Lottery/school despair

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

My kid was never somewhere crappy. We had a lovely time at our IB and it absolutely did meet her short-term needs.

If you're going to think anything less than the best is "crappy", you won't be happy in northeast DC.

[Anonymous]

Watkins also didn't fill for 1st. You'll definitely get a spot there come August.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

OP here. Can you tell me where you wound up going? Moving out of DC? Private?

This is the the thing about the "short waitlist" suggestion that I'm wary of. Our current school has a "short waitlist." Of 0! Because it's not a very good school and people keep leaving it. So when people tell me to use a short waitlist, I want more info about that school. I do not want to move my kid so that we can be unhappy somewhere else and then move again anyway. In that case, we might as well stay where we are at and see if we can figure out how to move to a better situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We struck out pre-K3 to K, then ended up at one of the short waitlist schools, and it's not without it's warts, but is definitely as good as the "HRCS" friends lucked into. Doesn't solve the middle school question, but takes the pressure off and gives us time to figure out what middle-high school pathway is actually best for us (versus guessing with a toddler!). The term "hidden gem" school is controversial, but there are many schools throughout the city that really are hidden gems. Where are you located, OP, and what grade are you looking for?

Or rent IB and then move home. Also controversial, but allowed under DCPS policy and used by upper NW families as much as the homeless kids it's intended for.

Thank you for this, it does make me feel better.

We are in NE and would consider schools in Edgewood, Brookland, H-Street, Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, EotR. I think that's our limit. We are at an underperforming DCPS that seems to shed families like crazy so as we go up in grade it gets worse. At this point don't care about MS (I mean, do care, but not essential). We've added a few "short waitlist" schools from this geographic area but honestly, those lists aren't moving either.

Actually, NO lists are moving, almost at all. Do things speed up in August? Are schools just not moving lists right now? I get it's the middle of the summer and both schools and families are less focused on this right now, except I guess me.

What schools do you actually like, OP? If you don't actually like even the hard-to-get-into schools, then you should move.

If you try for long enough, you'll get into Inspired or Ludlow-Taylor. Have you looked at Seaton?

Where do you get the idea I don't like "hard-to-get-into" schools? We'd be thrilled with ITS or Ludlow (and are currently waitlisted for both). I think Seaton is realistically an impossible commute for us, but otherwise we'd do Seaton or Garrison or Hyde-Addison (the last of which we are also waitlisted for).

I don't think I have unreasonable expectations, we've just been very unlucky with the lottery and do have at least SOME logistic restrictions based on geography/work schedules.

DCPS lists don't move much over the summer when the registrar isn't working. They'll be tons of movement in August. Also, if you're willing to move as late as October, I'd virtually guarantee you'll get into oe of these schools. 1 seat often spawns 10 offers come September 25th.

We'd definitely be willing to move in October, as awkward as that would be. I hope you are right.

[Anonymous]

I would have rented near a good school for a year or two and then moved. I know many people who have moved away or never even lived nearby. I know someone who rented out their townhouse in Capitol Hill to live closer to NW school. They go in out of bound though.
So many options, OP.
We live in a different zone from the school we attend. We love both schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

OP here. Can you tell me where you wound up going? Moving out of DC? Private?

This is the the thing about the "short waitlist" suggestion that I'm wary of. Our current school has a "short waitlist." Of 0! Because it's not a very good school and people keep leaving it. So when people tell me to use a short waitlist, I want more info about that school. I do not want to move my kid so that we can be unhappy somewhere else and then move again anyway. In that case, we might as well stay where we are at and see if we can figure out how to move to a better situation.

Well, you gotta evaluate the school using other metrics. Waitlists are a very unreliable metric of quality. You see, some schools have a lot of building space and others don't. And that's because DCPS has the buildings it has, and it only changes boundary lines every 10 years (if that), and so not all buildings are right-sized for the number of kids who live in the boundary and the number who want to attend. A school that has a nice roomy building can make lots of offers and clear its waitlist. A school that's cramped and crowded will have a long waitlist and few offers. But that doesn't mean the second school is better than the first-- quite the opposite!

For a DCPS school, the number of lottery seats offered to out-of-boundary is based on an estimate. The estimate is done by taking a proportion of kids currently attending the school in the grade below, so assuming like 85 or 90% of them will return, and then they plan on a few new by-right kids showing up, and then they see how many classrooms that will require. Then if they expect empty seats, they'll offer seats in the lottery. So if they are planning on (for example) two full classrooms just with their existing kids and a few new ones, then no lottery seats will be offered. If they have reason to think they'll need to open an additional classroom, then they'll offer a lot of seats to fill it up. That is why you see certain grade levels with more or less seats and longer or shorter waitlists than others, within the same school. So you see, looking at the length of the waitlist is not very helpful unless you have a lot of inside information to help interpret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

OP here. Can you tell me where you wound up going? Moving out of DC? Private?

This is the the thing about the "short waitlist" suggestion that I'm wary of. Our current school has a "short waitlist." Of 0! Because it's not a very good school and people keep leaving it. So when people tell me to use a short waitlist, I want more info about that school. I do not want to move my kid so that we can be unhappy somewhere else and then move again anyway. In that case, we might as well stay where we are at and see if we can figure out how to move to a better situation.

Well, you gotta evaluate the school using other metrics. Waitlists are a very unreliable metric of quality. You see, some schools have a lot of building space and others don't. And that's because DCPS has the buildings it has, and it only changes boundary lines every 10 years (if that), and so not all buildings are right-sized for the number of kids who live in the boundary and the number who want to attend. A school that has a nice roomy building can make lots of offers and clear its waitlist. A school that's cramped and crowded will have a long waitlist and few offers. But that doesn't mean the second school is better than the first-- quite the opposite!

For a DCPS school, the number of lottery seats offered to out-of-boundary is based on an estimate. The estimate is done by taking a proportion of kids currently attending the school in the grade below, so assuming like 85 or 90% of them will return, and then they plan on a few new by-right kids showing up, and then they see how many classrooms that will require. Then if they expect empty seats, they'll offer seats in the lottery. So if they are planning on (for example) two full classrooms just with their existing kids and a few new ones, then no lottery seats will be offered. If they have reason to think they'll need to open an additional classroom, then they'll offer a lot of seats to fill it up. That is why you see certain grade levels with more or less seats and longer or shorter waitlists than others, within the same school. So you see, looking at the length of the waitlist is not very helpful unless you have a lot of inside information to help interpret it.

Sort of. Size of building is irrelevant if they haven't staffed to add more classes though. A school won't add an extra 15 1st grade spots just because they have an extra classroom. They have to decide to open another class for that grade and hire a teacher and ensure they have capacity for specials, SpEd, etc. So the idea that it's just that some schools are physically bigger than others isn't quite the explanation you seem to think it is.

But sure, sometimes a school does add a classroom for a grade, and that leads to a short waitlist for that grade as they sweep in more kids. But that's actually pretty easy to figure out by looking at the Tableau data -- you can see where a school has a typical pattern for a given grade, and then suddenly this year they made way more lottery spots available than usual, or if they decide to add the class after the lottery runs (slightly less common), you'll see far more offers made by June than usual and a shorter waitlist than usual.

If a school has a short waitlist every year, that's not what is happening. In that case, there is simply less interest in the school. Now, maybe it's a "hidden gem" for some other reason -- a weird catchment that tends toward families moving more, or being more likely to send kids to private, maybe. But given the lottery and the fact that people are always looking for good schools, more likely it has short waitlists because people don't like it that much.

[Anonymous]

I would wait until October before you despair. Lots of waitlist movement between now and then.

[Anonymous]

AirBNB your current place for the summer and AirBNB where you want to live for a month or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

OP here. Can you tell me where you wound up going? Moving out of DC? Private?

This is the the thing about the "short waitlist" suggestion that I'm wary of. Our current school has a "short waitlist." Of 0! Because it's not a very good school and people keep leaving it. So when people tell me to use a short waitlist, I want more info about that school. I do not want to move my kid so that we can be unhappy somewhere else and then move again anyway. In that case, we might as well stay where we are at and see if we can figure out how to move to a better situation.

Well, you gotta evaluate the school using other metrics. Waitlists are a very unreliable metric of quality. You see, some schools have a lot of building space and others don't. And that's because DCPS has the buildings it has, and it only changes boundary lines every 10 years (if that), and so not all buildings are right-sized for the number of kids who live in the boundary and the number who want to attend. A school that has a nice roomy building can make lots of offers and clear its waitlist. A school that's cramped and crowded will have a long waitlist and few offers. But that doesn't mean the second school is better than the first-- quite the opposite!

For a DCPS school, the number of lottery seats offered to out-of-boundary is based on an estimate. The estimate is done by taking a proportion of kids currently attending the school in the grade below, so assuming like 85 or 90% of them will return, and then they plan on a few new by-right kids showing up, and then they see how many classrooms that will require. Then if they expect empty seats, they'll offer seats in the lottery. So if they are planning on (for example) two full classrooms just with their existing kids and a few new ones, then no lottery seats will be offered. If they have reason to think they'll need to open an additional classroom, then they'll offer a lot of seats to fill it up. That is why you see certain grade levels with more or less seats and longer or shorter waitlists than others, within the same school. So you see, looking at the length of the waitlist is not very helpful unless you have a lot of inside information to help interpret it.

Sort of. Size of building is irrelevant if they haven't staffed to add more classes though. A school won't add an extra 15 1st grade spots just because they have an extra classroom. They have to decide to open another class for that grade and hire a teacher and ensure they have capacity for specials, SpEd, etc. So the idea that it's just that some schools are physically bigger than others isn't quite the explanation you seem to think it is.

But sure, sometimes a school does add a classroom for a grade, and that leads to a short waitlist for that grade as they sweep in more kids. But that's actually pretty easy to figure out by looking at the Tableau data -- you can see where a school has a typical pattern for a given grade, and then suddenly this year they made way more lottery spots available than usual, or if they decide to add the class after the lottery runs (slightly less common), you'll see far more offers made by June than usual and a shorter waitlist than usual.

If a school has a short waitlist every year, that's not what is happening. In that case, there is simply less interest in the school. Now, maybe it's a "hidden gem" for some other reason -- a weird catchment that tends toward families moving more, or being more likely to send kids to private, maybe. But given the lottery and the fact that people are always looking for good schools, more likely it has short waitlists because people don't like it that much.

Well yes, and building size is only one factor. But it is a factor. Whether downtown wants the school to grow long-term is also a factor. There are lots of factors. It's also affected by how the data is reported-- a school that offers Early Action for preschool won't report that IB kids were waitlisted, even if they would have been on the waitlist for a while if the school were not Early Action. And that doesn't make the Early Action school a worse school.

There aren't any really terrific schools that have short waitlists for 1st and up. But it's still possible to get in just on happenstance, so much depends on the decisions of current families to stay or go and it isn't always about the quality of the school. And there are some schools that can offer OP a great 1st grade year *even though* the school has chronically short waitlists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

My kid was never somewhere crappy. We had a lovely time at our IB and it absolutely did meet her short-term needs.

If you're going to think anything less than the best is "crappy", you won't be happy in northeast DC.

That's not us at all, given that we did PG County public schools after DC. You act like I am sad I couldn't get Lafayette. I didnt want or need anything like that. But we never even made it into a tier 3 DCPS. But if you would send your kids to Browne EC, by all means, throw shade. We didn't leave easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

OP here. Can you tell me where you wound up going? Moving out of DC? Private?

This is the the thing about the "short waitlist" suggestion that I'm wary of. Our current school has a "short waitlist." Of 0! Because it's not a very good school and people keep leaving it. So when people tell me to use a short waitlist, I want more info about that school. I do not want to move my kid so that we can be unhappy somewhere else and then move again anyway. In that case, we might as well stay where we are at and see if we can figure out how to move to a better situation.

We're in Bowie, Maryland.
One kid in a special education private school, one in public for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"If you try long enough"

Meanwhile your kid is somewhere crappy and/or moving around a lot.

I posted upthread. We tried two schools in 4 years, losing lottery (by miles) each time. Pulled her out in 4th grade. Wish I had done it sooner, but I kept thinking "surely a good option will come up" and it never did.

My kid was never somewhere crappy. We had a lovely time at our IB and it absolutely did meet her short-term needs.

If you're going to think anything less than the best is "crappy", you won't be happy in northeast DC.

That's not us at all, given that we did PG County public schools after DC. You act like I am sad I couldn't get Lafayette. I didnt want or need anything like that. But we never even made it into a tier 3 DCPS. But if you would send your kids to Browne EC, by all means, throw shade. We didn't leave easily.

I had my kid at a one-star school for two years. A school that couldn't even fill up two PK3 classes. It's better now, but how it was back then is definitely similar to how Browne is now. And it was good and her needs were met, for preschool.

[Anonymous]

What about Bruce Monroe if you’re okay with staying Spanish in first grade? We do activities with a few kids from there and the kids and families seem great and happy there. Close to NE for your commute.

[Anonymous]

Staying = starting