Please help me navigate dual language school admissions
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Anonymous
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Hello, my family is moving to DC this summer. My son will be PreK age, and will enter kindergarten in 2014. He is currently in a dual language program (Spanish/English), and I feel very strongly about keeping him in a public dual language program during his elementary school years (and beyond, if possible). I've done a fair bit of research about DC's dual language options, and the varying admissions policies are making my dizzy.
The Oyster-Adams website claims that if you live in-boundary, attending that school is a right/entitlement once the child enters kindergarten. Is this correct? No lottery for in-boundary K-8 kids? If we lived in-boundary, I'd just go to the school and sign him up? Elsewhere on this website, folks have posted that O-A has certain preferences for OOB and IB kids, combined with sibling preferences. This info is conflicted. And what about the other schools: Bancroft, Bruce-Monroe, Cleveland, Columbia Heights, Marie Reed, and Tyler? Are those schools all by preferences and/or lottery, or are there any guaranteed admissions based on in-boundary status? Other than LAMB PCS, are there other Spanish/English dual language charter schools? Thanks! |
Anonymous
| There is Mundo Verde, they are quite new but should be fairly well established by 2014 I think. Our child is there and I don't love it and don't hate it, it's fine. It is 100% lottery. |
Anonymous
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If you live in-boundary for O-A you have a right to send your child to school starting at Kindergarten. Same with Bancroft.
Tyler's Spanish immersion is a separate track from the regular program at the school so you have to lottery in--but you would get IB preference if you live within the school boundaries. I am not sure of the process for the other DCPS schools you listed. As for charter schools: LAMB Mundo Verde Stokes DC Bilingual Public Charter School |
Anonymous
| All DCPS give in-boundary preference. All charters are 100% lottery with sibling preference. |
Anonymous
| The likelihood of admission to a charter is very slim with applicants numbering into the 100s. Apply to all of them and apply every year if you don't get in the first time. Be first to apply online at Stokes for Spanish immersion or as close to first as you can. If you don't get lucky anywhere and can afford private while you keep trying for the lotteries, try Sacred Heart- Spanish immersion. Good luck!!! BTW- a lot of people on this site may offer you rude advice. Just one of those things about anonymous blogging. Ignore it!! Best of luck again! |
Anonymous
| Your chances are slim, but we're in love with Mundo Verde. |
Anonymous
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Easiest solution---You should try to move in-boundary to the school you like best. That may mean moving to an expensive area of the city, so I'm not sure what you hope to spend on your house/rent budget. Other wise, like the other posters said, the Charters are 100% lottery with sibling preference. I know Elsie Whitlow Stokes (Stokes) already had their application posted and is due in February (I think), so you should apply to it. The waitlist is done by the date and time for which your applciation was received and so you will not have a good wait list number now, but you could also get super lucky and get a spot in the lottery.
One word of advice, that you may not need--- you should narrow down where you are going to live. If you enter lotteries for schools , whether charter or DCPS out of boundry and then have to truck it accross town 2X a day every day in rush hour, to drop off and pick up--- you are going to pull your hair out! So you may want to look at schools that meet your requirements and are along your commute to work, or close to your house/office. I agree with the PP, people are very contentious on this board about schools, so try to do your own research and sift through the BS. Good Luck and Welcome to DC. |
Anonymous
We are too. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
People may have been talking about pre-K, which is lottery-based at all DC public schools, although preference is given to in-bound with sibling, in-bound, OOB with sibling, OOB with proximity, and the general public-- in that order (although at immersion schools there is also some weight given to families where Spanish is the dominant household language). If you are in-bound you are guaranteed a spot starting in kindergarten. I would figure out which school you want and then try to get a place to live. Charters are absolutely not guaranteed and are getting harder to get into every year. Oyster is considered the best of the DCPS options. I would also consider Bancroft and Marie Reed. I don't know much about the other options. |
Anonymous
| Are my chances slim b/c these schools are in such high demand, or are they slim because my kid will be entering in PS4 rather than PS3? |
Anonymous
| OP again: also, there is conflicting info here again. Some PPs say that in-boundary attendance is a right (I have O-A in mind): if you sign up, you're in. But others seem to suggest that being in boundary is simply a preference, and in boundary with siblings come first - thus admittance is not a sure thing. Which is it? |
Anonymous
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In bounds is a right beginnig in kindergarten, age 5, at all DCPS schools.
For pre-k, age 4, there are no guaranteed spots even if you are in boundary. Pre-k is not compulsory. Kindergarten is so the city school system has to provide kindergarten and higher spaces for all kids. So yes. You just show up in kindergarten. For Oyster, the pre-k lottery preference order is different from other DCPS. Siblings, in or out bounds regardless of language dominance, have preference over anyone new to the school. The logic is that families who are familiar with the school model (no matter their own language) and have more than one child in the school can help ensure that there are enough bilingual or bilingual-committed families to balance out the in boundary families in later grades. (There's a long complicated history behind this.) We are Spanish-dominant in boundary for Oyster and did not get in for pre-k lottery. However, we are really happy that there are out of boundary families with multiple kids at the school. It really helped us adjust to Oyster (it's complicated) to have so many experienced parents and kids. If you want Spanish through 8th grade, then move in-boundary for Oyster, cross your fingers while applying for the pre-k lotteries at all the bilingual public and charter schools. Even the mediocre schools have waitlists of 300 or more. Bienvenidos |
Anonymous
If you are in-bound at Oyster, you are guaranteed a spot starting in kindergarten. There is no question on this. The only time admittance is not a sure thing is for pre-k. |
Anonymous
Both. The charter schools mentioned (Mundo Verde, LAMB) are extremely high in demand, AND because they both start at PS3, the classes fill up at that point. There are fewer spots available for PS4 and above since at that point, you are just filling the spots of people who leave. |