically equivalent to Deal & Hardy at the sharp end and parents could focus on the HS issue instead.

But what building would be big enough? The instant you do that, people will want to attend.

NP. Move Eastern into EH. Consolidate the middle schools in the Eastern building.

Then people will be complaining that the high school isn't big enough to support good programming.

This is also a political loser because this theoretical new MS would be seen as "for" the UMC, mostly white families on the Hill. Whereas right now, Eastern's attendance is largely from MC and LMC black students from Wards 7 and 8. Moving the current Eastern population into the smaller, less recently renovated building, so that you can try to attract more white kids in Ward 6 to a new combined MS, would pretty much instantly become a lightening rod issue that most DC politicians would either not want to touch, or would use as a way to prove their commitment to equity (by opposing the new MS).

It's not going to happen, there's no point in even having this conversation.

This is why DCPS will continue to bleed UMC/MC students to charter schools. Prioritizing the needs of distant wards over neighborhood schools due to skin color is pretty wrong.

EH is in Ward 7 now …

And we're talking about changing the feeder rights of Ward 6 elementary schools so they feed into a Ward 6 middle school, so you're proving my point.

Jefferson and Stuart-Hobson are both in Ward 6. Are you saying you don’t want any Ward 6 elementary kids to be zoned for Eliot-Hine, which is in Ward 7?

Pay attention. We're talking about feeding all the Hill elementary schools (which are in Ward 6) into one middle school. People pushed back on that saying that it wasn't politically feasible because it would exclude people from Wards 7 and 8, which is ridiculous, because the city has expressed a desire to have neighborhood schools. You don't have that now, because you're taking all the neighborhood schools and feeding them into three different middle schools.

This conversation is splitting hairs. The new ward boundaries change what ward certain schools are in, but if you forget about wards for a second, you can just think about proximity. Eliot Hine is probably the best in this regard, with it's 3 feeder schools' boundaries adjacent to the school. (Yes I know SWS is technically a feeder, but currently I don't think many kids matriculate to EH from there). Stuart Hobson is in a good location for it's feeders except for the strange arm of the cluster boundary up by the cemetery. Jefferson is the tricky one, but it is closer to Amidon and Van Ness - so if you closed that school, it would give those kids no choice but to travel a lot further for school. In the end of the day, having one middle school would not work - it would become over crowded. Having there middle schools with increasing buy-in from feeder patterns is the best solution, and things are already trending in that direction. Yes - many families are not choosing Eastern right now, and that may or may not change, but in a city with various high schools that have different focuses, I do not think that is a bad thing. High school students are able to travel independently, so if a high school student wants to travel to an arts school, or a STEM school, a charter school, or a private school, they can. And from what I have seen online, Eastern has it's largest IB cohort so far this year -- if that program continues to grow, it could potentially draw kids from other feeder patterns as well.

This. Sorry, PP, you need to accept that the instant you create a well-functioning middle school it will be overcrowded. Because more people living IB will attend. I don't know why this isn't obvious! Three buildings is needed just on baseline population growth, even if quality doesn't increase much.

And people don't actually love the idea of sending their kids to a ginormous middle school btw.

This response is idiotic. We shouldn’t try to create a well functioning middle school because too many people might want to go there???

I can’t stop giggling at this now. No we can’t create a good middle school because OTHERWISE people would like it too much!

Not PP, but you’re both apparently missing the point.

There isn’t room in any of three existing middle school buildings to fit all of the existing students from all three schools. Yet you apparently want to reduce the number of schools from three two one for the express purpose of attracting even more students.

Just think one step ahead: If you were to actually succeed in attracting more students, then the ultimate outcome would be the need to re-open the very schools that were closed, putting us back to where we are now — with people on DCUM complaining that not all Capitol Hill kids are assigned to the same middle school.

Yes, the idea of a consolidated MS comes up in every one of these threads and every time people patiently explain why it won't happen (lack of political will, lack of appropriate space, the fact that many parents actually prefer a smaller neighborhood MS, the fact that it won't change issues with Eastern that lead to attrition in the Ward anyway, and so on) and people get mad about it. But it's not a realistic solution.

I think people cling to this idea because addressing the real root causes of attrition (namely, how to turn Eastern into a school that meet's the needs of Ward 6 parents while also following both DC and DCPS policies on equity and inclusion) is a really thorny, uncomfortable question. So it's easier to say "well if they just consolidated the middle schools, all problems will be solved," since that will never happen, so you can assert that it's the solution without ever having to deal with the fact that it would not, in fact, solve all the problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Brent is lumping 5th graders in with 4th graders is because 5th grade numbers are way down after Covid highs. Last year's 5th grade class was a bubble class from the get go, Brent's first fully in-boundary K class six years later. Almost half of the 5th graders stayed at Brent last year, three dozen, many shut out of both Latins and BASIS, with two 5th grade classes. This year, there aren't even enough 5th graders to justify running a single self-contained classroom for them. Brent is reacting to the numbers generated by external forces. City politicians and DCPS leaders don't care.

Wow that is crazy the attrition. They can’t even fill one class.

But honestly, I’m not surprised. Hill families know that SH is not a viable option although some on here try to make it seem so unless you want to supplement everything and who has time for that. Those with options are not going there. Those with no options who are shut out from the lottery try it and it would be good to see retention rates from 6th to 8th which I suspect is low.

Brent must have made the decision not to draw from its lottery list (I can think of things motivating that decision and none of them paint Brent in a great light if you need those kids to have a SINGLE classroom) and didn't care about the impact that would have on 5th graders. I would be furious if I were a parent of that grade, which now represents less than 1/3rd of each "combined" classroom.

By contrast, L-T -- which actually feeds SH -- has 3 5th grade classes this year. Now their approach seems equally screwy, since it's basically 2 classes of returning kids (from 3 4th grade) + a whole new class of lottery admits who weren't actually needed to fill a classroom. But it definitely shows there's enough demand out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Brent is lumping 5th graders in with 4th graders is because 5th grade numbers are way down after Covid highs. Last year's 5th grade class was a bubble class from the get go, Brent's first fully in-boundary K class six years later. Almost half of the 5th graders stayed at Brent last year, three dozen, many shut out of both Latins and BASIS, with two 5th grade classes. This year, there aren't even enough 5th graders to justify running a single self-contained classroom for them. Brent is reacting to the numbers generated by external forces. City politicians and DCPS leaders don't care.

Wow that is crazy the attrition. They can’t even fill one class.

But honestly, I’m not surprised. Hill families know that SH is not a viable option although some on here try to make it seem so unless you want to supplement everything and who has time for that. Those with options are not going there. Those with no options who are shut out from the lottery try it and it would be good to see retention rates from 6th to 8th which I suspect is low.

Brent must have made the decision not to draw from its lottery list (I can think of things motivating that decision and none of them paint Brent in a great light if you need those kids to have a SINGLE classroom) and didn't care about the impact that would have on 5th graders. I would be furious if I were a parent of that grade, which now represents less than 1/3rd of each "combined" classroom.

By contrast, L-T -- which actually feeds SH -- has 3 5th grade classes this year. Now their approach seems equally screwy, since it's basically 2 classes of returning kids (from 3 4th grade) + a whole new class of lottery admits who weren't actually needed to fill a classroom. But it definitely shows there's enough demand out there.

I don't think L-T's approach is screwy. Those new admits are coming from somewhere, they had a reason to want those spots. Maybe their elementary school is awful, maybe their MS feed is awful and they want to be able to go to SH. Either way, they are using the lottery as it is intended, to improve their school situation by finding spots at another school that doesn't have the shortcomings they are seeing in their last school. Good for L-T for welcoming them.

If Brent really did ignore it's waitlist in order to totally eliminate 5th grade classes, that feels frankly wrong to me. It would be one thing to reduce the number of classes, but to combine the entire grade with 4th is a super sketchy way of avoiding offering seats to kids who might benefit from a year at Brent and a feed to JA. It is very much not in the spirit of the lottery and should be an embarrassment for a DCPS.

Though I'm sure they wouldn't be the first.

[Anonymous]

I return to this board occasionally for entertainment but also to add hopefully helpful perspective: My "kids" are now in high school and college. They attended Maury when it was deemed "failing" (slated to close in fact for that reason). They attended Jefferson Academy and Stuart Hobson for middle school. Not saying it was all rosy but these two kids turned out fine and academically very successful. They tested into their desired high school and college. Maybe I should pat us parents on the back but I don't think we're to credit, those schools are - rocky moments, difficulties and all. Besides just plain old instruction with motivational ups and downs, the kids learned to navigate, advocate, and appreciate. Through it all, they had some amazing teachers. And even the average ones (and an occasional out-of-their-depth one) were inspiring and wedded to helping all their students succeed. Some great leadership, too, with an occasional dud year in between.
Bottom line: If you otherwise like it here and have some time to spare to stay engaged (much less than it will take you to commute across town I contend!), it will work out fine. Fact is, no matter where your kids go to school, you play a big part in their success. If you constantly nag and doubt schools around the dinner table, they will pick up on that. If you convey confidence and resolve, they will pick up on that - regardless of where they attend and no matter how brilliant their classmates.

[Anonymous]

Brent actually offered 5 lottery seats last year - more than Tyler and Van Ness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Brent is lumping 5th graders in with 4th graders is because 5th grade numbers are way down after Covid highs. Last year's 5th grade class was a bubble class from the get go, Brent's first fully in-boundary K class six years later. Almost half of the 5th graders stayed at Brent last year, three dozen, many shut out of both Latins and BASIS, with two 5th grade classes. This year, there aren't even enough 5th graders to justify running a single self-contained classroom for them. Brent is reacting to the numbers generated by external forces. City politicians and DCPS leaders don't care.

Wow that is crazy the attrition. They can’t even fill one class.

But honestly, I’m not surprised. Hill families know that SH is not a viable option although some on here try to make it seem so unless you want to supplement everything and who has time for that. Those with options are not going there. Those with no options who are shut out from the lottery try it and it would be good to see retention rates from 6th to 8th which I suspect is low.

Brent must have made the decision not to draw from its lottery list (I can think of things motivating that decision and none of them paint Brent in a great light if you need those kids to have a SINGLE classroom) and didn't care about the impact that would have on 5th graders. I would be furious if I were a parent of that grade, which now represents less than 1/3rd of each "combined" classroom.

By contrast, L-T -- which actually feeds SH -- has 3 5th grade classes this year. Now their approach seems equally screwy, since it's basically 2 classes of returning kids (from 3 4th grade) + a whole new class of lottery admits who weren't actually needed to fill a classroom. But it definitely shows there's enough demand out there.

I don't think L-T's approach is screwy. Those new admits are coming from somewhere, they had a reason to want those spots. Maybe their elementary school is awful, maybe their MS feed is awful and they want to be able to go to SH. Either way, they are using the lottery as it is intended, to improve their school situation by finding spots at another school that doesn't have the shortcomings they are seeing in their last school. Good for L-T for welcoming them.

If Brent really did ignore it's waitlist in order to totally eliminate 5th grade classes, that feels frankly wrong to me. It would be one thing to reduce the number of classes, but to combine the entire grade with 4th is a super sketchy way of avoiding offering seats to kids who might benefit from a year at Brent and a feed to JA. It is very much not in the spirit of the lottery and should be an embarrassment for a DCPS.

Though I'm sure they wouldn't be the first.

I actually don't see how what they did is permissible. According to DCPS, Brent offered only 5 seats in the 5th grade lottery, had a waiting list of 22 on results day and made 0 offers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason Brent is lumping 5th graders in with 4th graders is because 5th grade numbers are way down after Covid highs. Last year's 5th grade class was a bubble class from the get go, Brent's first fully in-boundary K class six years later. Almost half of the 5th graders stayed at Brent last year, three dozen, many shut out of both Latins and BASIS, with two 5th grade classes. This year, there aren't even enough 5th graders to justify running a single self-contained classroom for them. Brent is reacting to the numbers generated by external forces. City politicians and DCPS leaders don't care.

Wow that is crazy the attrition. They can’t even fill one class.

But honestly, I’m not surprised. Hill families know that SH is not a viable option although some on here try to make it seem so unless you want to supplement everything and who has time for that. Those with options are not going there. Those with no options who are shut out from the lottery try it and it would be good to see retention rates from 6th to 8th which I suspect is low.

Brent must have made the decision not to draw from its lottery list (I can think of things motivating that decision and none of them paint Brent in a great light if you need those kids to have a SINGLE classroom) and didn't care about the impact that would have on 5th graders. I would be furious if I were a parent of that grade, which now represents less than 1/3rd of each "combined" classroom.

By contrast, L-T -- which actually feeds SH -- has 3 5th grade classes this year. Now their approach seems equally screwy, since it's basically 2 classes of returning kids (from 3 4th grade) + a whole new class of lottery admits who weren't actually needed to fill a classroom. But it definitely shows there's enough demand out there.

I don't think L-T's approach is screwy. Those new admits are coming from somewhere, they had a reason to want those spots. Maybe their elementary school is awful, maybe their MS feed is awful and they want to be able to go to SH. Either way, they are using the lottery as it is intended, to improve their school situation by finding spots at another school that doesn't have the shortcomings they are seeing in their last school. Good for L-T for welcoming them.

If Brent really did ignore it's waitlist in order to totally eliminate 5th grade classes, that feels frankly wrong to me. It would be one thing to reduce the number of classes, but to combine the entire grade with 4th is a super sketchy way of avoiding offering seats to kids who might benefit from a year at Brent and a feed to JA. It is very much not in the spirit of the lottery and should be an embarrassment for a DCPS.

Though I'm sure they wouldn't be the first.

I actually don't see how what they did is permissible. According to DCPS, Brent offered only 5 seats in the 5th grade lottery, had a waiting list of 22 on results day and made 0 offers.

Also, they made 4th grade offers as recently as August (but not 5th grade ones!), so the combined classes are even more farcical than they would otherwise be? Like 3/4ths 4th graders already... and then they took more *4th* graders??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I return to this board occasionally for entertainment but also to add hopefully helpful perspective: My "kids" are now in high school and college. They attended Maury when it was deemed "failing" (slated to close in fact for that reason). They attended Jefferson Academy and Stuart Hobson for middle school. Not saying it was all rosy but these two kids turned out fine and academically very successful. They tested into their desired high school and college. Maybe I should pat us parents on the back but I don't think we're to credit, those schools are - rocky moments, difficulties and all. Besides just plain old instruction with motivational ups and downs, the kids learned to navigate, advocate, and appreciate. Through it all, they had some amazing teachers. And even the average ones (and an occasional out-of-their-depth one) were inspiring and wedded to helping all their students succeed. Some great leadership, too, with an occasional dud year in between.
Bottom line: If you otherwise like it here and have some time to spare to stay engaged (much less than it will take you to commute across town I contend!), it will work out fine. Fact is, no matter where your kids go to school, you play a big part in their success. If you constantly nag and doubt schools around the dinner table, they will pick up on that. If you convey confidence and resolve, they will pick up on that - regardless of where they attend and no matter how brilliant their classmates.

Where are/did they go to high school?

I am happy with our Title 1 elementary school in Ward 6 and think it's doing a great job of preparing my kids for middle school. And what I know about the MSs in Ward 6 doesn't worry me -- I think my kids would do fine there. But since you didn't say your kids are at Eastern, I'm guessing they are either in private or at an application school (since they had to test in). And I'm glad that worked out for you but what if it hadn't?

You are trying to change the narrative to be about how the schools in Ward 6 are failing. They aren't. Except one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Brent doesn't feed into SH. It feeds into Jefferson Academy.

What I don't like about the combined 4th/5th grade classes is that they're sending a message to lower grades parents that it's not worth returning for 5th. 5th grade numbers are v. likely to fall even further as a result of this year's "Upper School" experiment.

Honestly, if you are considering moving for schools at all especially to the burbs, it’s best to do it earlier for everyone involved, your kids and your family. I would say by 1st, 2nd latest because of when advance programming starts with G & T and AAP.

It won’t only be the 4th/5th grade class that is going to see the effects of this. It is going to be felt downstream to lower grades too.

I echo that if you're thinking about moving, just do it now. What I would give to have back all the hours of stress, worry, hope associated with trying to figure out schooling. I wish I had been more self-aware about how much uncertainty I could handle and more wise about how much other life stuff can be challenging so when you can mitigate challenges you should.

I know I'm the type of worry/stress about schooling no mater where I am located, so in a sense, being in DC, where I have to research options, has been better than being in the suburbs, where the local school is the only public choice. I learned to figure out what kind of learner my kid really is, and that has made a huge difference.